Killer Train: Brightline death toll surpasses 180, but safeguards are still lacking
SA国际传谋 and Miami Herald | By Brittany Wallman, Aaron Leibowitz, Shradha Dinesh, Susan Merriam, Daniel Rivero and Joshua Ceballos
Listen to the first episode of the podcast series Killer Train here, or find it on your favorite podcast platform. Other stories in the reporting series can be found here.
On a steamy summer afternoon in 2017, workers at an office along the railroad tracks in Boca Raton waited for a glimpse of the new Brightline train as it flashed by on a test run.
Shonda Bambace, an insurance agent, heard the whistle and rushed to see the sleek, yellow passenger train that would roar through South Florida at high speeds.
And then she saw the girl.
A young woman with blonde hair was walking toward the tracks. Bambace heard a thud. The train streaked by 鈥� and the girl was gone.
Bambace tried to yell out, but the words wouldn鈥檛 come. The girl resembled her own daughter. The blonde hair. The denim shorts. The T-shirt. All familiar.
鈥淗it by the train!鈥� she finally screamed. 鈥淗it by the train!鈥�
Bambace had just witnessed Brightline鈥檚 first fatality. Madison 鈥淢addie鈥� Brunelle, 18, who was bipolar and in a manic state, had just walked out of a treatment facility when she turned toward the tracks.
鈥淚 remember it like it was yesterday,鈥� said Bambace. 鈥淚 still have dreams about her.鈥�
Since then, the death toll has climbed at an extraordinary rate. Brightline trains have killed 182 people, significantly more than publicly known, an investigation by the Miami Herald and SA国际传谋, South Florida鈥檚 NPR member station, has found. Reporters spent a year combing federal rail data, local medical examiner records and police incident reports to count the dead. Brightline officials did not dispute the finding.
The reporting team found that Brightline has failed to urgently address the train鈥檚 dangers, blamed victims for the high death rate, and, as fatalities climbed, turned to the public to pay for safety upgrades. Even then, critical life-saving measures, including fencing along the tracks and suicide-crisis signs, haven鈥檛 been installed due to years-long delays in the release of federal funds.
Local governments and regulators have added to the problem. Deaths have spiked in parts of South Florida where train horns were intentionally silenced after cities and counties demanded 鈥渜uiet zones鈥� so as not to bother people living near the tracks. But federal regulators have allowed the train-horn bans to stay in place, and cities have resisted closing treacherous railroad crossings.
Brightline is the nation鈥檚 most dangerous passenger train, reporters found, killing someone every 13 days of service, on average. In addition to those deaths, 99 people have been injured. In at least 101 cases, the train crashed into vehicles, but no one was hurt.
The company has not been found at fault for any of the deaths on its tracks. It has faced at least a dozen lawsuits for deaths and injuries, according to court records. None have gone to trial. Some have been settled for undisclosed amounts.
In a , Michael Lefevre, Brightline鈥檚 vice president of operations, reiterated what the company has been saying for years 鈥� that the deaths were self-inflicted.
鈥淭hese incidents are tragic and avoidable. More than half have been confirmed or suspected suicide 鈥� intentional acts of self-harm. All have been the result of illegal, deliberate and oftentimes reckless behavior by people putting themselves in harm鈥檚 way.鈥�
Lefevre said their actions 鈥渋mpact our guests who count on Brightline to get them to work, the theme parks, or special events.鈥�
Brightline officials say the company has gone to great lengths to warn the public about the dangers of the train and has pushed for stricter enforcement against trespassers and motorists who maneuver around gates. The company has been 鈥渁 leader in the industry on safety initiatives related to education, enforcement and engineering,鈥� Lefevre said.
The initiatives didn鈥檛 work. Last year, after Brightline extended service through the Treasure Coast to Orlando, 49 people died by the train, the highest number yet. Most of the deaths 鈥� 34 of the 49 鈥� occurred in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
READ MORE: Killer Train: Should tax dollars pay for a private train?
Contrary to the company鈥檚 messaging, the majority of deaths were not ruled suicides. Brightline reviews crash footage and adds 鈥渟uspected鈥� suicides to its statistics, based in part on whether a person tried to get out of the way. But reporters reviewed autopsy rulings for each case and found the majority of the fatalities were accidents or undetermined. Of the 182 dead, 75 were ruled suicide by local medical examiners 鈥� or about 41%. In Broward County, where 61 people have died, 30% were ruled suicide.
