It's not even a 40km trip. How fast do you expect the train to get up to?
~40km, 18 minutes. That's an average speed of ~130km/h.
There's also a run with 4 station stops inbetween and makes the trip in 28, so that's still an average speed of ~85km/h.
77km/h average on a ~40km non-stop (I'm assuming) run is quite slow.
Confirmed looking at the official site, there is no stop between Miami and Ft Lauredale.
Brightline covers a few cities with one long strip of a suburb the entire route. Except in length the comparison isn't remotely fair.
Don't get me wrong, definitely a great step in the right direction.
It's also worth noting that all rail has to be at this point is faster than its competition, which it is. Cars are slower and this is far too short of a distance for airplanes.
The area has had commuter rail for over 20 years. This express service is using previously freight-only lines. What's really going to be impressive is when it connects Orlando.
Granted, flying is not a cost effective means to commute, but I don’t think rail service from Orlando to Miami will have too many true commuters on board compared to less frequent travelers.
Not cheap though, HSR tickets are not $10 (though it's not that far if you're using a high-frequency subscription thing, especially if you're using it daily).
Only at Miami since the Orlando train station is, again, at the Orlando airport. So the traffic trouble will be the exact same.
Basically most of the reason our trains suck is because our regulatory body sucks.
The Acela hits 150mph along some stretches in New England.
That's not necessarily a fair comparison, as IIRC Amtrack shares rail tracks with cargo trains. Cargo trains are far slower and occupy tracks for longer stretches of time, while passenger trains require longer stretches of track to be reserved for their passage to ensure higher circulation speeds. Thus, having to share tracks with slower trains limits how the track can be allocated to passenger traffic.
To put it differently, that would be like stating that a bus is slow because in some stretches of road it is forced to wait cargo trucks to pass.
Wikipedia says that several companies run freight trains over sections of the NEC, as well as the line is also used by commuter trains.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Corridor
As a comparison, the TGV connection between Paris and Brussels may be a high-speed track, but train speeds grind to a halt way down to 20km/h when passing through track sections used by commuter and freight trains.