Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Transportation United States

Privately-Owned High-Speed Rail Opens New Line in Florida, Kills Pedestrian (thepointsguy.com) 220

At 11 a.m. Friday in Orlando Florida, a train completed its 240-mile journey from Miami, inaugurating a new line from Brightline that reaches speeds of up to 125 miles per hour and reduces the journey to just under three hours. "This is going to revolutionize transportation not just in the country and the state of Florida but right here in Central Florida and really just make our backyard bigger," Brightline's director of public affairs Katie Mitzner told a local news station.

Ironically, within hours a different Brightline train had struck and killed a pedestrian. "Brightline trains have the highest death rate in the U.S.," reports one local news station, "fatally striking 98 people since Miami-West Palm operations began — about one death for every 32,000 miles its trains travel, according to an ongoing Associated Press analysis." A police spokesperson said the death appeared to be a suicide.

"None of the accidents have been determined to be Brightline's fault," writes The Points Guy, "and the company has spent millions of dollars on safety improvements at grade crossings. It also launched a public-relations push to encourage all residents along its corridor to commit to staying safe. However, it is a very real and ongoing element of this service in Florida. We hope these efforts will continue to further reduce these incidents in communities that see frequent Brightline trains coming through."

The Points Guy also shared photos in their blog post describing what it was like to take a ride on America's only privately owned and operated inter-city passenger railroad: When the train ultimately pulled out of the station, a surreal feeling washed over me. Those of us on the inaugural service were the first passengers to ride the rails along this stretch of Florida's east coast in more than 55 years. Florida East Coast Railway, which still owns the tracks and operates frequent freight trains along them, ceased passenger service on July 31, 1968... Each seat has multiple power outlets, and the Wi-Fi truly was high-speed based on my experience and the test I ran. I was even able to successfully join (and participate in) our morning editorial team call on Zoom...

The scenery along the route was simply spectacular... With no grade crossings and fencing on both sides, we reached 125 mph for the final stretch of the journey. The cars along the highway stood no chance of keeping up as we traversed the 30-plus miles in only 18 minutes as the tower at Orlando International Airport came into view... With plans to expand to Tampa and construction underway on its planned Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas route, we likely haven't heard the last from Brightline as it seeks to transform train service in the United States.

"I think what Brightline has done here has laid the blueprint for how speed rail can be built in America with private dollars versus government funding," investor Ryn Rosberg told a local news site. "It's much more efficient and it gets done a lot quicker."

"There have been colorful station openings, lawsuits, threats of lawsuits, threats of legislation and yes, fatal accidents," writes the Palm Beach Post, "but Brightline train passengers can now take the train from any of its five South Florida stations to visit the Disney World, Universal Studios or Sea World tourist attractions."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Privately-Owned High-Speed Rail Opens New Line in Florida, Kills Pedestrian

Comments Filter:
  • happens all the time in my area so why is this big news?

    • happens all the time in my area so why is this big news?

      Because this isn't Asia. My question: if there are no grade crossings, who are the "pedestrians" being killed?

      • The new section just opened has no at grade crossings. The other existing half of the route has lots. And many idiot south Florida drivers and pedestrians
        • by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 ) on Sunday September 24, 2023 @06:15PM (#63874073)

          The new section just opened has no at grade crossings. The other existing half of the route has lots. And many idiot south Florida drivers and pedestrians

          Amtrak did away with a lot (all?) of grade level crossings on the Northeast Corridor Acela routes to avoid having to slow down and reduce chances of an accident. I suspect Brightline can't afford the cost of getting rid of others and Florida has no desire to pay it themselves. One where I grew up was replaced with a massive flyover bridge crossing that replaced teh grade level one; as well as an underground pedestrian crossing.

    • by v1 ( 525388 ) on Sunday September 24, 2023 @05:23PM (#63873947) Homepage Journal

      Imagine if AUTO accident fatalities go this kind of publicity? About 7,500 pedestrians are killed every year by cars here in the USA.

