Brightline’s service to Miami is expected to begin by end of April

High speed rail service will be in Miami before you know it. At a lunch with the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce last week, the South Florida Business Journal reports that Brightline CEO Patrick Goddard said that the train’s service to Miami is expected to start by the end of April.

The 75-mile-per-hour trains will travel between stops in 35 minutes, when the same trip by car can often take up to two hours.

While Goddard didn’t disclose ridership figures, he said the the number of passengers is three times larger than the Brightline execs originally projected.

Meanwhile in Brightline news, a man was killed over the weekend after he stood on the tracks and refused to move away from the oncoming Brightline in West Palm Beach. On Saturday, a driver managed to escape moments before Brightline train struck her vehicle in Deerfield Beach.

• Brightline president: ‘Train ridership is three times what we expected’ [SFBJ]
• Police: Man commits apparent suicide by standing on Brightline tracks [Palm Beach Post]
• Driver OK after Brightline train slams into car in Deerfield Beach [7 News Miami]
• MiamiCentral, the mixed-use project at Brightline’s Miami station, completes first tower [Curbed Miami]