Le projet ferroviaire privé Virgin Trains USA en Floride : l’émergence d’un corridor touristique polarisant ?

• Main Author: Matthieu Schorung
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Presses de l'Université du Québec 2020-06-01
• Series: Téoros
• Subjects: Florida; tourism; Virgin Trains USA; high speed; train; Miami
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/teoros/4571

Scientific debates on connections between high-speed rail and tourism are now well developed, and numerous political and economic stakeholders have long believed in the benefits in terms of economic and commercial development. The case of the Virgin Trains USA private railway project in Florida demonstrates that tourism can be an argument to defend a high-speed railway line project. Tourism and leisure then become an opportunity for the development of new transportation infrastructure or for encouraging the development and connection of existing transportation networks. This article therefore proposes to study connections between high-speed rail and tourism, from the perspective of an infrastructure and development project of stations newly undertaken by a private stakeholder. It will serve to underscore the development frameworks for a high-speed rail/tourism relationship in the context of a particularly dynamic and developed tourist area. Our analysis demonstrates that the mother company (FECI), the parent company (Brightline), and the management company (Virgin) have made serving major tourist sites a commercial priority. However, the example of Virgin Trains USA demonstrates that this rail corridor is seeking to rely on pre-existing tourist activities to take advantage of exceptional tourist frequentation in Florida. Furthermore, the study establishes that the new stations are mainly designed with a view to capitalizing on property and land value and not as part of a more comprehensive strategy of territorial service and connection to regional and metropolitan transport networks - a form of disregard that can be justified by the totally private nature of the project.