Brightline testing at 110 mph scheduled in three Florida counties

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, a listserv I'm on

Brightline testing at 110 mph scheduled in three Florida counties

By | July 18, 2023

Operations set for Wednesday in Martin County, including St. Lucie River bridge



A Brightline train conducts high-speed testing in Port St. Lucie, Fla., on Jan. 7, 2023. Brightline is scheduled to resume 110-mph testing in three counties this week. David Lassen

ORLANDO, Fla. — Brightline will resume 110 mph on two sections of its route to Orlando this week, including the segment in Martin County that includes St. Lucie River bridge that has become a point of concern for the passenger operator’s service plans.

Testing at speeds up to 110 mph is scheduled to resume in Martin County on Wednesday, July 19, and Thursday, July 20. Along with eight grade crossings where flaggers will be present, the testing will include the St. Lucie River bridge. Testing will occur from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, with Thursday as a backup day.

During testing, one to two trains will pass over the bridge per hour; Brightline will post a bridge monitor to communicate with marine traffic on VHF-FM channel 9. Grade crossings with flaggers will include four crossings of State Route A1A (including those at Indian Street and Cove Road); Monterey Road; Seaward Street; Salerno Road (County Road 722), and Broward Avenue.

{snip}

Testing at up to 110 mph is scheduled to resume in St. Lucie and Indian River counties as soon as Friday, July 21, through Wednesday, July 26. Testing is possible from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. A total of 30 grade crossings in Indian River County and eight in St. Lucie County will be affected.

[Marcus IM]

1. Brightline is the most deadly rail line in the USA.

Brightline Is the Deadliest Train Per Mile in America, According to the AP
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/brightline-train-named-deadliest-rail-company-in-us-by-associated-press-11324140

Death Train: A Timeline of Brightline Fatalities in South Florida UPDATED
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/death-train-a-timeline-of-brightline-deaths-in-miami-fort-lauderdale-west-palm-beach-13717396

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. An unenviable distinction

U.S.

Scooter rider dies after hitting high-speed train in Florida linked to 62 other deaths

MAY 9, 2022 / 2:39 PM / CBS/AP

A scooter driver died when she went around lowered crossing gates and struck a passing Brightline train, the latest in a long string of deaths involving the higher-speed passenger service, officials said Monday. ... The Broward Sheriff's Office said the woman was riding a scooter at about 11:20 a.m. Saturday in Pompano Beach when she made a left turn, went around the crossing gates and hit the side of the train. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her name and age were not released.

The woman was the 63rd person known to have died in a collision with a Brightline train since it began operations in mid-2017, giving it the worst per-mile fatality rate in the nation, according to an ongoing Associated Press analysis that began in 2019.



A Brightline passenger train passes by Nov. 27, 2019 in Oakland Park, Fla.

BRYNN ANDERSON / AP

Brightline is averaging about one death for every 33,000 miles its trains travel. Among railroads that travel at least 100,000 miles per year, the next worst rate is one death per every 101,000 miles. ... Investigators have found none of the earlier deaths were the railroad's fault, determining that many were suicides or drivers or pedestrians trying to beat the trains. The trains travel up to 79 mph through densely populated urban and suburban areas along about 70 miles of track between Miami and West Palm Beach that Brightline shares with the Florida East Coast freight line.

Brightline has increased its efforts to curb deaths, including installing cameras to alert crews if someone is lurking near the tracks and adding fencing and landscaping to make access to the tracks more difficult.

{snip}

[Deep State Witch]

3. "I Played Chicken With the Train"

Is a song, not a dare.

[Wonder Why]

4. Their trains deliberately go after innocent drivers and pedestrians

in order to kill them.

All it shows is how stupid Floridians are.

It also shows the failure of the state and cities:
"Public grade crossings are roadways that are under the jurisdiction of, and maintained by, a public authority."
https://railroads.dot.gov/program-areas/highway-rail-grade-crossing/highway-rail-grade-crossings-overview]

The railroads must maintain the crossings but the various governments decide and apparently pay for them with millions of federal dollars available to them from the FRA.

Individuals are responsible for their own stupidity including not going around gates and not trespassing on RR property, like tracks.