Virgin Trains USA aims to bring a rail link to Walt Disney World

Apr 04, 2019 in "The Walt Disney Company"

Posted: Thursday April 4, 2019 5:02pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The Orlando Sentinel is today reporting that Virgin Trains plans to build a station at Walt Disney World as it begins work on a rail link from South Florida to Central Florida.

Virgin Trains president Patrick Goddard said that the service "would integrate with their transportation system, hotels and theme parks."

The service would also include a station at Orlando International Airport, which could see a rail service from Miami to Orlando and to the theme parks. The expected timeframe is 30 - 36 months.

Aiming to reinvent train travel in the United States, Virgin Trains USA is the express inter-city passenger rail service that currently connects Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, with plans to expand to Orlando and Tampa. The company, under direction of Sir Richard Branson, has raised nearly $1.8 billion in the last few weeks, enough to build the link to Orlando.

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lazyboy97o3 days ago

These studies have been done multiple times already. Much of the proposed right of way was first mapped out over a decade ago for the Florida High Speed Rail project. Rights of way have even been reserved for years now by FDOT along the highways. You can go look at the Beyond Ultimate drawings and see them, including the turn from the Beachline to I-4. A big part of why the Beachline route was to cost Brightline more than the FL-417 route is because it is so built up. It’s not cutting through undeveloped land. The real icing on the cake is that there is already a rail connection between SunRail and the airport. The tracks are already there. They’re still in use and owned by the City of Orlando through the Orlando Utility Commission. A SunRail train could go to the airport today but it is being studied again.

Splashin' Ryan3 days ago

Again, not unnecessary, this "red tape" is meant to make sure the project not only doesn't majorly disturb the little wildlife Central Florida has left, but also aims to make sure it doesn't cause harmful effects to humans like exacerbating flooding to nearby housing areas or disrupting travel flows down the line (which all have exponentially grown or changed in central florida since the first study). You cannot just say "red tape boohoo" without understanding why it is there. Every piece of research or review is there because it wasn't considered in a previous project, which led to negative effects. It's not like they're just adding hoops and barriers for fun when they do these projects.

MisterPenguin3 days ago

Where can I purchase a ticket to ride the study?

lazyboy97o3 days ago

The problem isn’t the spending but the red tape, unnecessary delays, and change of funding mechanisms. Transit between the airport and attractions has been studied multiple times and is being studied yet again.

Splashin' Ryan3 days ago

Maybe you're new to infrastructure projects, but this is neither that long of a study nor that expensive for a rail project in the US. Feel free to look at california high speed rail or even flordia or vegas (west) brightline Also you and everyone else must remember that highway spending and planning in Florida outweighs transit in every possible way. For example, the majority of I-4 projects around oralndo that wrapped up right after covid cost $2.4 billion and that was before covid inflation. Now you might say, "well, it reduces traffic" but in reality it will only induce demand in the long run. If you are frustrated with traffic that still happens on the highways, then you HAVE to be willing to have the government spend on public transit like this. The efficiency and economic opportunities rail and transit provide pay for itself in no time compared to ever-increasing road construction that requires endless maintenance.

lazyboy97o3 days ago

The governments involved should have just told Universal to put up or shut up. Brightline said they needed $1 billion to do Universal’s preferred route and Universal could have just paid that and instead they have killed the project for years.

Ayla4 days ago

Nothing new has happened. The funds for the two year, $6 MILLION study were approved. Once that obscene amount of money is spent "looking into it", then they'll maybe spend an even more obscene $5 BILLION building it.

JoeCamel4 days ago

Purduevian4 days ago

No new information, but thought it was interesting that this was picked up by a fairly random YouTube channel that does a lot of videos on public transit and interesting infrastructure.

Bob Harlem4 days ago

SunRail extension to Orlando airport, theme parks moves ahead Should work without a paywall: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/29/sunrail-extension-to-orlando-airport-theme-parks-moves-ahead/?share=omedu0hssakrsitoehdt

Chef idea Mickey`=Mar 31, 2025

And why is that ? 🙂

DisoneMar 23, 2025

If you find a way... Please let me know.

JoeCamelMar 23, 2025

And once the survey is done conditions will change and it will need another survey. Wish I was a surveyor or at least could act like one on TV

DisoneMar 23, 2025

The convention center is the universal route. They are paying 2 million dollars of the a much larger cost of the survey for that route. The survey that will take TWO years to complete. And the survey is not even approved yet. So we're going to wait for the approval for the 2-year multi-million dollar survey. And then the two years of the land survey. And then provided the survey to give everything the green light then construction can start? I want too but I don't share your optimism on this project.