FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — An elderly woman died Monday after being hit by Florida’s higher-speed passenger rail service, according to multiple reports.
The Brightline train struck a 70-year-old woman around 8 a.m. in Fort Lauderdale, CBS Miami reports. The woman was rushed to a local hospital, where she later died.
The death is at least the 50th involving a Brightline train since the Miami to West Palm Beach line launched in mid-2017 and the second since it reopened last month after a 19-month closure due to the pandemic.
Just five days earlier, a Brightline commuter train hit and killed a man who was walking on the tracks in North Miami Beach. Police say the man didn’t move even as the train sounded its horn.
In December 2019, a report from the Associated Press found the Brightline has more fatalities per mile than any other U.S. railroad service, with one death happening every 31,000 miles
The Brightline trains travel at speeds of up to 79 mph through some of Florida’s most densely-populated cities.
