Two people were hit and killed by trains in Palm Beach County on Tuesday morning, according to officials, bringing to four the a total of people who have been killed by trains in the last week.
One of the accidents happened shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday in Lake Worth Beach when a pedestrian was hit by a Brightline train south of 10th Avenue North, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. The person was walking east across the railroad tracks and was hit by a train going north.
The other death on Tuesday happened about 10 a.m. in West Palm Beach when a trespasser was hit by a Tri-Rail train on Summit Boulevard, according to Mike Jachles, spokesman for the West Palm Beach police. Jachles said it appears that death was a suicide.
Exactly one week ago, a man was hit and killed by a Brightline train about 9 a.m. Aug. 2 in Delray Beach near Southeast Eighth Street and Southeast First Avenue.
And a 67-year-old man was hit and killed by a Brightline train about 2 p.m. Sunday in Boynton Beach when police said he walked around crossing gates.
South Florida is known as among the nation’s most dangerous regions for car-train crashes.
Brightline, the rail service deemed in February as having the nation’s worst per-mile fatality rate, continues adding to its total, although its trains and operators haven’t been responsible in any of the fatal crashes, according to The Associated Press, which conducted the research into Brightline’s train deaths.
Brightline hasn’t been found to have violated any rules in any of its crashes, the Federal Railroad Administration said earlier this year. But a 2019 review by The Associated Press named the train line among the deadliest in America with about 40 train-related deaths since it started operating in 2018.
Tri-Rail has had fewer incidents than Brightline. Tri-Rail, an 18-station, 72-mile service that runs from West Palm Beach to Miami, had six deaths last year, one at a crossing and five involving people walking along the train tracks.
Brightline trains travel at speeds up to 79 mph and officials say it can take a train at that speed more than a quarter-mile to stop.
Despite the incidents on and around train tracks, rail lines could soon be expanding in Florida. Brightline, SunRail and Universal made a presentation in Orlando in May to create a new rail line in the city.
In June, Brightline and the Broward Sheriff’s Office conducted “Operation Crossing Guard” in hopes of increasing awareness and reducing the number of deaths at rail crossings. During the two-week program, more than 500 citations were issued: 157 citations for stopping on railroad tracks, 146 for driving around closed gates, 122 for stopping too close to closed gates, 90 for blocking intersections and 25 for pedestrians walking around closed gates. Citations were made in the Sheriff’s Office’s Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Oakland Park and Dania Beach districts.