      Trains tend to be a lot safer - they're driven by professional drivers, on mostly gated tracks, and the people moved per square foot of area crossed is MUCH higher.

      • by pezpunk ( 205653 ) on Sunday September 24, 2023 @06:55PM (#63874159) Homepage

        In the US, one pedestrian is killed per 500 MILLION MILES DRIVEN. one death per 32,000 miles is a fucking slaughter by comparison. It absolutely should be news.

        • was that 1 death per 32,000 miles of track, or as you suggest, 1 death per 32,000 miles ridden? I suspect it is the former, but do not know for sure where than number came from.

          Also, would it not make sense to account for the vastly higher ridership of the train relative to the car. Most cars carry a single passenger, whereas trains are (ideally) carrying hundreds to thousands of passengers each run along the tracks.
        • by mjwx ( 966435 ) on Monday September 25, 2023 @07:53AM (#63875059)

          In the US, one pedestrian is killed per 500 MILLION MILES DRIVEN. one death per 32,000 miles is a fucking slaughter by comparison. It absolutely should be news.

          The UK, with it's extensive rail network manages under 50 fatalities per year (not incl. suicides) and a single London Tube train manages to rack up 114,000 miles per year... That's just one train in the city of London.

          If people are regularly getting hit by trains, that means that people aren't staying clear of the tracks.

      • by znrt ( 2424692 )

        every avoidable death is a tragedy, but all else being equal, a car run over usually just inconveniences a small group of people, whereas a train run over will block the track to other trains and leave several hundreds or even over thousand literally "stuck in the tracks", maybe for hours, likely also affecting even many more people which depend on schedules.

        mind you, i'm all for collective/public transport, and it is safer, but train run overs are a real concern. you'd think it is relatively straightforwar

    • Clickbait (Score:2, Interesting)

      happens all the time in my area so why is this big news?

      It's a hit piece by mainstream media. It's clickbait.

      Florida is staunch republican, and to see anything succeed there is against the narrative. So they say "struck and killed a pedestrian" right up front to plant the idea in peoples' minds, then "one person every 32,000 miles" to set the idea into concrete.

      The news article linked in the description [wesh.com] doesn't even bother to mention that none of the accidents were Brightline's fault, it just states the death statistics without context.

      Florida got a high speed t

      • Meh, I didn't think of it as a hit piece, I still see high speed rail as a win. Even in a shit hole state.

        Which brings up the main point. How much of the line is on public land? How much of the line did they have to buy from obstinate landowners?

        Old presumably Republican landowners are the ones in Texas trying to sabotage a train line between Houston and Dallas.

      • The news article linked in the description [wesh.com] doesn't even bother to mention that none of the accidents were Brightline's fault,

        The accidents are not Brightline's fault only because most things about railroads, including right-of-way and safety, have been grandfathered in since the 1800s. They have been granted the right to operate an unstoppable mass going 125mph across the landscape including roads and pathways, and if anyone or anything gets caught in its path, blame is assigned solely on the victim.

        If somebody created any kind of business today other than a railroad that resulted in someone dying every 32,000 miles of transport,

        • "They have been granted the right to operate an unstoppable mass going 125mph across the landscape including roads and pathways, and if anyone or anything gets caught in its path, blame is assigned solely on the victim."

          They have been granted the right to operate on their private property or the private property of the owner from whom they lease trackage rights.

          If anyone or anything trespasses on their property a portion of blame is assigned to the trespasser.

          "Proper high-speed rail doesn't have grade cross

          • Like I said, grandfathered rights-of-way.

            Nobody else but railroads would be allowed to slice up the country with hundreds of miles of razor-thin ribbons of "private property" that everyone else must "trespass" on daily at their own risk as they go about their lives.

        • BTW, Florida just showed everyone that an *incredibly dangerous* not-quite-that-high speed rail can be done in our country. Proper high-speed rail doesn't have grade crossings, and goes almost twice as fast to boot.

