Posted on 07/20/2025 12:09:09 PM PDT by appeal2
Florida operates three separate rail systems: Tri‑Rail, Brightline, and FEC Freight. Tri‑Rail currently runs on the old CSX corridor to the west, while Brightline and FEC Freight share the Florida East Coast (FEC) main line.
But now, Tri‑Rail is actively testing on the FEC tracks — with dozens of daily tests into downtown Miami Central on the same rails used by Brightline and freight since June 2023 . Moreover, under the Coastal Link plan, Tri‑Rail is slated to begin regular passenger service along this corridor — effectively merging all three rail services onto one aging track .
Picture this: 110 mph Brightline trains, lumbering FEC freight cars, and commuter rail all funneling through the same at‑grade crossings — many without fencing or overpasses, in dense urban neighborhoods where safety is already a joke. Since 2017, Brightline, Tri-Rail and FEC Freight have collectively racked up 360 deaths and counting — the deadliest stretch per mile in the U.S.
This isn’t progress. It’s a policy train wreck. Florida had a chance to build a safe elevated rail system back in 2000, but in 2004 Jeb Bush killed it. Now, we’re cramming bullet and freight trains through intersections — and calling it modernization.
If Coastal Link goes full tilt, Florida will have all three lines collapsing onto a century-old corridor — and taxpayers will pay with their lives.
👉 Click the link above to read the full original oped.
(Excerpt) Read more at open.substack.com ...
And some are just sheer stupidity.
Crossing gates that are down cause you’re in a hurry doesn’t always end well.
The inconvenience of getting hit far outweighs the effects it has on your schedule by waiting for a few minutes.
Florida needs to get California to tell them how to build safe railroads.
I can’t wait till the California high speed rail is completed. Imagine the impact of a 250mph train.... WHOMP!!
“There’s a reason we call it Floriduh.”
Please keep Cuomo up there!
You don’t want to die being hit by a train? Don’t walk on the tracks.
Dumb Ways To Die!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw&list=RDIJNR2EpS0jw&start_radio=1
I’m all for personal responsibility. If someone tries to outrun a train or walks on the tracks with headphones in, that’s obviously a bad decision. But here’s the thing — just because someone makes a poor choice doesn’t mean the infrastructure gets a free pass.
Brightline operates at over 100 mph through unprotected, outdated, street-level crossings, some of which were built when Eisenhower was president. It’s the deadliest rail corridor in America — by a mile. That’s not just about dumb people. That’s about predictable, recurring fatalities on a system designed without modern safeguards.
The legal concept is “inherent danger.” You can have contributory negligence by the individual, and system-wide failure by the planners. Those things aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, it’s the combo that’s deadly.
Fix the crossings. Elevate the track. Use common sense.
Because blaming every death on the victim doesn’t bring them back — and doesn’t solve the problem.
“Elevate the track”
Florida gets heavy rains.
The base of the rail corridor would have to be widened a lot.
If the tracks were elevated 20 feet, each side of the embankment might have to be 40 feet wide.
That would involve buying up a 60-mile path of prime land and its buildings. Then there are construction costs.
Perhaps the passenger rail service should be terminated.
I was in San Diego recently.
The San Diego light rail system is on street level.
The “fruit & nut” drivers of California were able to deal with the system.
“over 100 mph”
I’m pretty sure a 40-mph train could smash a car.
I was told one of my Florida neighbors died from an overdose recently.
How about fencing off the tracks? Problem solved.
Elevating track in hurricane alley is not feasible.
Why would we want them back?
People who, either through being extremely stupid or being supremely selfish, manage to suicide in this way are not the class of people we need more of on the planet.
Apples to oranges. The fastest to San Diego system travels it’s 55 miles an hour in isolated spots. Nonetheless, they still have had a number of fatalities in 2025. Although they are not in the bright lines class by any stretch, they are still competitive.
This is the problem with high speed rail. There is almost no where it can actually go high speed.
The Acela in the Northeast never goes its rated speed for the same reason.
I found an article somewhere from 2023 that said all of the fatalities were people between 17-64. What’s interesting about that? If it was really the rail bed, why are kids, pre-teens and younger teenagers being killed?
A large number of these deaths are suicides and people doing stupid things. There may be places that can be improved but in general the problem is people, not the tracks.
I have ridden the Brightline train and it is considerably faster than other trains. That tends to make it more dangerous than slower trains in that crossing gate runners are less able to judge its speed correctly.
So who else's responsibility (or fault) is it that those people were on the tracks to begin with?
The train didn't put them there. The railroad is not responsible either.
Watch the videos and see how many didn't look before crossing or who were between the down gates.
Aren't people taught to look both ways these days before stepping or moving out into traffic any more?????
Common sense tells you to do that. Because when it comes to a showdown between you and the train, guess who's on the losing side of the encounter?
How can it be the train's responsibility when the train belongs on the tracks and everyone else or everything else doesn't?
Then if you see a train coming, you wait.
If you’re in any situation where you can’t judge speed properly, you wait.
Happens even on the road especially at night when mostly all you see is headlights and headlights alone don’t tell you what the vehicle is which is crucial in determining how far away it is.
It’s called *being careful*.
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