Brightline Train Hits, Kills Pedestrian On First Day Of Expanded Service
Owen Bellwood
Fri, September 22, 2023
A photo of a Brightline train crossing a road.
A Brightline train operating in Delray Beach killed a pedestrian this morning.
New train day should be a positive one filled with stories about happy commuters that are finally able to leave their cars at home and ride to work. But today, the day Brightline began the first high-speed rail link between Miami and Orlando, isn’t one of those days. That’s because America’s deadliest rail line has struck and killed another pedestrian.
This morning, amid much fanfare, Brightline kicked off its first service from Miami to Orlando in Florida. The inaugural service was sold out, according to local news, and makes the journey from Miami to Orlando in around three and a half hours thanks to a top speed of up to 125 mph.
While there was a barrier across the road at the intersection between the Brightline tracks and Southeast Second Avenue, the rail line uses old FEC Railway tracks that have “have few barriers to pedestrians walking along them or crossing them.”
It’s this infrastructure along the rail line that has earned Brightline the title of deadliest railway in America. In the past year alone, trains on the line have hit a car transporter and SUV and a car that was lost on its tracks.
While I’ll always come out in favor of more trains, that can only happen when governments and private companies are prepared to invest in safety measures that protect rail riders and those who live and travel around the tracks.
Jalopnik
How fast are Brightline's higher-speed trains? You'll see beginning Friday
Wicker Perlis, Treasure Coast Newspapers
Updated Thu, September 21, 2023
The first Brightline trains will begin traveling Friday morning with passengers from South Florida to Orlando, completing a massive expansion project that cost the company $6 billion and took four years to complete.
Brightline trains have been speeding through the Treasure Coast at previously unseen speeds for weeks, but on Friday those trains will be carrying something new: passengers.
Their frequency also will increase, as test runs turn into a regular service schedule of up to 32 trains per day.
Top speeds will reach 110 mph in the journey through the Treasure Coast, Brightline corporate affairs senior vice president Ben Porritt said in an email.
More: Brightline train schedule shows how many trains will pass through Treasure Coast and when
While detailed speed zones were not provided by Brightline, the company estimates a total travel time between Miami and Orlando of about 3½ hours for Friday's trains, according to its ticketing website. Along the 235-mile corridor, 3½-hour journey would mean the train would average about 67 mph.
Brightline has said its trains — which already run at up to 79 mph south of West Palm Beach — will travel up to 110 mph from West Palm Beach to Cocoa and then 125 mph between Cocoa and Orlando International Airport. Brightline has said trains will slow to cross the St. Lucie River bridge in Stuart.
The 110 mph speed would put Brightline in the same track class as the Amtrak Northeast Corridor between New York and Washington, D.C. Speeds will be even higher between Cocoa Beach and Orlando, when trains will operate on a higher class track. In that stretch there will be an upper limit of 125 mph, said Federal Railroad Administration spokesperson Warren Flatau. That puts it in line with the rest of the Amtrak Northeast Corridor.
More: Brightline opposition on Treasure Coast began almost as soon as the trains were proposed
The maximum authorized speeds will generally increase as the route moves northward, Flatau said, but trains cannot always operate at the maximum speed.
"Keep in mind these speeds are the maximum authorized, but there are various speed changes along each segment due to topography, track geometry, and other operational factors," Flatau said in an email.
More: Video shows Brightline train go through intersection while bars up; officials explain why
One reason for slowing down is the approach to and departure from stations. That said, Brightline trains, for now, will not be stopping on the Treasure Coast. In a 2018 lawsuit settlement, the railroad did agree to build a station somewhere in St. Lucie or Martin County within five years of the beginning of regular scheduled service ... which means Friday. Still, no plans for a station have been announced by Brightline. The city of Fort Pierce, though, has begun independent design work for a station.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: What to know about Brightline train speeds before Friday's launch
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