NEWS ABOUT ALL ABOARD FLORIDA

 

Published: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 - 2:00pm

Martin County has consistently maintained that threats to public safety are the most troubling facets of the proposed All Aboard Florida (AAF a.k.a Brightline) passenger rail project and related increases in freight rail. From the outset, AAF has... more

Published: Tuesday, April 19, 2016 - 9:15am

Published: Thursday, April 14, 2016 - 12:30pm

Brett Hanlon - www.sun-sentinel.com

It's easy to say that adding trains in Florida will improve our state's mobility. It's far more difficult to say that the All Aboard Florida ... more

Published: Thursday, April 14, 2016 - 10:15am

Anders Melin, David Carey, Devin Banerjee - www.bloomberg.com

Fortress Investment Group LLC paid its three top executives bonuses worth a combined $43.8 million last year as the company’s shares fell... more

Published: Friday, April 1, 2016 - 10:00am

George Andreassi - www.tcpalm.com

ABOUT THIS STORY

All Aboard Florida has $3 billion riding on a passenger train project that could be derailed if Florida denies just one of the 17 permits the... more

Published: Tuesday, March 22, 2016 - 10:15am

Mike Magnoli - http://cbs12.com

Protesters in several south Florida towns sounded off about a controversial proposal to move chemicals by rail Saturday. They say these trains put the environment and... more

Published: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - 1:30pm

By Michael Macagnone  www.law360.com

Martin County, Florida, pushed back against the U.S. Department of Transportation's attempt to slough off its suit over the All Aboard Florida... more

Published: Tuesday, March 8, 2016 - 11:00am

JOIN US IN PROTEST AGAINST AAF/BRIGHTLINE'S HIGH-SPEED PASSENGER TRAINS

The “Move ‘em West – Rally at the Rails” will be held Saturday, March 19, 2016 at 11am at six railroad crossings simultaneously on the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach... more

Published: Wednesday, January 13, 2016 - 9:15am

DAVID Z. MORRIS - FORTUNE.COM

Is the bond market to blame—or is this just a bad idea?

The passenger rail project All Aboard Florida (AAF) was granted a one-year extension last week on its effort to raise $1.75 billion to... more

Published: Tuesday, December 22, 2015 - 3:30pm

RICH CAMPBELL - TCPALM

Don't you hate deadlines?

Generally, if you miss a deadline you pay some sort of penalty. Penalties can run the gamut from additional costs — such as those incurred when filing a late tax return — to... more

Published: Saturday, December 5, 2015 - 10:30am

MIKE MAYO - SUN SENTINEL

If Florida East Coast Railway gets its way, it might soon carry hazardous Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) across densely populated South Florida. The rail company has a pending application with the Federal... more

Published: Monday, November 30, 2015 - 10:30am

CHARLES GERARDI - TCPALM

A storm is brewing. With or without All Aboard Florida, the likelihood of increased rail traffic rumbling through our community is real.

Even at current volumes, congestion from rail traffic impacts... more

Published: Monday, November 30, 2015 - 10:00am

Sally Swartz - PalmBeachPost.com

The fight to stop All Aboard Florida from ruining Treasure Coast downtowns and neighborhoods, slowing ambulances and endangering pedestrians at railway crossings is far from over.

In fact, a... more

Published: Friday, November 27, 2015 - 11:30am

Citizens Against Rail Expansion in Florida (CARE FL) is a coalition created by a group of concerned community leaders, organizations and neighbors in South Florida and the Treasure Coast, emphasizing that continued rail expansion will have a... more

Published: Tuesday, November 24, 2015 - 9:15am

RICH CAMPBELL - TCPALM

The Super Bowl of transportation projects — All Aboard Florida's plan to run 32 daily passenger trains between Miami and Orlando starting in late 2017 — has entered the fourth quarter.

It's crunch time.... more

Published: Tuesday, November 24, 2015 - 3:30am

According to a memo provided today to the Martin County Board of County Commissioners by county staff, projected costs of licenses, repairs/rehabilitation, and land leases associated with the Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC), Flagler Development... more

Published: Monday, November 16, 2015 - 4:00pm

PALM BEACH POST - FRANK CERABINO

All Aboard Florida is going to be a high-concept product, and every high-concept product deserves its own vocabulary.

