Summary
A Brightline high-speed train collided with a firetruck in downtown Delray Beach, Florida, injuring 15 people, including three firefighters.
The firetruck reportedly drove around lowered crossing arms after waiting for a freight train to pass.
The crash, which severely damaged both the train and firetruck, is under investigation by the Federal Railroad Administration.
Brightline trains, known for having the nation’s highest death rate since launching in 2017, have faced scrutiny over safety.
The incident adds to growing concerns about railroad safety following other recent accidents nationwide.
This is why we don’t have or need high-speed rail.
The incident adds to growing concerns about railroad safety following other recent accidents nationwide.
Who fucking wrote this? Idiot drives around the barrier warning them not to go and somehow it’s the trains fault?
Yeah, the only conclusion is to ban that dangerous commie trains
The headline gives the impression it was the trains fault
Yeah wtf? Rail safety was a solved problem before trains even existed.
I mean east Palestine incident was just a little under 2 years ago. Rail safety was a solved problem that eventually became a problem because it got in the way of shareholders. I think John Oliver has a segment on it.
Yeah if people choose to ignore the laws of physics in favor of profits, then they will have a bad time duh.
Well, the train infrastructure could take the blame. Level crossings for high speed rail are more dangerous than ones where cars and pedestrians can’t encroach on the rail at all.
Even before we go there …….
- amtrak required my town to build medians at all crossings, so idiots can’t go around the gates
- whoever owns those tracks probably didn’t want to spend more on infrastructure that doesn’t cause needless delays.p, making people impatient. They should be partly liable
Well, let’s just assume idiot decided not to, and move on to the actual topic,
How many people die because of the poor planned logistics of extremely long freight trains blocking emergency services?
Less than people dying because of idiotic drivers and overcrowded roads blocking emergency services.
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Florida man, at it again. The firefighter driving that truck should face serious consequences. Railroads are generally pretty safe, it’s the motor vehicle death cult that causes way more deaths and injuries: see this example here.
We have a monthly sacrifice to the bright line. Unfortunate because I really enjoyed riding it but they have to do something about this.
Most deaths are idiots crossing the train tracks, not riding in the train. Maybe read the fucking article?
What it is considered a high-speed train in the USA and how come they don’t have grade separated crossings as they do in every civilized country?
On those tracks, people are used to very slow cargo trains. That also means that if you have to wait, it can be a very long time. Idiots may be tempted to go around because of the long wait, and there’s usually lots of time. Their whole lives, they e gotten away with this
Then a medium speed train comes through. They wouldn’t have had to wait. There’s no time to go through and still avoid. But the idiots don’t know that, despite the regular news for the last several years
IIRC it’s any train capable of doing either 70mph or 100mph.
Because we haven’t invested in rail infrastructure in over 100 years
I would be very interested to know which countries have 100% grade-separated crossings, especially if they’re mostly flat, so they can’t take advantage of terrain (and also aren’t micronations).
France ? Highspeed rails are fenced all the way long
For high speed rail, most countries with any real HSR infrastructure will have grade separation unless absolutely impossible for some reason. France, Japan, Spain.
Note also the new California High Speed Rail is being built with grade separations.
I don’t believe Acela is, but probably faster sections are. That’s not high speed rail though
Ah, that’s why. It’s because Brightline service isn’t really high speed rail, and in countries where they do have real high speed rail, the infrastructure is built out to actually support it.
I was looking around at French rail service, and the true high speed rail is grade-separated, but the regional rail service still has grade crossings.
That makes sense. If you’re actually running high speed rail that’s actually high speed, grade separation is not really optional. A few wood barriers (that cars can drive around if the drivers are dumb enough) don’t cut it when a train is going 350-400km/h.
Australia is working in it.
Melbourn just removed all of their level crossing in a megaproject, including in busy cities.
I get it. Freight train passes, warning arms don’t go up. Must be broken.
But I’m pretty sure I’d sit there annoyed for at least five minutes before I even imagine trying to go though the closed arms. And in a long vehicle like a fire truck?!?
Yea I’m still trying to figure out how a fire truck can physically get around rail road arms. Like at that point why not just drive through them. They break pretty easily and would have been less expensive than destroying a whole fire truck.
I could maybe understand if the firetruck was responding you an emergency and time was critical, but I did not see that mentioned in the article
Clearly high speed trains are the problem here. How can one safety weave through the crossing guards anymore with trains at such a reckless haste? Plus it looks like this time the train used another train as cover to trick everyone. Sneaky. And don’t say the arms were still down and that was enough…you can’t trust them, do your own research.
Seriously, the one thing I haven’t found from any sources is if the truck was trying to respond to a call or not. Not that it really matters, still a dangerous move, but it would explain the lack of caution.
Three firefighters and a dozen passengers were injured in Florida on Saturday after a firetruck drove around rail crossing arms and into the path of a high-speed passenger train after having waited for a previous train to pass, according to a person briefed on what happened.
Watch DeSantis and other Republicans to use this to demonize trains and not REALLY FUCKING STUPID DRIVERS.
Hopefully it’s a metaphor for our politics. “Entitled person in power thinks rules don’t apply to him, bypasses guardrails, finds out (rather roughly) that physics applies to everyone.”
They have radios. Why the hell didn’t they just radio another department?
It’s Florida. The state that hires cops who have actually been fired for being bad cops. The state that is run by people so cartoonishly stupid that it feels unreal but it isn’t.
Two other incidents happened this year. Highspeed trains and grade crossings don’t mix very well.
Can somebody find that site that says days since last brightline incident?