          Indeed: seems someone forgot that HSR is more than just high speed trains. The UK had trains which outpaced the Shinkansen operating speed in the 80s, yet we have essentially fuck all HSR. Even throughout the 80s the UK had trains which ran on segments of the network within about 10mph of the con

    • If you get run over by a train 99.9999999% of the time that's on you.

  • Darwin Strikes Again (Score:5, Informative)

    by NoWayNoShapeNoForm ( 7060585 ) on Sunday September 24, 2023 @05:09PM (#63873913)

    Before this thread is overrun with whining demanding "the tracks should be elevated" and "they fence off the tracks in my country"...

    The TFS notes that the death appears to be a suicide.

    Keep in mind that Brightline exists because the mainline tracks of the FEC, Florida East Coast Railway, exist.

    The FEC tracks have existed in that R-O-W (right-of-way) for over 100 years, thanks to Henry Flagler.

    Go look up Henry Flagler sometime; interesting story. A partner in Standard Oil, with John D. Rockefeller, Flagler plowed his fortune into building a railway all the way down to Key West, Florida (completed in 1912). No railway existed along that R-O-W before Flagler.

    So for the whining crowd that thinks the railway ought to move out of the way to avoid these senseless deaths, go suck an egg 'cuz the railway was there first.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      My issue is that it reaches a peak of only 200kph. That's not high speed rail.

      Back in 1964, almost 60 years ago, the first Japanese shinkansen started operation at 240kph, setting the baseline for what is considered high speed rail.

      Current trains operate up to 320kph. The new maglev one will start at 600.

      • by NoWayNoShapeNoForm ( 7060585 ) on Sunday September 24, 2023 @05:55PM (#63874021)

        My issue is that it reaches a peak of only 200kph. That's not high speed rail.

        Back in 1964, almost 60 years ago, the first Japanese shinkansen started operation at 240kph, setting the baseline for what is considered high speed rail.

        Current trains operate up to 320kph. The new maglev one will start at 600.

        Your Shinkansen claims, while perfectly valid and true, are an Apples vs Oranges comparision.

        Shinkansen is all "grade-separated" track; there are NO road grade crossings of that track. Building such track comes at high costs. Japanese society will tolerate such high costs for at least 2 reasons: (1) Japanese culture conforms to a cultural norm of what is good for the population as a whole is most important; (2) Japanese businesses and banks are much more willing to invest in long-term capital improvements.

        The FEC mainline has no chance of ever be "grade-separated" unless the local towns accept some truly serious civil engineering & heavy construction. Also consider that American society is the anti-thesis of Japanese society: (1) Americans tend not to conform to a common cultural norm since Americans tend to believe what's good for ME (Gene Simmons would be proud) is what matters; (2) American businesses and their investors tend to shy away from long-term investments, in favor of short-term "this Quarter's bottom-line and stock market price".

        So Brightline in Florida never really has a chance of being true end-to-end highspeed rail. It might be more like Amtrak in the North East Corridor - very fast in a limited section of track, and in the NEC that is some place out in Rhode Island.

        If American passenger rail could ever reach a sustained average speed of 70+ mph over the entire length of a run ... that would be an improvement. Sadly, grade crossings, lack of new R-O-W for new HSR track, narrow track clearances, freight congestion (freight traffic was there before HSR was ever dreamed of), every podunk town wanting a HSR stop (to allow the train to pass through, as in the REAL CAHSR politics), and tracks with endless curves (straight track and track with wide moderate curves work best for HSR) will derail American highspeed rail efforts. Texas came closest to having something like highspeed but most citizens along that planned Right-of-Way DID NOT WANT TO SELL and the rest are fighting in the courts any efforts for the railroad to claim "eminent domain".

        • by Ichijo ( 607641 )

          every podunk town wanting a HSR stop (to allow the train to pass through, as in the REAL CAHSR politics)...will derail American highspeed rail efforts.

          Why can't HSR provide limited-stop express service that bypasses smaller stations?

