Brightline, Florida’s Private Rail Line, Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Brightline, the private high-speed rail line that has spent the last three spring seasons shuttling ravers to Miami Music Week and Ultra Music Festival, is in bankruptcy court. On Friday, September 25, certain non-operating Brightline parent entities filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

The trains themselves are not part of the filing. According to Brightline’s announcement, Brightline Trains Florida LLC, the company that actually runs the Miami-to-Orlando service, will not file and “will continue to operate in the ordinary course” under its existing management. Brightline Florida Holdings LLC and AAF Operations Holdings LLC are also staying out of court. The company’s Instagram put it more simply the same day: business as usual.

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What the deal looks like

The filing comes with a Restructuring Support Agreement already signed with Assured Guaranty and an ad hoc group of mutual fund bondholders. That agreement lines up $490 million in new long-term capital for the train operator: $350 million in new junior debt and $140 million in additional senior debt. The company’s $2.2 billion Series 2024 bond issue and its bond insurance stay in place, and three other bond series totaling roughly $2.2 billion remain outstanding with no reduction in principal. A bankruptcy judge still has to sign off.

Brightline pointed to 14% ridership growth and 17% revenue growth through August compared to the same stretch of 2025, and said it will keep pursuing a new station in Cocoa, commuter service in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties and an extension from Orlando to Tampa.

South to Miami

For dance music fans in Florida, Brightline has become part of Miami Music Week. In March 2024, it teamed up with Red Bull on the NEXT STOP: ULTRA train takeover, running DJ sets from Orlando down to downtown Miami, with late-night return trains through Ultra weekend. The takeover came back for Ultra’s 25th anniversary in 2025. This year, Brightline ran an $89 silent disco train from West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale on Friday, March 27, landing riders at MiamiCentral in the middle of a Miami Music Week that ran March 24 to 29, and in time for Ultra’s opening day.

The line runs the other way for EDC Orlando. Back in 2023, the Orlando extension was racing to be ready by EDC Orlando, giving South Florida ravers a way to reach the festival without the drive up the turnpike.

Long live the pwemium wounge

Brightline also handed the scene one of its most quoted inside jokes. On November 10, 2024, the Sunday of that year’s EDC Orlando, John Summit posted a TikTok from a Brightline Premium lounge on his way to the festival. His delivery turned “premium lounge” into “pwemium wounge,” the clip passed 2.5 million plays, and fans have been repeating it ever since. Summit kept the bit going too. He brought a “pwemium wounge” to the first edition of his Experts Only Festival in September 2025, and this year it became an official stage: the Pwemium Lounge, an indie dance room that ran alongside the Main Stage and Mirror Field when Experts Only returned to Randall’s Island on September 19 and 20.

With service continuing as normal, the pwemium wounge stays open, and anyone planning to ride up for EDC Orlando at Tinker Field, November 6 to 8, should not see any change to their trip.

Source: Brightline