Newsletter 5/8/26: The Brightline Paradox

The Brightline Paradox Answers the Question Everyone Asks About Trains in the U.S. 

Brightline faces a brutal paradox: Its product is popular and its revenues are strong and growing. But it’s being crushed by debt.

This isn’t a failure of demand or delivery. It’s a failure of the financial model. The Brightline paradox shines a harsh light on the deep inequalities and dysfunction of U.S. transportation.

And it helps answer the question everyone asks about US trains: If they can do it in (some random country I once visited, where they had great trains), why can’t we do it here?

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A Brightline train is in the Orlando airport station. Passengers are decending an excelator onto the platform to board.

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