Acres and acres of trees are disappearing under the bulldozer’s blade in Central Brevard County as a new passenger railway line takes shape.The Virgin Trains route will take passengers from Orlando to Miami.The heavy equipment has just gotten to work in recent days. For miles along the BeachLine Expressway, trees have been removed where new train tracks will go. The construction is too close for comfort for 35-year resident Jim Beekman, he said."I go on my back porch and drink my coffee in the morning, and the way they’ve cleared out there has brought the noise level way up," Beekman said.Eventually, he'll hear 18 passenger trains a day speeding between Orlando and Miami.The trains will go through a neighborhood that is also under construction which may make the homes harder to sell.The Virgin Trains line, formerly called BrightLine, will follow the BeachLine from Orlando before curving to meet existing train tracks along US 1. The company is staging 490,000 railroad ties for the job and preparing to employ 225-million pounds of steel. No stops are currently planned for Brevard County though, part of why the project’s getting a cool reception there.Orlando to Miami trains start rolling in 2022.

Acres and acres of trees are disappearing under the bulldozer’s blade in Central Brevard County as a new passenger railway line takes shape.

The Virgin Trains route will take passengers from Orlando to Miami.


The heavy equipment has just gotten to work in recent days.

For miles along the BeachLine Expressway, trees have been removed where new train tracks will go.

The construction is too close for comfort for 35-year resident Jim Beekman, he said.

"I go on my back porch and drink my coffee in the morning, and the way they’ve cleared out there has brought the noise level way up," Beekman said.

Eventually, he'll hear 18 passenger trains a day speeding between Orlando and Miami.

The trains will go through a neighborhood that is also under construction which may make the homes harder to sell.

The Virgin Trains line, formerly called BrightLine, will follow the BeachLine from Orlando before curving to meet existing train tracks along US 1. The company is staging 490,000 railroad ties for the job and preparing to employ 225-million pounds of steel.

No stops are currently planned for Brevard County though, part of why the project’s getting a cool reception there.

Orlando to Miami trains start rolling in 2022.