So I’ve been thinking all week how the branding of this Miami-to-Orlando... more

Published: Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - 9:15am

"Today, All Aboard Florida announced a name change in a transparent attempt to distance the enterprise from a growing backlash of citizens who oppose or have serious concerns about the project. This PR move is intended to communicate the... more

Published: Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - 9:00am

MIAMINEWTIMES.COM - KYLE MUNZENRIEDER

If you've been following the development of All Aboard Florida, you've probably thought to yourself at one time or another, Wait, are they going to call it THAT? The answer is no. You won't be talking... more

Published: Friday, October 23, 2015 - 10:15am

RICH CAMPBELL - TCPALM

“Grand reveal” is the phrase All Aboard Florida President Michael Reininger used recently to tease a news conference the rail company has scheduled for Nov. 9 in Miami.

Other clues from Reininger... more

Published: Monday, October 12, 2015 - 10:00am

DARRELL PRESTON - BLOOMBERG

Fortress Investment Group sold Florida officials on its plan to build the first new privately run U.S. passenger railroad in more than a century, saying it will get 3 million cars off the road, create 10,000... more

Published: Wednesday, October 7, 2015 - 3:00pm

RALPH VARTABEDIAN - LA TIMES

The only sign of trouble aboard a Norfolk Southern train, hauling roughly 9,000 tons of Canadian crude in western Pennsylvania last year, was a moderate sway in the locomotive as it entered a bend on the... more

Published: Monday, October 5, 2015 - 9:45am

PALM BEACH POST

When All Aboard Florida starts running its express passenger service along the Florida East Coast Railway tracks, Palm Beach County officials want to make sure the company won’t be required to sound train horns at rail... more

Published: Friday, October 2, 2015 - 9:30am

RICH CAMPBELL - TCPALM

I’d like to propose a new marketing slogan for our region:

“The Treasure Coast: We Exist For the Benefit of Others.”

There’s a common thread connecting All Aboard Florida’s plan to run 32 daily... more

Published: Tuesday, September 29, 2015 - 3:00pm

DAVID Z. MORRIS - FORTUNE

All Aboard Florida, a subsidiary of Fortress Investment Group (FIG -3.06% ), will soon issue $1.75 billion in bonds to help finance the construction of a passenger railroad line stretching from Orlando, Florida... more

Published: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - 10:30am

SHELLY SIGO - THE BOND BUYER

Two south Florida counties launched new legal challenges against a private passenger train project within days of a scheduled $1.75 billion bond offering.

The private activity bonds were initially... more

Published: Thursday, September 10, 2015 - 4:00pm

In a recent column, Rich Campbell of Treasure Coast Newspapers threw in the towel and admitted defeat to All Aboard Florida.

If you believe Campbell, a longtime All Aboard Florida critic, it’s all over but the shouting — more trains... more

Published: Tuesday, September 8, 2015 - 11:45am

PALM BEACH POST

For the second time in six months, Tequesta officials are calling onFlorida East Coast Railway to change its procedures, after the village said the company’s aging rail bridge over the Loxahatchee River... more

Published: Tuesday, September 8, 2015 - 10:00am

As Martin County continues its review of the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA's) Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on the All Aboard Florida (AAF) passenger rail project and the many deficiencies and flaws within the 646-page... more

Published: Monday, August 24, 2015 - 10:30am

The promised financial impact of the All Aboard Florida train is large: $6.4 billion infused into the state's economy by 2023, $2.4 billion in pay, benefits and taxes for labor through 2021 and 10,000 construction jobs each year through 2017.... more

Published: Monday, August 24, 2015 - 9:45am

On August 4, 2015, hours before the Florida Development Financial Corporation’s decision to issue the tax free bonds regarding the All Aboard Florida (AAF) passenger rail project, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued its... more

Published: Monday, August 10, 2015 - 11:45am

Dear Mr. Johnson:

I write regarding the proposed All Aboard Florida (AAF) passenger rail project and its efforts to finance the project using Private Activity Bonds through Florida Development Finance Corporation (FDFC). As the elected... more

Published: Monday, August 10, 2015 - 11:30am

If you’ve got some extra cash lying around, here’s an idea:

Sink all your hard-earned dollars into tax-free bonds for All Aboard Florida, the high-speed passenger train service that will supposedly run between downtown Miami and the... more

Published: Monday, August 10, 2015 - 10:15am

Pieces of the past that are hundreds of years old could derail one of Florida's big future projects.

