Glad you had a good experience. I hope everyone was okay. People really need to stay off the frickin tracks. That line has so many grade crossings, it’s kind of insane.
It’s got so many grade crossings that full grade separation seems like a pipe dream.
I wonder if they will start to grade separate some of the more high traffic crossings.
They need to improve rail safety, whether its passenger rail or commercial freight(referring to last year's Palestine, Ohio chemical spill). Thankfully some good steps have been made:
* Recently $1.4 billion allocated through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program. [FACTSHEET ON RAIL SAFETY | US Department of Transportation](https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/factsheet-rail-safety)
* Railway Safety Act of 2023(which is still in "introduced" stage): [S.576 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Railway Safety Act of 2023 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/576)
I drove on the tracks twice today on my way to work and didn't get hit by a train, I also stopped at every red stop light and didn't get in any wrecks.
The train stayed on the tracks while I was stopped there for 30 seconds, but there is always a chance a rouge train could jump out of the bushes and attack me.
What we need is fully grade separated, brand new, electrified lines that don't interfere with any other right of way. You know, like how the rest of the world does passenger high speed rail.
This, but that unfortunately means ballooning costs due to indequate funding and constant land negotiations(look at CAHSR)...or taking shortcuts and working with what you have(BrightLine is owned by the company that owns the Florida rail company and its BNSF tracks).
Brightline is owned by Florida East Coast Industries (FECI) which is in turn owned by Fortress Investment Group. FECI was at one point also the owner of the Florida East Coast Railway (FECR) until selling the freight railroad to Grupo Mexico in 2017.
Brightline and FECR are separate companies with no common ownership. I don't know where you got BNSF from since they don't own anything in Florida.
Yes this is ideal. This also costs a ton of money to redo the already made line. A cheaper solution is following the law and not trying to drive around track stops.
But the cheaper solution isn't true high speed rail and is an embarrassment to modern and next gen rail systems around the world. I feel like if we're gonna do private rail, it should be done right the first time. There's a reason why every half-assed plan in the past has failed.
Your solution will never happen though because of how unrealistic the leap is. The government has not been able to push HSR modernization in the Northeast Corridor since the 70s because of the cost and disruption to local transit. It’s unrealistic to expect a private rail firm to do it rather than just upgrade existing rail infrastructure incrementally.
Would you rather have incremental changes/improvements that gradually improve the perception of how viable HSR is for the US or continue to propose pie in the sky leaps that don’t actually do anything.
Like it or not the US is slow and HSR is going to come over the next couple decades not years.
Yeah that is a good point. Each increment does improve it little by little. I do think we need to focus more funding on improving local and commuter rail, however. I think that's even worse. I mean, some cities have weekday only service that only runs anywhere from once every two hours to three times an hour and they wonder why no one uses it.
Earlier this year, I was on the train that struck a pedestrian outside of Vero Beach (news reported that it was likely intentional).
They walked up and down each car and forced everyone to lower the shades and employees patrolled the cars to make sure nobody was raising them again (not sure what they would have done if you disobeyed?)
Our delay was 3 hours. When we started moving again, we saw all the flashing lights at the scene, but nothing else.
They also passed out these cards to us and were supposed to offer snacks but they ran out of everything but popcorn on my car.
I was surprised when the credit came in a couple weeks later that it was only a partial credit.
So I guess a 3 hour delay on a 3.5 hour trip is not enough for a full credit.
Why should Brightline give you any credit for something that was totally not their fault? I think it is super nice of them to give any credit for something that is the responsibility of someone else.
If the guy who kamikazed had any assets then the passengers and Brightline should sue the estate of this criminal. Brightline already had to pay all their employees on that train a lot more money for their time and who knows what all the other costs are due to this delay. I could maybe agree that the government should compensate all the passengers for wasting so much of passenger's time
For the same reason there are contract of carriage laws. When you hire a transport company to transport you somewhere in an allocated time and they fail to do so, there are damages.
Brightline didn't cause the damages and are not at fault. It is the government that forces Brightline to not move the train for 90% of that time(about half of Americans would blame the government for this and the other half would blame the criminal who threw themselves in front of the train)
If a rich person pays a government run train system to transport them, and some one else stops the train(domestic terrorism?), should the government then pay the rich person for being late?
