- Private railroad’s munis started year cheap, investor says
- Fortress has invested more than $2 billion in project
New York has Metro-North, London has the Network Southeast. Miami has the Brightline — and these days, people are climbing aboard.
Ridership on the five-year-old rail line, which connects Miami and West Palm Beach, has taken off as wealth has poured into South Florida, boosting the bonds that funded it by as much as about 20% this year. The number of passengers was up nearly 80% through June.
The high-speed line is one more reflection in the kaleidoscopic story of the new wealth pouring into Miami. Even the municipal bonds used to finance the privately owned railway have appreciated in value recently, much like South Florida real estate, private school fees and seemingly everything else in the Miami area. The soon to be 235-mile-long private rail is owned by the same company that hopes to link Los Angeles and Las Vegas by train.
Bloomberg
By Martin Z Braun
July 27, 2023