Miami (FL) Herald, 5/20/22
‘There’s no silver bullet’: Train officials discuss South Florida rail line safety tacticsLess than a week after a Brightline train hit and killed a Broward County scooter rider, Brightline, Tri-Rail and Amtrak officials gathered Friday at a private meeting in Miami to share insights about how South Florida communities can have better railway safety.SNIPThe Federal Railroad Administration’s invitation-only gathering, called the “Railroad Trespass Summit,” brought together passenger train operators, local and state leaders plus rail regulators to discuss better safety measures and possible grant funding for rail line enhancements.Ben Porritt, Brightline’s senior vice president of corporate affairs, said that railroad safety can only improve with community involvement and the allocation of public resources to make railways more safe.“It is a shared responsibility between us and the communities in which we operate to educate, enforce and engineer the solutions,” Porritt said.Brightline is working with the Florida Department of Transportation on an application for a $25 million federal grant toward a planned $45 million investment on renovations of rail line crossings in South Florida and fencing to limit access along its rail line. Brightline and the state transportation department each has made a $10 million commitment to the rail improvements.