By Rich Campbell
January 18, 2018
TC Palm
You were right, Treasure Coast residents.
Your fears and concerns with respect to Brightline passenger trains are being validated south of our region.
Unfortunately, the cost of being right is exceedingly high: People are dying.
Another person was killed Wednesday by a Brightline train in Boynton Beach — the second in six days. There now have been four Brightline fatalities since the passenger railroad began test runs this past summer.
The rail company launched limited passenger service Jan. 13 between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. However, U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, already is calling for Brightline to suspend operations. In a Twitter post Thursday morning directed at Brightline, Mast said Brightline should “stop victim blaming and take responsibility for the fact that your trains are killing people. (The) trains should stop running until massive safety flaws are resolved.”
Ever since the Miami-to-Orlando passenger rail project was conceived six years ago, many Treasure Coast residents have questioned the propriety of running fast trains — up to 110 mph in some areas — through densely populated communities along the east coast of Florida.
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