Report: Brightline planning Miami-to-Tampa route by 2028

Brightline officials hope to launch higher-speed passenger-rail service along an $8 billion, 320-mile network stretching from Miami to Orlando to Tampa Bay by 2028, according to a Florida Today article.

"We are challenging the way that we move between city to city. We are challenging the automobile," said Mike Cegelis, Brightline's executive vice president of infrastructure, in the article. 

Cegelis outlined Florida-wide Brightline updates during a recent Melbourne Regional Chamber breakfast. He said crews have worked 4.3 million manhours on the 169-mile project so far, and more than 1,300 workers are on the job. Work is 63% complete.

In Brevard County, Brightline is installing more than 70 miles of track along two corridors. Cegelis said the north-south Florida East Coast Railway line from Cocoa to the St. Sebastian River is under "total reconstruction" as a double-tracked freight-passenger corridor, while a new single set of tracks is being laid down along the east-west stretch from Cocoa to the St. Johns River.