Brightline grade crossing incidents

[alpha3]

They're still at it.......what don't people understand about trying to beat the train?

National Transportation Safety Board to investigate Brightline-SUV collision that killed two in Delray Beach

The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct a safety investigation of a crash between a southbound Brightline train and an SUV in Delray Beach that killed two people Wednesday night.

nsl.sun-sentinel.com

 

[joelkfla]

They're still at it.......what don't people understand about trying to beat the train?

National Transportation Safety Board to investigate Brightline-SUV collision that killed two in Delray Beach

The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct a safety investigation of a crash between a southbound Brightline train and an SUV in Delray Beach that killed two people Wednesday night.

nsl.sun-sentinel.com

 

[jis]

View attachment 31338

I had no problem seeing the article and I am no subscriber to Sun-Sentinel....

 

[Devil's Advocate]

They're still at it.......what don't people understand about trying to beat the train?

You cannot reason people out of a state they never reasoned themselves into.

 

[joelkfla]

I had no problem seeing the article and I am no subscriber to Sun-Sentinel....

Maybe I hit some secret article limit. Or maybe it's because I subscribed to the Orlando Sentinel, which is the same ownership, so they think I'm an easy touch. But then I don't know why they say it's "reserved for their subscribers", unless they're just lying.

I would email them, but they don't publish an email address.

 

[Cal]

Not only in Florida. Today this happened in LA Two Injured When Metrolink Train Collides With SUV in Covina

 

[VentureForth]

I had no problem seeing the article and I am no subscriber to Sun-Sentinel....

I couldn't see it either. It popped up for about 2 seconds until the page finished loading, then the pay wall was last to load up.

 

[alpha3]

Funny, it doesn't block me , but anyway......basically an SUV parked itself on the tracks with Brightline bearing down and crossing gates down. The SUV got hit at high speed, enough that it rolled and damaged a nearby traffic light.

CLIFF NOTES
Witnesses told police the SUV was on tracks and the gates were down when the train struck, said Ted White, a spokesperson for Delray Beach Police. The car was facing west toward Lindell Boulevard, and the impact turned the car over and damaged the traffic light at the intersection of Lindell Boulevard, shutting the road down overnight Wednesday.
Keith Holloway, an NTSB spokesperson, said the highway division will investigate what happened and any safety issues potentially involved. Investigators were en route Thursday, and a preliminary report will be issued in the coming weeks.
None of the deaths involving Brightline have been found to be the railroad’s fault. Most have been suicides, pedestrians who tried to run across the tracks ahead of a train or drivers who maneuvered around crossing gates rather than wait.

Brightline averaged about one death for every 32,000 miles its trains travel, the highest rate among the nation’s more than 800 railroads, according to an ongoing Associated Press analysis that began in 2019. Among railroads that travel at least 100,000 miles per year, the next worst rate belongs to SunRail in Central Florida, with one death per every 117,000 miles.

District 4 Palm Beach County Commissioner Marci Woodward urged people in a Facebook post Thursday morning to be cautious at crossings after Wednesday night’s crash.
“Trains can’t stop quickly, and most need a mile or more to come to a complete stop,” Woodward wrote. “These fast-moving Brightline trains travel about 80 miles per hour and are closer and faster than perceived!”

 

[jis]

Here's another report on it...

After freight train passes, SUV stopped on tracks struck by Brightline train

A couple was killed Wednesday night in Delray Beach when their SUV was struck by an oncoming Brightline train, just moments after a freight train traveling the opposite direction passed, police say.

www.wflx.com

Notice that South and Central Florida seems to be the common factor in the highest death rates as mentioned by @alpha3 in his Cliff Notes above. I surmise it will get much worse before people stop being idiots in this respect.

 

[TinCan782]

View attachment 31338

I got the same thing.!

 

[railiner]

Here's another report on it...