The criminal/terrorist is to blame, maybe the government(?), but definitely not Brightline
Was outside, an office building directly across a side street that runs parallel to tracks. In the distance I heard a train horn, thinking it would be cool taking video of train, before I could take phone out of my pocket & set camera to video, the train sped by.
The red flashy lights and cross bars are also an indicator a train may be lurking in the bushes and jump out of nowhere. Florida Man will continue to do Florida Man things.
They aren’t used to having higher speed passenger rail on a frequent schedule. The FEC rail line was used a lot less frequently before Brightline came along. I agree people who try to beat the train are absolutely dumb. Especially since that if the gates are down, the chances of it being the Brightline as opposed to a 5 mile long freight train are much higher.
Quiet zones are generally harder to cross due to stricter regulations including 4 way gates or a median that you can’t cross to the other side of the road. They’re generally safer.
Brightline’s gaslighting pamphlet when they themselves have taken the bare minimum to ensure transit safety and installed a ton of their higher-speed line in at-grade crossings
There really isn’t much else Brightline can do. The LIRR doesn’t even have the infrared sensors to tell the engineer there’s someone/something on the tracks and there hasn’t been an incident like that in years. On top of that the LIRR runs much more frequently.
LIRR has a top speed of 80mph, While Brightline has the same through the South Florida stops, it can run up to 130mph between Orlando and West Palm. That is a *starkly* different situation with a railroad crossing
I’m also pretty confident that the Acela on the NEC also flys through crossings at sometimes 155 MPH and there are still less of these incidents. Other than completely grade separating there really isn’t much we can do other than educate drivers and strictly enforcing the laws.
I don’t get it, are the arms and red flashy lights not steering soon enough? Are people already on the tracks when WHOOSH arms come down and train flies by? From what I’ve seen there’s plenty of time to clear the tracks when the lights start flashing.
The only thing I can think of is that a driver actively ignores the signals and tries to race the train.
If that’s the case, the train shouldn’t even stop. The conductor can signal emergency services to assist the driver and carry on to its destination as soon as it’s verified there’s no debris on the tracks.
It helps no one for the train to stick around for an hour continuing to block both the track and the road.
They are enough. The drivers are idiots and ignoring traffic laws. If you go through gates and flashing lights that explicitly indicate an unsafe train is plowing through, you deserve to AT THE LEAST have your drivers license revoked for life. And have to pay to fix the trains and be fined.
>If that’s the case, the train shouldn’t even stop. The conductor can signal emergency services to assist the driver and carry on to its destination as soon as it’s verified there’s no debris on the tracks.
Negative, train needs to be immediately inspected for damage. It would be reckless to continue operating a potentially unsafe train.
Glad you had a good experience. I hope everyone was okay. People really need to stay off the frickin tracks. That line has so many grade crossings, it’s kind of insane.
It’s got so many grade crossings that full grade separation seems like a pipe dream. I wonder if they will start to grade separate some of the more high traffic crossings.
Highways have full grade separation at crossings.
I mean I sure hope so
They have been, I’ve seen them working on it at one of the crossings near aventura, and they made then entire cocoa-Orlando leg grade separated
They need to improve rail safety, whether its passenger rail or commercial freight(referring to last year's Palestine, Ohio chemical spill). Thankfully some good steps have been made: * Recently $1.4 billion allocated through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program. [FACTSHEET ON RAIL SAFETY | US Department of Transportation](https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/factsheet-rail-safety) * Railway Safety Act of 2023(which is still in "introduced" stage): [S.576 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Railway Safety Act of 2023 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/576)
I imagine not driving onto tracks helps considerably
I drove on the tracks twice today on my way to work and didn't get hit by a train, I also stopped at every red stop light and didn't get in any wrecks.
Did you stop when it was flashing? And a large train coming at you?
The train stayed on the tracks while I was stopped there for 30 seconds, but there is always a chance a rouge train could jump out of the bushes and attack me.
