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 ...
Wow. Ya learn something new every day! O.o
It wanted me to subscribe to read. No thanks.
I just searched to see what the breakdown of fatalities was, auto, pedestrian, cyclist, etc in 2024, and here are what the first 13 right off the top of the list are:
November 26, 2024
A woman was struck and killed by a Brightline train as she walked near the tracks in north Boca Raton. Details of the incident, including how the woman ended up on the tracks, weren’t immediately clear.
November 2, 2024
A cyclist died after being struck by a Brightline train and thrown beneath a car in Pompano Beach. Police say the man rode his bicycle around the lowered crossing arms and onto the tracks when he was hit by the train. The impact threw him from his bike and into a nearby car, which he became trapped beneath.
October 25, 2024
A pedestrian was struck and killed by a Brightline train near Miami’s Design District. Details of the man’s death weren’t immediately available.
September 27, 2024
A 68-year-old Palm Beach County man was killed after police say he drove his car around closed railroad gate arms and was struck by a Brightline train.
September 9, 2024
A 56-year-old Palm Beach County man was hit and killed by a Brightline train in what police classified as a suicide. Witnesses reported seeing the man “deliberately” step onto the railroad tracks, according to the Palm Beach Post.
August 26, 2024
A 77-year-old Palm Beach Gardens man identified as Eric P. Geller was killed after his car collided with a Brightline train. Police are still investigating details of the crash.
August 8, 2024
A man was killed after a Brightline train struck his vehicle in North Palm Beach. Details of the crash weren’t immediately available.
August 7, 2024
A pedestrian was fatally struck by a Brightline train in Deerfield Beach, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
July 31, 2024
A pedestrian was struck and killed by a Brightline train in Wilton Manors. According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the person was dragged by the train toward neighboring Oakland Park.
July 8, 2024
A man was hit and killed by a Brightline train in Cocoa, a city in Brevard County.
June 18, 2024
A pedestrian was fatally injured by a Brightline train in Lake Worth Beach, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
June 2, 2024
A Brightline train struck and killed a man in Stuart in what police said appeared to be a suicide.
May 14, 2024
A woman was killed by a Brightline train while trying to cross the railroad tracks in Brevard County, according to the local sheriff’s office.
This confirms my suspicions. Most are pedestrians. There are several suicides, people going around lowered barricades, auto collisions under investigation, but...most are pedestrians.
How much you want to bet the pedestrians or cyclists hit by the train were wearing earbuds or headphones either on very high volume or with sound cancelling on?
I am not in the least bit interested in people raising a ruckus about the “killer train”, or Choo Choo enthusiasts (like Willie Green) who want to spend vast sums of money to build elevated train lines.
You don’t want to die being hit by a train? Don’t walk on the tracks.
Is this correct? My understanding was that the Mexicans, not the state of Florida, owned the FEC now. Florida did buy the portion from Miami to Key west, but turned it into a highway instead of rebuilding the railroad.
All of those sound like the fault of the railroad. In none of the cases did the train try to swerve out of the path of the cars or pedestrians.
Otherwise, one would have to conclude that Lutz is Nutz. I do wonder what his/her/they’s agenda is.
Hey, if I’m going to write a woke post, I want to stay in character.
Hun? Wat did you say? I was listening to the Best of AC/DC
Dress up like a moose during hunting season
Disturb a nest of wasps for no good reason
Stand on the edge of a train station platform
Drive around the boom gates at a level crossing
Run across the tracks between the platforms
They may not rhyme but they’re quite possibly
The dumbest ways to die
The dumbest ways to die
The dumbest ways to die-ie-ie-ie
So many dumb
So many dumb ways to die
If it’s suicide, there’s nothing that can be done about that.
If it’s stupidity, as in the number of people I see crossing RR crossing with the gates down, well, they know the risk and took their chance. No sympathy from me.
For the actual RARE event where someone’s car actually stalls on railroad tracks and can’t get out before the train bears down on them, that’s tragic.
But if my car got stuck on tracks, the VERY. FIRST. THING. I would do is bail on the car.
Or texting or watching an online video on their phones.
That's not the train's fault.
People have been killed on city streets for stepping out into traffic without looking.
Stupidity hurts.
Such is the result of being raised being insulated from the real life consequences of real life actions.
So, stupid people mess with train tracks and get killed.
In the Denver area. It’s mostly junkies and drunks walking along the track.
Almost impossible to believe that.
That is close to 1 fatality each week.
The legal fees, insurance, and settlements would be in the billions of dollars.
Is this like, Martin’s buddy from old times or what lofl...
Hahahahahahahaha...we need to develop trains that can swerve!
Exactly!
Some of the deaths are accidents, but many are suicides of one sort or another.
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