After freight train passes, SUV stopped on tracks struck by Brightline train

A couple was killed Wednesday night in Delray Beach when their SUV was struck by an oncoming Brightline train, just moments after a freight train traveling the opposite direction passed, police say.

www.wflx.com

Notice that South and Central Florida seems to be the common factor in the highest death rates as mentioned by @alpha3 in his Cliff Notes above. I surmise it will get much worse before people stop being idiots in this respect.

I am surprised that SunRail “beat” Tri-Rail for the second worst record, considering Tri-Rail parallels Brightline more or less, crossing many of the same roads, albeit thru slightly less populated sections…

 

[jis]

I am surprised that SunRail “beat” Tri-Rail for the second worst record, considering Tri-Rail parallels Brightline more or less, crossing many of the same roads, albeit thru slightly less populated sections…

Actually TriRail has many fewer grade crossings than FECR because it does not pass through the city centers of any of the coastal cities. It is mostly parallel to I-95 and close to it. Yes it crosses the same main east west roads but it does not hit every two bit traffic circle and minor roads taking off from Route 1 into downtown.

 

[BlazeRip]

They're still at it.......what don't people understand about trying to beat the train?

National Transportation Safety Board to investigate Brightline-SUV collision that killed two in Delray Beach

The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct a safety investigation of a crash between a southbound Brightline train and an SUV in Delray Beach that killed two people Wednesday night.

nsl.sun-sentinel.com

It’s funny because it takes like 10 seconds for it to go by. I don’t understand the impatience. I guess you don’t know if it’s freight or Brightline. In this case they may have got stuck in traffic?

 

[alpha3]

It’s funny because it takes like 10 seconds for it to go by. I don’t understand the impatience. I guess you don’t know if it’s freight or Brightline. In this case they may have got stuck in traffic?

If you read the other story that @railliner posted above, to me the optics are even worse for these morons in the SUV. Apparently there was a northbound freight train already in transit thru the crossing, with the gates down. Seems the SUV decided to go around the gates and, incredibly, sit ON the southbound tracks waiting for the freight to clear. Talk about impatient. Trouble was.....Brightline on the southbound line, bearing down on them. Two trains at once, going opposite directions.

 

[Ziv]

It’s funny because it takes like 10 seconds for it to go by. I don’t understand the impatience. I guess you don’t know if it’s freight or Brightline. In this case they may have got stuck in traffic?

I can almost understand the impatience if you are looking at a 8,000 foot long freight train moving 10 mph out West, but east coast passenger trains make you wait less than a minute...

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

If you read the other story that @railliner posted above, to me the optics are even worse for these morons in the SUV. Apparently there was a northbound freight train already in transit thru the crossing, with the gates down. Seems the SUV decided to go around the gates and, incredibly, sit ON the southbound tracks waiting for the freight to clear. Talk about impatient. Trouble was.....Brightline on the southbound line, bearing down on them. Two trains at once, going opposite directions.

Sheesh, I wish there was an eye roll choice on the like buttons, that's just insane (assuming it wasn't suicide)...

 

[railiner]

If you read the other story that @railliner posted above, to me the optics are even worse for these morons in the SUV.

Actually, it was @jis that posted the story.
I just commented on it…

 

[joelkfla]

Funny, it doesn't block me , but anyway......basically an SUV parked itself on the tracks with Brightline bearing down and crossing gates down. The SUV got hit at high speed, enough that it rolled and damaged a nearby traffic light.

CLIFF NOTES
Witnesses told police the SUV was on tracks and the gates were down when the train struck, said Ted White, a spokesperson for Delray Beach Police. The car was facing west toward Lindell Boulevard, and the impact turned the car over and damaged the traffic light at the intersection of Lindell Boulevard, shutting the road down overnight Wednesday.
Keith Holloway, an NTSB spokesperson, said the highway division will investigate what happened and any safety issues potentially involved. Investigators were en route Thursday, and a preliminary report will be issued in the coming weeks.
None of the deaths involving Brightline have been found to be the railroad’s fault. Most have been suicides, pedestrians who tried to run across the tracks ahead of a train or drivers who maneuvered around crossing gates rather than wait.