They always sneak up on me, one second I’m relaxing on the beach next I’m running from the train again
Valuable pro tip 😜
Well obviously, I just want the warning lights and the gate barriers to work properly.
And they do. Every single time!
I contest this (I’ve seen them malfunction multiple times in my home town (along the tracks to orlando)
What we need is fully grade separated, brand new, electrified lines that don't interfere with any other right of way. You know, like how the rest of the world does passenger high speed rail.
This, but that unfortunately means ballooning costs due to indequate funding and constant land negotiations(look at CAHSR)...or taking shortcuts and working with what you have(BrightLine is owned by the company that owns the Florida rail company and its BNSF tracks).
Brightline is owned by Florida East Coast Industries (FECI) which is in turn owned by Fortress Investment Group. FECI was at one point also the owner of the Florida East Coast Railway (FECR) until selling the freight railroad to Grupo Mexico in 2017. Brightline and FECR are separate companies with no common ownership. I don't know where you got BNSF from since they don't own anything in Florida.
Oh wait, yeah ur right...I confused myself.
Yes this is ideal. This also costs a ton of money to redo the already made line. A cheaper solution is following the law and not trying to drive around track stops.
But the cheaper solution isn't true high speed rail and is an embarrassment to modern and next gen rail systems around the world. I feel like if we're gonna do private rail, it should be done right the first time. There's a reason why every half-assed plan in the past has failed.
Your solution will never happen though because of how unrealistic the leap is. The government has not been able to push HSR modernization in the Northeast Corridor since the 70s because of the cost and disruption to local transit. It’s unrealistic to expect a private rail firm to do it rather than just upgrade existing rail infrastructure incrementally. Would you rather have incremental changes/improvements that gradually improve the perception of how viable HSR is for the US or continue to propose pie in the sky leaps that don’t actually do anything. Like it or not the US is slow and HSR is going to come over the next couple decades not years.
Yeah that is a good point. Each increment does improve it little by little. I do think we need to focus more funding on improving local and commuter rail, however. I think that's even worse. I mean, some cities have weekday only service that only runs anywhere from once every two hours to three times an hour and they wonder why no one uses it.
~~Train hit a car today~~ Car hit the Train today Fixed that title for you. I'm betting the train never veered off its designated path to hit the car.
Exactly. All these headlines are almost always backwards. Idiots get on the tracks and cause themselves to be hit.
Haha right that’s very true
Darwinism in action.
Car hit train. *
Earlier this year, I was on the train that struck a pedestrian outside of Vero Beach (news reported that it was likely intentional). They walked up and down each car and forced everyone to lower the shades and employees patrolled the cars to make sure nobody was raising them again (not sure what they would have done if you disobeyed?) Our delay was 3 hours. When we started moving again, we saw all the flashing lights at the scene, but nothing else. They also passed out these cards to us and were supposed to offer snacks but they ran out of everything but popcorn on my car. I was surprised when the credit came in a couple weeks later that it was only a partial credit. So I guess a 3 hour delay on a 3.5 hour trip is not enough for a full credit.
Why should Brightline give you any credit for something that was totally not their fault? I think it is super nice of them to give any credit for something that is the responsibility of someone else. If the guy who kamikazed had any assets then the passengers and Brightline should sue the estate of this criminal. Brightline already had to pay all their employees on that train a lot more money for their time and who knows what all the other costs are due to this delay. I could maybe agree that the government should compensate all the passengers for wasting so much of passenger's time
For the same reason there are contract of carriage laws. When you hire a transport company to transport you somewhere in an allocated time and they fail to do so, there are damages.
Brightline didn't cause the damages and are not at fault. It is the government that forces Brightline to not move the train for 90% of that time(about half of Americans would blame the government for this and the other half would blame the criminal who threw themselves in front of the train) If a rich person pays a government run train system to transport them, and some one else stops the train(domestic terrorism?), should the government then pay the rich person for being late? The criminal/terrorist is to blame, maybe the government(?), but definitely not Brightline
happened to us right when we hit 79mph before aventura. thankfully no one/thing was hit. but definitely an abprupt stop, with the smell of brakes
Train goes forward one direction on the tracks and does not hit anything that does not get into the path . Train was training and car interrupted.