          • every podunk town wanting a HSR stop (to allow the train to pass through, as in the REAL CAHSR politics)...will derail American highspeed rail efforts.

            Why can't HSR provide limited-stop express service that bypasses smaller stations?

            Local politics is the reason.

            The CAHSR project has shown the power of local politics in getting a major project completed.

            The not-so-polite way of saying "local politics" might be political extortion. Local agencies and governments in California can hold up permits for projects for what seems like an eternity. And if those elected officials "mobilize" some "anti-[whatever]" group to rise up and oppose a project, then the political & media attention can become intense. And let us not forget the wonderful

        • Shinkansen is all "grade-separated" track; there are NO road grade crossings of that track.

          And that's what you need for it to be high speed rail.

          The UK had trains which could match or beat the contemporary Shinkansen for speed in the 80s. We don't have anything approaching a HSR network because we lack the lines, not the trains.

          So, while you're both correct, the GP's claim about it not being HSR is true. You're telling us why building HSR is basically impossible.

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          It really is the long term investment that is the issue. Much of Japan's high speed lines are built on elevated track, and the new maglev one is mostly tunnels. It's all done on a basis of a 50+ year payback. The infrastructure will be there, the trains will be running, for at least that long.

      • They started at 210 not 240 so the difference isn't that far off.

        Fun fact, the Shinkansen want e much faster than the Intercity 125 until them second gen was introduced in the early 80s. And the new 225 introduced a couple of years later was again not much slower. Even the third gen was only marginally faster than the APT from the early 80s. :(

        • And when anyone discusses "Shinkansen" you have to ask them which version of the service they are talking about.

          There are 3 versions of the service between Tokyo & Osaka: (1) non-stop; (2) very limited stops (at a few stations that interchange with more local lines; Japanese trains are VERY ORGANIZED that way); (3) lots of stops (which takes an hour or more longer than the non-stop version).

    • Yes, this specific death was a suicide, but there have been 98(!) deaths already, and 7 were deemed suicides. Meanwhile at-grade crossings were cited explicitly or implicitly (collisions with vehicles) in at least 20 of those deaths. Honestly, all train tracks should be entirely separated from roads. Even if you don't care about the lives of idiots who try to beat trains, there's the cost of the lost hours for everyone riding (or unable to ride) the train after a collision, and the fact that collisions w

  • by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Sunday September 24, 2023 @05:11PM (#63873923)

    Headline reads: Privately-Owned High-Speed Rail Opens New Line in Florida, Kills Pedestrian.

    "... a different Brightline train had struck and killed a pedestrian."

    I wonder how often Toyota reveals a brand new model in Atlanta while headlines also report 3 deaths that occurred because a '74 Corolla rolled off a cliff in Bogota.

    Knock that shit off already.

    • Looks like some blogger managed to get his blog post promoted here on Slashdot.

    • by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Sunday September 24, 2023 @05:24PM (#63873949) Homepage Journal

      "... a different Brightline train had struck a person committing suicide."

      Has @EditorDave no shame?

      I feel terrible for the train engineers who have to witness this repeatedly.

    • Headline reads: Privately-Owned High-Speed Rail Opens New Line in Florida, Kills Pedestrian.

      "... a different Brightline train had struck and killed a pedestrian."

      I wonder how often Toyota reveals a brand new model in Atlanta while headlines also report 3 deaths that occurred because a '74 Corolla rolled off a cliff in Bogota.

      Knock that shit off already.

      When TASER went public, simultaneously news reports came out on how it killed people.

      Someone wanted to affect the stock price.

      Reporters, do your job, follow the money. Why is a death, not their fault, for some other normal line, being taken as synonymous with the high speed rail launch? Even if someone bother with the fine print, the association is deliberate. Follow the money.

  • A lot of people in some big east coast city centers have lost the habit of looking both ways when they cross the street. I don't know how many times I've driven through Center City Philadelphia, or parts of Back Bay or Cambridge when somone looking and walking away from me just steps into the street and starts crossing.

