After a series of crashes and deaths, Brightline seeks to educate and urge safety on the tracks.

This week, two incidents occurred with a 12 hour span of each other, one in Palm Beach County and the other in Hallandale Beach, not far from Fort Lauterdale.

The events spurred Brightline to get in front of the growing issue safety on the tracks.

Mike Reininger, Brightline CEO, told Greg Angel during an episode of Spectrum’s Beyond the Soundbite podcast that drivers and pedestrians need to follow the golden rule near the tracks: don’t try to beat the train.

“As long as you stick to it, you’ll ultimately avoid what becomes a tragic outcome,” Reininger said.

Since the railroad reopened last November, after pausing for 18 months during the global pandemic, there have been nine deaths so far.

It could’ve been more, the morning of February 15, a Tuesday, a mom and her baby barely escaped their car before a Brightline train struck it

“What makes these events so tragic are that they’re preventable,” Ben Poritt Brighline, Sr. Vice President of Corporate Affairs said.

To stop these dangerous crossings Brightline installed infrared detectors to warn engineers if anyone is lurking near the tracks so they can slow down or stop. The company also added more fencing and landscaping to make track access more difficult, and will install red-light cameras at crossings to enable police to ticket drivers who go around guardrails.

Brightline also wants to educate drivers and pedestrians about railroad safety and proper crossing. 

“Obey all signs of warnings, obey the crossing arms if they’re down, obey the lights, recognize this is an active railroad track and trains can come in both directions,” Poritt said.

They also want to remind drivers to not go around the fences or cross arms and never stop on the tracks…

It may look like a train is far away, but Brightline high-speed trains go much faster than the trains that most of us are used to, like AMTRAK or freight trains.

“It’s a dangerous place, people get distracted, they get focused on other things and it leads to bad outcomes,” Reininger said.

Reininger said they used public service announcements, education sessions with law enforcement, first responders, schools and community groups to educate the community of safey on the tracks. He emphasizes pedestrians and drivers need to listen to tackle this issue. 

“But, at the end of the day, it comes down to the behavior of the public around those two simple rules, stay out of the right of way and never try to beat a train," Reininger said.

Something to keep in mind, South Florida is different from Central Florida. South Florida routes are in very populated areas with lots of highway-rail grade crossings.

Once the trains get up into Central Florida, it’ll be much more rural and more of the time rails will run parallel to roadways, lowering the need to cross the tracks.        

A Brightline Orlando International Airport stop is expected to open next year to passengers.