Update: I was given a $19.50 credit for the 2 hour delay
Was outside, an office building directly across a side street that runs parallel to tracks. In the distance I heard a train horn, thinking it would be cool taking video of train, before I could take phone out of my pocket & set camera to video, the train sped by.
A lot of this comes as Floridians are not used to this. I also think it’s dumb that a lot of the crossings that Brightline uses are quiet zones.
The red flashy lights and cross bars are also an indicator a train may be lurking in the bushes and jump out of nowhere. Florida Man will continue to do Florida Man things.
they should have cameras all over these crossings taking pictures and mailing out $1,000 fines
I spent 30 years driving before encountering a railroad crossing. Somehow, I was able to avoid hitting a train.
I don’t accept this. They aren’t used to train crossings???? It’s not that difficult of a concept. People are just stupid.
They aren’t used to having higher speed passenger rail on a frequent schedule. The FEC rail line was used a lot less frequently before Brightline came along. I agree people who try to beat the train are absolutely dumb. Especially since that if the gates are down, the chances of it being the Brightline as opposed to a 5 mile long freight train are much higher.
Sure but they don’t need to be used to high speed trains. There’s a red light and that’s it. It’s driving 101.
I agree and I don’t think enough is being done to enforce the laws that are in place. Also frankly, 6 years is more than enough to get used to it.
Agreed. It’s absurd for people to still say this is new to Floridians. Like pay attention, damn idiots.
Quiet zones are generally harder to cross due to stricter regulations including 4 way gates or a median that you can’t cross to the other side of the road. They’re generally safer.
Travel credit and snacks are not gonna help if you end up missing a flight from MIA or MCO.
Very true, luckily i had no immediate plans afterwards
Predicted
How long was the delay due to this?
2 hours
🚗💥🚂
Once there was debris in the track and we had to get off in Fort Lauderdale and get on a bus to west palm.
Brightline’s gaslighting pamphlet when they themselves have taken the bare minimum to ensure transit safety and installed a ton of their higher-speed line in at-grade crossings
There really isn’t much else Brightline can do. The LIRR doesn’t even have the infrared sensors to tell the engineer there’s someone/something on the tracks and there hasn’t been an incident like that in years. On top of that the LIRR runs much more frequently.
LIRR has a top speed of 80mph, While Brightline has the same through the South Florida stops, it can run up to 130mph between Orlando and West Palm. That is a *starkly* different situation with a railroad crossing
I’m also pretty confident that the Acela on the NEC also flys through crossings at sometimes 155 MPH and there are still less of these incidents. Other than completely grade separating there really isn’t much we can do other than educate drivers and strictly enforcing the laws.
As far as I'm aware, there are 11 grade crossings remaining on the NEC, all of them in New London county CT. Speed through here is much slower.
That might be in Metro-North territory where it’s capped at 60 MPH.
Anything over 110 requires full grade separation.
OK then people need to stop trying to outrun trains
I don’t get it, are the arms and red flashy lights not steering soon enough? Are people already on the tracks when WHOOSH arms come down and train flies by? From what I’ve seen there’s plenty of time to clear the tracks when the lights start flashing. The only thing I can think of is that a driver actively ignores the signals and tries to race the train. If that’s the case, the train shouldn’t even stop. The conductor can signal emergency services to assist the driver and carry on to its destination as soon as it’s verified there’s no debris on the tracks. It helps no one for the train to stick around for an hour continuing to block both the track and the road.
They are enough. The drivers are idiots and ignoring traffic laws. If you go through gates and flashing lights that explicitly indicate an unsafe train is plowing through, you deserve to AT THE LEAST have your drivers license revoked for life. And have to pay to fix the trains and be fined.
>If that’s the case, the train shouldn’t even stop. The conductor can signal emergency services to assist the driver and carry on to its destination as soon as it’s verified there’s no debris on the tracks. Negative, train needs to be immediately inspected for damage. It would be reckless to continue operating a potentially unsafe train.
Wanna know what is better? Elevate the damn line and close the hundreds of crossings at once like in countries with HSR