Florida's high speed train Brightline struggles, seeks rescue after $5.5 billion debt

rode on this once just to check it out, i liked it, never realized it was burning money

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Auditors for Brightline, the struggling Florida passenger railroad, warned the private company doesn’t have the cash to service its debt and meet financial obligations over the next 12 months, raising “substantial doubt” about its ability to survive.

Ernst & Young opinion disclosed in Brightline’s audited financial statement for 2025
Brightline says it is working to raise more capital and obtain extensions on its debt
Negotiations with creditors over how to handle its $5.5 billion debt began in recent weeks

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The problem for Brightline is price, not product. In December, the average fare for a trip between stations in South Florida was about $26. That is 11% cheaper than the average fare a year earlier. About $75 was the ticket price for trips that started or stopped in Orlando. That was about the same as it was a year ago.

“The public likes the product. Ridership is reasonably strong, but they're not paying top dollar,” said transportation expert Joe Schwieterman, director of DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development.

“Price competition's been kind of a boogeyman for me by keeping fares low. The numbers just aren't working right now. There's some reason for optimism but it's a scary time,” he said.

READ MORE: Brightline parent company names new CEO in hopes to get growth on track

Brightline’s business is growing, just not fast enough to keep pace with its debt obligations and nowhere near as fast as Brightline management first expected. According to S&P Global, Brightline originally forecasted ticket revenue in 2025 would be more than $500 million. However, through the third quarter, total revenue – which includes tickets, other passenger fees such as luggage and other lease revenue – was $156 million, significantly below expectations.

“People are just not switching from their cars in enough numbers to rail,” said D’Olier-Lees. “In addition Brightline was doing a lot of discounting, particularly of long distance fares and then it was proving very sticky to get those fares up.”

S&P bond analysts decreased their revenue forecasts throughout last year, helping lead to a series of credit rating downgrades. The ratings agency wasn’t as optimistic as Brightline’s own predictions and now believes 2025 ticket sales will be up 14%. That would be less than half of the expected growth rate. And its analysis doesn’t think this year will bring a big jump in its growth rate. S&P Global forecasts Brightline ticket revenues will be up 15% this year to around $200 million.

It costs more than that to run the train. Operating expenses in the first nine months of last year were $211 million, leading to an operating loss of $55 million with one more quarter to go for the year. Full year financial information won’t be released for several more months.