Archaeologists said the high-speed All Aboard Florida rail would run through one of South Florida's most historic areas.

... more

Published: Thursday, August 6, 2015 - 11:00am

The final environmental impact statement on the All Aboard Florida project, released Tuesday by the Federal Railroad Administration, is everything I expected it to be: a whitewash of the facts, a minimization of impacts to our region, and a... more

Published: Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - 11:15am

A recent column by Canaveral Port Authority Treasurer and Secretary Tom Weinberg highlights many of the potential benefits of the All Aboard Florida rail project. After reading the column, the reader is left to believe that the project will... more

Published: Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - 9:30am

MICHAEL MAYO - SUN SENTINEL

Getting $1.75 billion in tax-exempt bonds approved by a state board on Wednesday looks to be the easy part for All Aboard Florida.

The seemingly harder part for the proposed Miami-to-Orlando express... more

Published: Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - 9:45am

If ever there was a ferociously fishy foregone conclusion, it's Florida Development Finance Corp.'s impending decision to approve $1.75 billion in tax-exempt, private activity bonds so All Aboard Florida can get funding. FDC has already gleefully... more

Published: Saturday, August 1, 2015 - 12:30pm

FLORIDA DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015

1:00PM – 6:00PM EST

AGENDA

I. Call to Order;... more

Published: Friday, July 31, 2015 - 9:30am

Issues with the St. Lucie, Loxatachee and New river train bridges have resulted in “unreasonable obstructions to navigation” that need to be “dramatically altered,” CARE’s attorney, Stephen Ryan, said in the letter.

Each of the bridges... more

Published: Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - 11:30am

An attorney fighting the All Aboard Florida project is taking aim at a series of text messages between a representative of the rail company and the chairman of the state board that will decide whether the project receives $1.75 billion in tax... more

Published: Saturday, July 25, 2015 - 12:15pm

All Aboard Florida won preliminary approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation in December to issue $1.75 billion in tax-exempt bonds to help pay for its express-passenger rail line planned between Miami and Orlando. The... more

Published: Saturday, July 25, 2015 - 11:00am

We knew from the start of AAF’s quest for cheap, publicly financed capital that they work the inside deals and have millions to spend on lobbyists and public relations/advertising firms and here is a fine example of how this all pays off. ... more

Published: Monday, July 20, 2015 - 12:15pm

The state this week paid $3.2 million to a woman injured in a 2013 train crash in Bridgeport as part of the settlement in a federal lawsuit filed against the Metro-North Commuter Railroad.

The payment was noteworthy beyond the significant... more

Published: Monday, July 20, 2015 - 9:30am

Four tank cars leaked an estimated 35,000 gallons of oil after a train hauling fuel from North Dakota derailed in rural northeastern Montana, authorities said.

The spill marked the latest in a series of wrecks across the U.S. and Canada... more

Published: Saturday, July 11, 2015 - 10:15am

All Aboard Florida will not attend the next meeting of the Florida Development Finance Corp., tentatively scheduled for July 21 in Orlando, a company official said.

“AAF is not attending this meeting,” spokeswoman Lynn Martenstein said... more

Published: Thursday, July 9, 2015 - 3:15pm

PARENT COMPANY OF FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY MAKING CHANGES AFTER RECENT LOSSES AND INVESTOR WITHDRAWALS

Fortress Investment Group FIG -3.06 % LLC is shuffling the leadership of its flagship hedge fund on the heels of heavy recent losses... more

Published: Thursday, July 9, 2015 - 2:30pm

The Florida Development Finance Corp. has tentatively set a hearing for 2-3 p.m. July 21, during which All Aboard Florida’s request for $1.75 billion of private-activity bonds could be discussed.

According to the finance corporation’s... more