Brightline Trains Florida discussion

[chrsjrcj]

This appears to be the worst Brightline vs car incident to date (at least for Brightline)

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local...iLgq4Nt_4ClQQjXZCCQrAZ27y5p9bpFOR6jdJFM0g6iCc

 

[Qapla]

From the article:

"At least one person was killed after a Brightline train struck a car that tried to cross the tracks while the gates were down in Oakland Park Thursday morning, officials said.

The car, a Maserati, was trying to move over the tracks when the crossing gates were down, officials said. ...

Witness tells me car attempted to go around downed railroad crossing arms to beat train at Dixie Hwy and NE 34 Ct in Oakland Park when @GoBrightline hit the vehicle. @Oaklandparkfire & @browardsheriff are scene now. Florida East Coast train was also passing by just after @nbc6"

Too bad the title of the news article is not something like "Man dies while trying to beat train when crossarms were down" instead of "At Least 1 Dead After Train Hits Car in Oakland Park" which makes it sound like the train is at fault

 

[user 1215]

I'm getting bored at people complaining about headlines saying "Train Hits Car." Semantically, it is accurate. The train DID hit the car. If the car hit the train, it would have happened along the side of the train.

It's an efficient headline.

I take don't think the general public thinks in any way that it's the trains fault. Now, politicians are another story. We all know common sense doesn't work with politicians.

 

[MikefromCrete]

From the article:

"At least one person was killed after a Brightline train struck a car that tried to cross the tracks while the gates were down in Oakland Park Thursday morning, officials said.

The car, a Maserati, was trying to move over the tracks when the crossing gates were down, officials said. ...

Witness tells me car attempted to go around downed railroad crossing arms to beat train at Dixie Hwy and NE 34 Ct in Oakland Park when @GoBrightline hit the vehicle. @Oaklandparkfire & @browardsheriff are scene now. Florida East Coast train was also passing by just after @nbc6"

Too bad the title of the news article is not something like "Man dies while trying to beat train when crossarms were down" instead of "At Least 1 Dead After Train Hits Car in Oakland Park" which makes it sound like the train is at fault

Your headlines sounds a little long. The second headline is accurate. It doesn't place any blame on the train. Sounds like the driver paid the ultimate price.

 

[Qapla]

I'm getting bored at people complaining about headlines saying "Train Hits Car." Semantically, it is accurate. The train DID hit the car. If the car hit the train, it would have happened along the side of the train.

It may be technically correct but it conveys the wrong intent. It is fine with me if you get bored as long as you allow me to not like headlines that seem to indict the wrong party - most headlines about train crashes are written in a way that place the blame on the train - especially to those people who only read headlines ...

Your headlines sounds a little long.

Yes, it is a little long ... perhaps this would be better - "Driver dies trying to beat train"

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

It may be technically correct but it conveys the wrong intent. It is fine with me if you get bored as long as you allow me to not like headlines that seem to indict the wrong party - most headlines about train crashes are written in a way that place the blame on the train - especially to those people who only read headlines ...



Yes, it is a little long ... perhaps this would be better - "Driver dies trying to beat train"

The issue with that is that it is not immediately for sure that the driver was trying to beat the train; for example there could have been a crossing malfunction or the car could have broken down on the tracks before the gates went down. It is likely that the driver was trying beat the train, but that is not necessarily known for a fact, whereas the car getting hit by the train is. I understand your concern about the blame, as there are certainly some people who think the train is the issue in these sort of collisions, but that doesn't mean headlines should include potentially false information.

 

[user 1215]

It may be technically correct but it conveys the wrong intent. It is fine with me if you get bored as long as you allow me to not like headlines that seem to indict the wrong party

It's only that someone mentions this Every. Single. Time.

 

[MikefromCrete]

It may be technically correct but it conveys the wrong intent. It is fine with me if you get bored as long as you allow me to not like headlines that seem to indict the wrong party - most headlines about train crashes are written in a way that place the blame on the train - especially to those people who only read headlines ...



Yes, it is a little long ... perhaps this would be better - "Driver dies trying to beat train"

That's a better headline.

 

[Ziv]

The Maserati driver saw the slow freight train and thought he could beat it, and did. But he didn't see the fast Bright Rail train and got hammered.
It is going to take a couple years for people in South Florida to see enough of these stories for it to really sink in. And maybe then, maybe, the amount of fatalities will drop a little.
But there will always be people who are going to try to beat the train. One of the Miami news reports had a sensible guy repeating that people should, "Never try to beat a train!" I hope that message sinks in. Soon.

 

[Qapla]

The issue with that is that it is not immediately for sure that the driver was trying to beat the train; for example there could have been a crossing malfunction or the car could have broken down on the tracks before the gates went down. It is likely that the driver was trying beat the train, but that is not necessarily known for a fact

Actually, in this case, it WAS known since there were eyewitnesses that were interviewed for the TV

Regardless, since we all feel differently about headlines ... I will not continue to discuss this headline - feel free to carry on without me in this thread

 

[AGM.12]

Correct me if I am wrong, but were not the crossing gates and other items supposed to be designed to stop such antics as trying to drive around them?

