ORLANDO, Fla. — Virgin, famous for plane flights and future space flights, will now add its name to the Florida high-speed rail service that will eventually expand into Orlando and Tampa.

  • Brightline becomes Virgin Trains USA in 2019
  • Company filed SEC documents for public stock offering
  • Hopes to open Orlando-to-Miami service in 3 years

Brightline announced its partnership with Virgin Group last week, and will rename its rail service Virgin Trains USA starting in 2019.

"It was clear from our first visit that Wes Edens, Brightline's founder, and his team had an exciting vision and the skills for American rail travel that no other private American enterprise has been able to do for a century," wrote Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, in his blog.  Branson visited Brightline in Miami last year. 

Brightline runs a privately-funded passenger rail service between Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Plans are underway to expand the rail service to Orlando, and eventually Tampa. 

Brightline will continue to manage the rail line, but will leverage the Virgin brand and marketing. Virgin will have a minority stake in the company.

The company is also working on a rail line between Las Vegas and Southern California, which will also come under the Virgin Trains USA name.

Virgin Trains USA filed documents Monday with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission to make an initial public offering of common stock to help fund the next phases of construction. 

The documents show the company expects 6.6 million riders between a future Miami to Orlando rail line in the first stabilized year, with an average fare of $73 a ticket. 

The company also says it will see additional revenue from parking fees, and food and drink sales on the trains, which will also have leather seats and free wifi. 

Travel between Orlando and Tampa is expected to take about an hour by train, with top speeds of 125 mph. A trip from Miami to Orlando is projected to take 3 hours and 15 minutes by train. 

The documents also say the company hopes to make a trip between Orlando and Miami about 25 percent less expensive than driving, and about 30 percent less expensive than flying.

The company says it hopes to begin train service in Orlando in three years. Construction is already underway, and the company says it's already invested about $404.2 million to develop the line. 

In the case of the Orlando to Tampa line, the company expects the project to cost about $1.7 billion to complete, with no timeline. The state still needs to approve the plans for the rail line.

The Florida Dept. of Transportation is expected to make a decision November 28.

Virgin, which was founded by Sir Richard Branson, has had a Virgin Trains line in the United Kingdom for the past 21 years.