    I'd blame the phones, but I started noticing this some 10 or 15 years ago before phones were anywhere as ubiquitous as now.

    Bicyclists too. No lights at night, sometimes on a phone, occasional

  • by AlanObject ( 3603453 ) on Sunday September 24, 2023 @05:45PM (#63873991)

    and the company has spent millions of dollars on safety improvements at grade crossings

    Seriously, WTF.

    High speed rail needs grade separation not grade crossings. Having grade crossings is simply just asking for it.

    • by spth ( 5126797 )
      The company has a high-speed line now, but not all their lines are high-speed.
  • Monorail!

  • by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Sunday September 24, 2023 @06:02PM (#63874037)

    Brightline needs to fix this problem ASAP by providing people with a convenient and accessible location away trains from which to commit suicide.

  • It's nice to see a high-speed rail project success story in this country. When I look to the west and see the massive failures and cost overruns in so many projects, it can be a bit demoralizing. I'd love to see the Florida HSR expand to the north a bit and connect some of the larger Southern cities so that we can get about a little more conveniently. I drive tens of thousands of miles each year because our current passenger rail system doesn't have the reach and convenience to meet my needs, and don't get

  • Living in Florida it's always made little sense that there isn't rail service between it's 4 major cities which are long enough to be annoying to drive to but close enough to feel like flying is a waste.

    That said I have a couple of concerns about this things viability. It's not a time saver, Miami/Orlando drive is about 3.5 to 4.5 depending on traffic, this is 3hr38 and secondly the price of $80/150 each way which is more than the gas it takes to drive for many people (500 miles round trip). Then there is

    • I'm not from Europe or Asia, but I can use Google.

      Miami and Orlando are about 210 miles apart as the crow flies.

      Here are a few city pairs that are about the same distance apart, how long a train between them takes, and how much it costs for a ticket on October 4, ten days from now:

      Marseille - Geneva: 205 miles, 3h55m, $84 or $115 one way
      Venice - Turin: 228 miles, 4h21m, Prices from $33 to $159 one way
      Frankfurt - Dresden: 229 miles, 4h17m, prices from $64 to $157 one way
      Kyoto-Yokohama: 221 miles, 1h55m, $90-

  • they're not commuter trains. I swear these Miami-Dade county people keep building up this half-hearted Busway road. It doesn't help because the buses still have to stop at too many intersections since it's ground level and also parallel to gridlocked US1, as close as 20 feet! It shouldn't take 2.25 hours to go 35 miles, that's an effective speed of 15.56mph, because of the shear number of intersections. All the money getting dumped into this Busway should be going into expansion of the raised Metrorail trai
    • These political science majors and attorneys running the show can't comprehend that bicycle paced speed doesn't help citizens at all.

      It can, if it doesn't suck for other reasons. An astounding (something like 50%) of journeys in the US are under 3 miles:

      https://www.energy.gov/eere/ve... [energy.gov]

      Even at biking speed of 15mph (a bit generous really for most, fine for the more keen or anyone on a cheap ebike) that's a scant 12 minutes of travelling time (20 mins if you want to include 60% of all (ALL!) journeys).

      I have

  • I am a 47 year old with a fairly average number of miles on my personal odometer. If I were a bright line train, I would have killed over 10 people by now. Thatâ(TM)s fucking crazy.

  • The important story here isn't the suicide-by-train - that's sad, but all-too-common and not really newsworthy. What is newsworthy is this quote: "I think what Brightline has done here has laid the blueprint for how speed rail can be built in America with private dollars versus government funding".

    That's just what we need here in North America - more privatization of things that used to be, and always should be, in the public domain. If this is a trend and results in private commuter services being the norm

    • You give circular reasoning. People say government needs to do it because business won't. But if business finds a case and explores it, suddenly the tail wags the dog and only government should do it.

      • "California Rail is partnering with Star Citizen to cross-promote to true believers. Join the fun at the Waldorf Astoria, though you probably won't be allowed into the suite-level festivities. You can watch them on the screens in the Tiki meeting room."

