'Something Is Very Wrong' With Florida's High-Speed Train

The Brightline—Florida's flashy, high-speed rail line linking Miami and Orlando—is without a doubt a "beautiful train," writes Kaitlyn Tiffany at the Atlantic. Her in-depth look, however, is not about aesthetics but about a rather alarming Brightline trait: "it keeps hitting people." Since it began operating in 2017, the privately owned and operated train has been involved in 185 fatalities, the vast majority of which (148) weren't deemed to be suicides. Locals have dubbed it the "Death Train," a nickname born of dark humor and grim statistics: The train has the highest accident rate of any commuter railroad in the country, with someone dying on its tracks roughly every 13 days. Brightline logged 41 fatalities last year alone. By contrast, New York's Long Island Rail Road—which runs nearly 1,000 trains daily, compared to Brightline's 32—saw just six fatalities that year.

In short, "something is very wrong," writes Tiffany. Brightline officials insist they're not to blame, pointing out that deaths have involved trespassing, illegal crossings, or reckless behavior, not equipment failure. Federal investigations, meanwhile, have yielded "no firm conclusions." However, the story points out that the train's route cuts through the heart of South Florida, passing at street level through dense neighborhoods via 331 grade crossings—far more than typical high-speed lines, which are often elevated or separated from vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Safety experts say this "at grade" layout, combined with the return of frequent, ultrafast trains to old freight tracks, has created a dangerous mix of speed and proximity. "Brightline is unique nationally," says Eric Dumbaugh, a professor of urban and regional planning at Florida Atlantic University. "It's operating right through the urban fabric." Read the full story.