Brightline averaged about one death for every 32,000 miles its trains travel, the highest rate among the nation’s more than 800 railroads, according to an ongoing Associated Press analysis that began in 2019. Among railroads that travel at least 100,000 miles per year, the next worst rate belongs to SunRail in Central Florida, with one death per every 117,000 miles.

District 4 Palm Beach County Commissioner Marci Woodward urged people in a Facebook post Thursday morning to be cautious at crossings after Wednesday night’s crash.
“Trains can’t stop quickly, and most need a mile or more to come to a complete stop,” Woodward wrote. “These fast-moving Brightline trains travel about 80 miles per hour and are closer and faster than perceived!”

For anyone who, like me, subscribes to the Orlando Sentinel, they republished the story and it's easily found by a search. But no need, really, as @alpha3 did an excellent job of summarizing,

 

[MARC Rider]

Is there something special about the Brightline route that results in the high number of grade-crossing crashes? How does Brightline compare to other passenger rail corridors with relatively frequent service (Empire Service, Pacific Surfliner, Capitol Corridor, Lincoln Service, South Shore Line, etc.)?

 

[railiner]

Could be as simple as more crossings per mile, possibly? Not sure. Could also be how frequent the trains are, as well as how much vehicular traffic crosses…

Could be the engineering and geometry of the crossings, the average speeds involved.

And possibly the level of driver education…

 

[jis]

Is there something special about the Brightline route that results in the high number of grade-crossing crashes? How does Brightline compare to other passenger rail corridors with relatively frequent service (Empire Service, Pacific Surfliner, Capitol Corridor, Lincoln Service, South Shore Line, etc.)?

Brightline has 328 grade crossings in about 190 miles apparently.

 

[alpha3]

Is there something special about the Brightline route that results in the high number of grade-crossing crashes? How does Brightline compare to other passenger rail corridors with relatively frequent service (Empire Service, Pacific Surfliner, Capitol Corridor, Lincoln Service, South Shore Line, etc.)?

It's the south Florida effect. Lots of reckless, impatient people. Just try driving down there, you'll be.......scared. It actually seems worse now than before when I lived there. I just spent a week there visiting friends - I enjoyed my stay and seeing them but I was very glad to leave. North of Orlando, people drive more normally. South of Orlando, you'd better watch out.

-But I digress- back to the trains!

It's not just Brightline it happens to; in the many years I worked at MIA, quite a few of my co-workers living in Broward or Palm Beach would take Tri-rail to and from the airport because traffic is always a nightmare. They were late fairly frequently due to Tri-rail hitting something. Or someone. This happened to Amtrak too, with obviously less frequency due to only two trains. Interestingly, as far as I remember, this was not as much a factor with the freight trains; but Brightline and Tri-rail, with many trains a day, are most likely to be affected.

For anyone who, like me, subscribes to the Orlando Sentinel, they republished the story and it's easily found by a search. But no need, really, as @alpha3 did an excellent job of summarizing,

Thank you, sir!

 

[west point]

Brightline runs along streets very close to tracks. US1 many places. Those street do not allow for mch distance to get off tracks. FTA shoule dedicate funds to istall smart traffic light signals at thoses crossings.

 

[George Harris]

Don't recall the source, but I have seen that Florida has the highest rate of suicides in the nation. The writer posited that, since a much higher proportion than elsewhere of these were in the 70+ age range that loneliness and declining health were major factors, since many of these were transplants that had no nearby family having moved to sunny climes after retirement. It is possible that suicide by train may be a factor in this high number of grade crossing collisions. This consideration would also explain why South Florida would have more of this than the rest of the state. "Suicide by cop" as practiced by some is harder to achieve when you are old and slow.

 

[Barb Stout]

Well, if there are 328 grade crossings in 190 miles, that would average out to a grade crossing for every 0.58 miles or every 6 or 7 city blocks. That seems like a lot to me, but maybe not a lot within a city.