Florida passenger train line kills 5th person in a month

By TERRY SPENCER
Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Brightline higher-speed train fatally struck a pedestrian who walked into its path Tuesday, the fifth death involving the railroad since it recently resumed operations after being shut down because of the pandemic. Boynton Beach police say the pedestrian was struck shortly before 8 a.m. No further details were immediately available. The recent deaths have all occurred in the last month. An Associated Press analysis of federal data shows Brightline to have the worst fatality rate among the country’s approximately 800 railroads since it began test runs in mid-2017. None of the 52 earlier deaths involving Brightline have been blamed on its equipment or crews.