At a hearing in April before the House Subcommittee on Government Operations, Chairman Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican -- perhaps with California's project in the back of his mind -- made it clear members believed the Brightline deal should never have been approved. It's still up in the air whether Brightline will be able 1) to issue the Private Activity Bonds as authorized by the federal Department of Transportation, 2) be forced to abandon the PAB financing try and seek the similarly problematic Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing, or 3) go for the last resort -- expensive conventional financing to pay for the track upgrades and extension needed. http://sunshinestatenews.com/story/californias-money-pit-bullet-train-project-isnt-helping-brightlines-florida-plans The Florida route would go between the Miami International Airport and the Orlando Airport along the U.S. 27 corridor– which could benefit tourism immensely according to some proponents. Testing of Hyperloops is ongoing in Nevada and elsewhere. A route between New York and Washington D.C. has just gotten the go-ahead. It may be 20 years before the first pod zips down the state, but Abrams said it looks like it could well happe http://www.wpbf.com/article/hyperloop-one-plans-moving-forward-for-florida/20709924 Palm Beach and Martin County, Fla. — People are outraged over piles of junk littering pristine South Florida communities. Residents say the eyesore has been there for over a year. Just around the corner from where Barbara Loomis and Barbara White live in Hobe Sound, you can see pile after pile after pile of old concrete railroad ties left next to the tracks. The ties were replaced in April 2017. http://www.wpbf.com/article/wpbf-25-investigates-discarded-railroad-ties-in-south-florida/20200406 Five crossing gates north of Belvedere Road were malfunctioning across West Palm Beach Monday night, causing major traffic jams. http://cbs12.com/news/local/several-railroad-crossing-gates-malfunction-in-west-palm-beach Congressman Brian Mast had some tough words for Florida East Coast Railway’s high-speed train Brightline and its risk of failing to meet a deadline for the installation of positive train control, also called PTC. “Brightline and FEC said they were going to have this in place before the passenger rail began and that clearly hasn’t been the case,” Mast said. “In my opinion, they shouldn’t be allowed to function without this in place.” http://cbs12.com/news/local/mast-calls-for-action-following-cbs12-news-investigation-into-brightline-critical-deadline