News from reporter McKenna Ross at The Palm Beach Post.

[UPDATE: The news below from Ross appeared in last Tuesday’s print edition on page B2. Gleaning from several sources in the Sun Sentinel and elsewhere, it’s apparent the incident that occurred June 1st on the FEC tracks was no accident. For more information about this incident is another article datelined June 5th by Post reporter Jeff Ostrowski that concludes with this sentence, “If someone has an agenda that day to cut their life short . . . there’s no amount of safety that can stop that from happening.”]


Very sad news in the Post. The name of the victim was removed from the news report. Here are two excerpts:


BOYNTON BEACH — Authorities on Monday [June 4th] identified the man struck and killed by a Brightline train Friday as a 49-year-old Lakeland man.
     Preliminary investigations found that ■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ jumped in front of the train as it was traveling south from the FEC Railway crossing on Woolbright Road, Boynton Beach police said Monday.

and. . .

     Six people in Palm Beach County have been struck and killed by Brightline trains since last year, when the company began testing along the Florida East Coast Railway tracks. Three of those deaths, including Friday’s, occurred in Boynton Beach. In the five previous cases, officials say victims were on the tracks despite lowered gates, warning lights and train horns. [emphasis added]

More information about Brightline, public safety, and the editor(s) at the Post with their stance
on this important topic.

Attempting to cross railroad tracks at any location other than a designated crossing is illegal. It’s called trespassing. This latest tragedy was completely avoidable and so were all the others. But some critics of Brightline will attempt to use this terrible news as the editor(s) at the Post pointed out on May 30th, as another way to stop Brightline going north to Orlando, “[H]aving failed with environmental and safety questions, specious concerns about the federal deficit and lawsuits.”

Brightline will be connecting with Orlando. Explaining this journalist Scott Powers penned a piece this week in Florida Politics titled, “Brightline’s Orlando line could be settled in next few months”. Now it’s time to focus on the big picture. Saving lives. Not a specious concern by any means.

Educating the public about safety along the railroad tracks and at railroad crossings needs to be the top priority north of the Brightline station in West Palm Beach to the nearly completed train station in Orlando. The #1 message needs to be “See Tracks? Think Train!” Just more monkeywrenching trying to stop the inevitable just takes away from the #1 message.

Hammering the point home, here is another excerpt from the editor(s) at the Post:


     Brightline has its issues, to be sure. The Post has reported extensively on fatal accidents on tracks, delayed quiet zones and trains still seeking riders. But as evidenced by the recent opening of the Miami station, the project is plowing forward.
     Its chances for success, though, hinge on finishing the West Palm Beach-to-Orlando leg. It doesn’t make sense to derail that. Not when Florida is so close to realizing the potential of high-speed rail. Not when the state’s clogged highways are only getting more so. And not when our infrastructure needs are so great.
     The train has already left the station, so to speak.

To the critics of Brightline, “The train has already left the station”. So to speak.

Learn the signals and what they mean.

Click on image to enlarge:

“The fact is, the only safe place to cross rail tracks is at a designated public crossing, which are marked by flashing lights, a gate, crossbucks, or a combination of these safety signals.”