Brightline, the nation’s only privately owned city-to-city passenger train, has failed to implement basic safety measures – and 182 people have died on the railway in the last eight years, according to an investigation by WLRN (the NPR member station in South Florida) and the Miami Herald, with support from the Fund. Reporters spent a year combing federal rail data, local medical examiner records and police incident reports to develop an accurate count of the deaths, which is far higher than previously reported. Contrary to Brightline’s claims, most of the deaths were not ruled suicides. The reporting team found that Brightline has failed to address the train’s dangers, blamed victims for the high death rate, and, as fatalities climbed, turned to the public to pay for safety upgrades. A day after the investigation was published, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy committed to making the Brightline corridor safer, saying there have been “way too many deaths.”
Grantee investigation uncovers 182 deaths from Florida train, prompting top U.S. transportation official to seek improvement