 

[jis]

That crossing does have four quadrant gates that were working. The driver managed to get around it anyway. Apparently he had quite a sense of invincibility. [emoji57]

 

[jis]

So while Branson has been busy splashing his Virgin Trains brand in the US using a 2% investment in Brightline, he has lost his last franchise in the UK. The West Coast franchise went to West Coast Partners consisting of FirstGroup and Trenitalia replacing Virgin Trains. The Stagecoach, Virgin, SNCF bid was rejected. or rather they were not allowed to bid, because of some hanky-panky with pensions that Stagecoach was caught in. Stagecoach was to be the majority partner in that group, with Virgin holding a minority share and SNCF bringing in the HSR operating experience required in the ternder.

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...tium-to-replace-virgin-on-west-coast-mainline

 

[JRR]

That crossing does have four quadrant gates that were working. The driver managed to get around it anyway. Apparently he had quite a sense of invincibility. [emoji57]

Gates can’t stop people from doing stupid things. My wife and I were facing North on Dixie Hey in Boca Raton at the intersection with Palmetto Park when the gates came down for the crossing at Palmetto Park. While we were stopped waiting to make a left turn onto Palmetto Park, a car came down Dixie headed South and turned right onto Palmetto and crashed right through the gate. He just barely cleared the tracks when the Brightline, headed north, streaked by- didn’t miss him by more than a foot or two. Surprisingly, the gates did not snag into pieces but just bounced up.

I don’t know what one can do to prevent such stupidity others than eliminate on grade crossings.

 

[Anderson]

Gates can’t stop people from doing stupid things. My wife and I were facing North on Dixie Hey in Boca Raton at the intersection with Palmetto Park when the gates came down for the crossing at Palmetto Park. While we were stopped waiting to make a left turn onto Palmetto Park, a car came down Dixie headed South and turned right onto Palmetto and crashed right through the gate. He just barely cleared the tracks when the Brightline, headed north, streaked by- didn’t miss him by more than a foot or two. Surprisingly, the gates did not snag into pieces but just bounced up.

I don’t know what one can do to prevent such stupidity others than eliminate on grade crossings.

Honestly, if the press consistently took a more aggressive negative line towards folks doing the stupid stuff it might help...but that's about it.

(The Japanese attitude of "If you do something stupid, you pay for the inconvenience you cause everyone else" might be nice as well, but I know that won't fly here.)

 

[Qapla]

There is a guy who is campaigning to get gates/cross arms replaced by posts that rise from the grade all the way across the road so cars cannot drive around them.

 

[Anderson]

It is a great pity that he passed, since having Harlan Ellison voice a crossing system that berates anyone trying to go around the gates would be awesome (at least, based on the AI he voiced in Babylon 5).
https://www.reddit.com/r/babylon5/comments/8uqaeo/for_those_who_dont_know_harlan_ellison_was_the/

 

[cirdan]

I don’t know what one can do to prevent such stupidity others than eliminate on grade crossings.

I think in Russia they have solid barriers that are raised out of the ground hydraulically. They are ramp shaped so any car trapped on the crossing can still drive off but you cannot easily drive on.

 

[MARC Rider]

There is a guy who is campaigning to get gates/cross arms replaced by posts that rise from the grade all the way across the road so cars cannot drive around them.

I crossed a drawbridge the day which not only had gates to keep motorists from driving into the river, but also had a fullsized jersey barrier on wheels that swung out from the side of the road to completely block the roadway.

 

[Ziv]

Sometimes I think that if it wasn't for the inconvenience it would cause to others, we ought to just let people stumble to a Darwinian demise. Trying to beat a train by going around the crossing guard arms is simply a criminally stupid thing to do. We can build increasingly sophisticated crossing block systems, but the cost to install and the inconvenience they engender are a cost that is imposed on everyone by a minority of people who are doing things that are too stupid for words.
Sorry, rant over.

I crossed a drawbridge the day which not only had gates to keep motorists from driving into the river, but also had a fullsized jersey barrier on wheels that swung out from the side of the road to completely block the roadway.

 

[jis]

Construction work on the FECR ROW starts up...

Preliminary work on Virgin Trains USA’s higher-speed rail is expected to begin Sept. 23 in Jensen Beach and Sebastian, according to Stuart officials who met for the first time Tuesday with engineers for the project.

The work schedule is the first formal plan presented to Martin County and Stuart officials.

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/l...n-preliminary-work-treasure-coast/2356949001/

 

[cirdan]

I thought preliminary work, as in ground clearing and moving utilities had already begun some time ago.

 

[jis]

I thought preliminary work, as in ground clearing and moving utilities had already begun some time ago.

That was between Cocoa and Orlando for constructing a new ROW along Beachline. This is about what is happening along the FECR ROW between West Palm Beach and Cocoa, and specifically in Martin and Indian River Counties.

 

[hastybob]

Checking the Florida Traffic cams, I found that construction can be seen along Fl528 on the two camera between I-95 and US 1.

https://fl511.com/map#Camera

 

[jis]

Checking the Florida Traffic cams, I found that construction can be seen along Fl528 on the two camera between I-95 and US 1.

https://fl511.com/map#Camera

I just drove down 528 to MCO. There is clearing work going on at various spots all along the route.

Most of the clearing work so far is between Cocoa and Rt 520 intersection. There is also a long stretch by the recently rebuilt Rt 528 intersection with the Innovation Way and International Corporate Park Blvd.