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Not A Good Preview Day For Brightline

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 10:50 pm
by hoborich
Today was the preview day for Brightline, which opens tomorrow for paying passengers in South Florida. Brightline is starting service between Ft Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, and will run from Miami as soon as the Miami depot is finished. It currently is proposed to run 79 mph from Miami to West Palm Beach, with stops only in Ft Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. When the extension is finished to Orlando, speeds will be 125 mph on the Orlando branch. The 79 mph does not seem feasible running at street level through the heavily congested South Florida corridor, with hundreds of grade crossings, pedestrians crossing the tracks in many places and homeless camps in the bushes all along the route. This is the first privately funded passenger rail project, and funded by Florida East Coast Enterprises, and running on the Florida East Coast rails.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/break ... Gvv6bpVBJ/

Another pedestrian, possibly homeless, was killed in November during testing.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/browa ... story.html

Re: Not A Good Preview Day For Brightline

Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 3:14 pm
by SousaKerry
Well it is Florida....

Nuff said

Re: Not A Good Preview Day For Brightline

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 11:01 pm
by hoborich
Brightline got another one today. While these accidents are not the railroads fault, the right of way is not fenced or elevated. There are around 200 grade crossings along the heavily congested and populated route between Miami and West Palm Beach, and many homeless camps and tents along the right of way. And they are trying to run 79 mph between Miami and West Palm Beach with only one stop in Ft Lauderdale. Four people killed already, two since service started last Friday, and two others during testing in July and November.

https://www.local10.com/news/florida/pa ... nton-beach

Re: Not A Good Preview Day For Brightline

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:36 am
by Saturnalia
hoborich wrote:Brightline got another one today. While these accidents are not the railroads fault, the right of way is not fenced or elevated. There are around 200 grade crossings along the heavily congested and populated route between Miami and West Palm Beach, and many homeless camps and tents along the right of way. And they are trying to run 79 mph between Miami and West Palm Beach with only one stop in Ft Lauderdale. Four people killed already, two since service started last Friday, and two others during testing in July and November.

https://www.local10.com/news/florida/pa ... nton-beach
I agree that it isn't looking good from that perspective. The Brightline management better get lucky or figure out a solution before the government comes up with its own "solution"

Re: Not A Good Preview Day For Brightline

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 2:33 pm
by hoborich
https://www.flickr.com/gp/159088005@N07/83eFJ0

Having helluva time posting pics. I can't seem to link to my Flicker account. When I click the "Upload Attachment" below, it only allows me to post pics from my computer, and then I get a message the file is invalid.

Re: Not A Good Preview Day For Brightline

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:27 pm
by GreatLakesRailfan
When I'm linking photos from my Flickr account to my website, I open the image, then click the button in the lower right corner, below the image display, that has a line above an arrow pointing down. I usually right click the size I want to post, and copy the link location. For posting here, I'd take that copied link and paste it between the [ img ] tags in the post message box here. There's a button at the top of the box that says 'Img'. It will generate the necessary img tags.

One thing is for sure- sharing pictures from Flickr has gotten more difficult over the past several years, especially if you don't need all the extra code Flickr adds to the image links.

Re: Not A Good Preview Day For Brightline

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 10:05 pm
by hoborich
Thanks for the help with the pics.

Brightline has got another one Saturday! Third pedestrian hit in the first week of operation. Not Brightlines fault. But difficult to prevent, given the population density, and unfenced right of way, and 200 or more grade crossings, and their attempt to maintain 79 mph speed. Many pedestrians are accustomed to running across in front of the slower moving FEC freight trains, and do not realize that headlight is coming at them at 75 mph or more. As expected, one of the families is suing Brightline claiming even though the gates were down, the gates should have been longer, so no one could get around them. You can't make this stuff up.

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local ... 050445001/

And plans are still moving forward for the "quiet zones" to be implemented so the whiney 1 percenters in their high rise condos won't be bothered by train horns.
Yep. Quiet zones on a high speed rail corridor through heavily congested south Florida, where the right of way is unfenced and people are accustomed to running across in front of trains. What could possibly go wrong.

http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/business ... p4hSOaViK/

Re: Not A Good Preview Day For Brightline

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 10:19 pm
by Saturnalia
hoborich wrote:What could possibly go wrong.
As usual, engineering to the lowest common denominator of human intelligence

aka "moron" level

Re: Not A Good Preview Day For Brightline

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 8:47 pm
by hoborich
This is what Brightline is up against, and what 79 mph looks like!

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c ... 34924.html

Re: Not A Good Preview Day For Brightline

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 5:36 pm
by hoborich
Brightline got another pedestrian yesterday, but not fatal. He was a nominee for the Darwin award, but is expected to recover, which disqualifies him.

https://miami.curbed.com/2018/2/9/16994 ... g-injuries

Re: Not A Good Preview Day For Brightline

Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2018 8:11 pm
by hoborich
This is getting old, fast. Brightline got another one Wednesday night in Boca Raton. A "senior" stopped on the tracks for a red light, and was hit. Injuries are non fatal.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/local ... cOv6XOomN/

Brightline in the News

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 8:14 am
by jrgerber