FT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida's higher-speed passenger trains killed one person and seriously injured another in separate collisions less than 12 hours apart.
The accidents Tuesday night and Wednesday morning are the latest in a spate of fatal and serious collisions plaguing the Brightline trains since the railroad resumed operations in November. Police say a pedestrian was killed after walking in front of a train Tuesday night.
That was the 57th death involving the railroad since its launch five years ago.
A Brightline video shows a driver going around a crossing gate into the path of the train on Wednesday.
In addition to the deadly crashes that happened on Tuesday and Wednesday, a Palm Beach County man died Sunday afternoon after being struck by a high-speed train in Lake Worth.
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office officials said a 48-year-old man attempted to drive around a flashing signal warning vehicles to stop when the Brightline train crashed into his Ford Fusion, punting it into a metal fence and a power pole before landing on its passenger side. He was later identified as Hidegalde Perez.
Back in January, a man was hit and killed when he tried to walk across railroad tracks in Hollywood.
The coronavirus pandemic shut down Brightline service in March 2020. Since it began operating again in Nov. 2021, there have been nine collisions on Brightline tracks.
The number of deadly crashes that have occurred continues a trend that shows Brightling to have the "worst fatality rate" among the hundreds of railroads since it began test runs in mid-2017, according to an Associated Press analysis of Federal Railroad Administration data.
The high-speed sky rail urges motorists and pedestrians to adhere to all safety rules and regulations and use caution when approaching railroad crossings.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.