      • You give circular reasoning. People say government needs to do it because business won't. But if business finds a case and explores it, suddenly the tail wags the dog and only government should do it.

        I've never said "government needs to do it because business won't", although I've probably said something along the lines of "government needs to do it because business will create a monopoly or an oligopoly and then abuse it relentlessly".

    • Re:The real story (Score:5, Informative)

      by dfm3 ( 830843 ) on Sunday September 24, 2023 @06:59PM (#63874163) Journal

      That's just what we need here in North America - more privatization of things that used to be, and always should be, in the public domain. If this is a trend and results in private commuter services being the norm, then those services will soon be as shitty and over-priced as cellular and internet services are already. Wouldn't that be just wonderful?

      While I fully agree with you, railroads in the US are a very poor example since they were almost exclusively built and owned by private companies until the latter half of the 20th century, when travel by car and plane made passenger rail service unprofitable - only then did Amtrak step in as a government-run entity to take over all the routes from the dozens upon dozens of private passenger rail services that were losing money. In most parts of the country, Amtrak actually runs on privately owned track belonging to the small handful of companies that now remain after decades of mergers. So outside of a few corridors (mostly min major cities and in the northeast) there never was a fully government-owned passenger rail service in the US, just a government entity that runs their rolling stock on private track.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by buck-yar ( 164658 )
        It was a good deal if I understood it correctly. The US govt gave land to two railroad companies that were laying the trans-continental railroad, for free. The companies then turned around and sold the land for (obviously) profit and kept just the land needed for the tracks.
        • The US govt gave land to two railroad companies that were laying the trans-continental railroad, for free.

          That's right, and they chose their route based first not on utility, but on what land they would like to own. And also, if the government granted the land to the company, then the company didn't build a rail line. A partnership between the company and the government built it.

      • Thanks - I hadn't considered those points.
    • It's been my experience that government services are just as shitty and overpriced. I think it is a problem with large organizations overall, not something intrinsic to government or private per se.
      • It's been my experience that government services are just as shitty and overpriced. I think it is a problem with large organizations overall, not something intrinsic to government or private per se.

        Fair point. But least with governments, our votes and voices have some power, although perhaps not as much in decades past.

        I guess what I'm pining for is the days when government actually reined in big companies instead of egging them on. For example, Bell Telephone were always bastards; but they always provided reliable service, and government kept their worst excesses in check, at least here in Canada. Now, it seems that telecom companies do whatever the hell they want, and the government occasionally exp

  • Can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. I had an omelet this morning, it was delicious.

  • It's been well known for quite a while that the thing about being human is that humans make mistakes. It's not always people deliberately ignoring signals or wanting to commit suicide. But it's nearly impossible to get hit by a train when the train is underground or in a tunnel, elevated when tunneling doesn't work and there are platform edge doors in stations to keep people from falling on the tracks. They placed saving money on construction costs over saving lives. That's why nearly 100 people have been k

  • Misleading (Score:4, Informative)

    by fferreres ( 525414 ) on Sunday September 24, 2023 @10:34PM (#63874435)

    It reads like the fatality occurred on the inaugurating line and not one that has been operating for years. It also talks about irony, but there is no irony. I used this train and it is clean and well managed.

  • The reason this was able to work is that a corporation took the backlash from local communities, not politicians. It took 25 years for this company to wade through all the lawsuits from local communities it built the line through. If it were a public service, it just wouldn't have gotten done, because the politicians wouldn't have been able to ignore the voters, much less secure the public funding for it

  • When someone throws him-/herself in front of a train, it's not an accident or accidental death. It's even ridiculous to actually mention it in the article as the train/track isn't the problem. And tye title is HIGHLY clickbait and even wrong, as it suggests the new line killed the pedestrian, while it didn't, it was another line, and the line didn't kill anybody, it was the pedestrian him-/herself.
  • That's not high-speed rail.

The gent who wakes up and finds himself a success hasn't been asleep.

Working...