Brightline Orlando–Tampa Extension

Planning

Proposed ~85–90-mile extension of Brightline's Miami–Orlando intercity service from Orlando International Airport to Tampa. It would share a new Sunshine Corridor track with SunRail along SR 528 to the Convention Center, then run in the median FDOT has preserved along I-4. Stations beyond the Convention Center are undecided. With no cost estimate or schedule, the project's prospects became more uncertain after Brightline's parent companies filed for Chapter 11 in September 2026.

Alignment Map

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Alignment is approximate.

Alignment

The extension would continue Brightline’s Miami–Orlando trains west from its Orlando International Airport station. Leaving the airport, it would follow existing Orlando Utilities Commission tracks past Brightline’s maintenance facility to the SunRail line north of Meadow Woods. It would then take new grade-separated track along State Road 528, shared with SunRail as part of the proposed Sunshine Corridor, to a station at the Orange County Convention Center on International Drive. From there it would turn southwest into the median of Interstate 4, which the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has kept clear for a two-track rail line since the high-speed rail plans of the 1990s, and run to Tampa. That sealed, grade-separated corridor could take trains at up to 125 mph. Brightline has said the airport–downtown Tampa trip would take about an hour.

Several stations are undecided. Brightline’s 2020 deal for a station at Disney Springs fell apart in 2022 when the route moved north to SR 528. Brightline then proposed a station near Disney Springs but off Disney property, and no Disney-area or EPCOT-area stop has been confirmed since. Earlier plans showed a stop in the Lakeland area. In Tampa, a 2020 agreement pointed to Ybor City, and a 2025 Hillsborough TPO study found strongest support for downtown, Ybor City, or Channelside, but no site has been chosen.

The 2018 plan put the route at 88 miles and $1.7 billion. Brightline has not published a current cost. Construction depends on public money for the shared Sunshine Corridor, which FDOT estimated in 2024 at about $4 billion from the airport to I-4.

Updates

2026-09 — Brightline’s parent companies file for Chapter 11

Seventeen Brightline Florida parent companies, holding about $2.5 billion of holding-company debt, filed for Chapter 11 in New Jersey on September 24 under a restructuring deal that brings $490 million in new long-term financing. The operating railroad did not file and trains kept running. The Tampa rights sit with an affiliate outside the bankruptcy but are pledged as collateral for bonds, and that affiliate missed a third straight interest payment on $1.2 billion of bonds in July. Hillsborough’s TPO said construction could not start until FDOT finishes I-4 roadwork and that another rail company could take up the project.

2025-07 — Brightline seeks up to $400 million in bonds; Tampa surveys station sites

Brightline asked the Florida Development Finance Corporation to issue up to $400 million in private activity bonds, partly to advance design and planning for Tampa. On July 15 Tampa’s city board voted unanimously to let the bond process continue. Trains reported that no total cost had been estimated. A Hillsborough County commissioner said Tampa service was “about a decade” away. More than 11,000 people answered the TPO’s station survey.

2024-04 — FDOT prices the airport-to-I-4 link at $4 billion

An FDOT study put the cost of the shared rail link from Orlando International Airport to the I-4 corridor at $4 billion. A cheaper $400 million option connecting only SunRail to the airport would block Brightline’s access to the I-4 median. FDOT expected the cost to be split among state, local, private, and federal sources.

2022-06 — Disney Springs dropped as the route moves to SR 528

After Universal Orlando and local leaders pushed for a different alignment, Brightline replaced its SR 417 route, which had a Disney Springs station, with the Sunshine Corridor plan. The new route along SR 528 and International Drive would serve the Convention Center and a station near Disney Springs on land Disney does not own. Brightline put the cost of the new Orlando routing at $2.4 billion, $1 billion more than the original.

2020-11 — Disney Springs station agreed

Brightline and Walt Disney World announced a station at Disney Springs, with the segment from the airport along SR 417 projected at $1 billion. In September 2020 Brightline had signed a memorandum of understanding with a developer for a Tampa terminal in Ybor City.

2018-11 — Brightline cleared to negotiate for the I-4 median

FDOT allowed Brightline, the only bidder, to negotiate a lease of the I-4 median. The 88-mile plan was then estimated at $1.7 billion, with stations in Orlando, the Celebration and Lakeland areas, and Tampa.

References