Ninety-one deaths were ruled accidental. Ten were undetermined, and the remaining six rulings are pending.
Before Brightline began commercial service in 2018 as the country鈥檚 only private passenger railroad, lawmakers and regulators at the local, state and federal levels sounded the alarm about the risks of running a fast passenger train through one of the most densely populated corridors in Florida. But they ultimately let the project move forward with insufficient safeguards.
As the death toll climbed, millions of taxpayer dollars started flowing to protect the public from Brightline accidents. Lefevre said Brightline has spent 鈥渉undreds of millions of dollars鈥� on safety improvements, even as the company argues that the dead are at fault.
READ MORE: More people are riding Brightline - but not enough to quiet concerns about its finances
That argument has won traction on social media. On one popular Instagram account that tracks Brightline deaths, victims are frequently mocked and derided. 鈥淭he Darwinism Express doing the Universe鈥檚 work,鈥� someone commented after a Brightline crash in June. 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry, but if you get hit by a train, you deserve it,鈥� read a comment after another death in May.
One website attempts to keep a running tally of those 鈥渢he train hath slain.鈥� Elsewhere, Brightline is sardonically dubbed 鈥淔rightline鈥� or 鈥淔latline.鈥�
Public attention is attracted to spectacular crashes 鈥� such as the one that ended 46-year-old Clivet Romero鈥檚 life. He zigged and zagged his Maserati around cars stopped at the tracks in Oakland Park and sped around a gate. The Brightline impact flung his body into a flashing light signal, and he was sliced in half. His car exploded into a fireball.
But drivers account for relatively few of the fatalities. The Herald/WLRN found that only 24 people 鈥� or 13% 鈥� were in cars.
Pedestrians are most at risk. The luxury-priced train runs through urban centers, bar districts and neighborhoods. Of the 182 dead, 158 were on foot or bicycle, reporters found.
SA国际传谋 60% of those who died weren鈥檛 at crossings, according to federal data. Many didn鈥檛 navigate around downed gates or see lights flashing. Official report after report recounts people noticing the Brightline moments before it killed them.
The dead include a woman who fled Ukraine with her husband and young children in 2022 after Russia invaded. Two months into her new Miami life, her last moment was to turn and look in shock at a Brightline train.
Another woman forgot something and ran to retrieve it. On the way to rejoin her group, she tripped on the tracks in the dark. The medical examiner鈥檚 report says the train engineer saw 鈥渢he light of her cell phone tumble forward鈥� as it flew out of her hands, just before she was struck.
The most dangerous train
Brightline remains the deadliest major passenger railroad in the United States, according to a Herald/WLRN analysis of data since 2018 from the Federal Railroad Administration.
It鈥檚 a distinction it has held since early on, reported in 2019 by the .
Trains that travel above 125 mph are subject to mandatory safeguards, requiring that the tracks be separated from roads and have no traffic crossings. By keeping its speeds under 125 mph along most of the route, Brightline is allowed to run at street level without fencing or separation from pedestrians and cars.
The trains reach 79 mph between Miami and West Palm Beach, and 110 mph farther north to Cocoa. Only the final segment to Orlando, which opened in 2023, travels at speeds up to 125 mph. It is fenced off and inaccessible to cars and pedestrians. No one has died there.
Brightline faces more danger zones than other passenger trains that travel at similar speeds, an analysis of federal rail data found.
The Florida train runs almost entirely at street level, traverses crossings at high speeds, doesn鈥檛 sound its horn along much of the route and cuts repeatedly through high-volume intersections.
Ian Savage, a rail-safety expert at Northwestern University, said Brightline鈥檚 location makes the train more dangerous. Brightline shares its tracks with freight trains on the Florida East Coast Railway, feet away from major highways such as U.S. 1.
鈥淚f you were building this from scratch,鈥� Savage said, 鈥測ou would never do this.鈥�
鈥楽top victim blaming鈥�
In South Florida, where most of the dead were struck, slow freight trains and fast Brightline trains come and go on two parallel tracks, sometimes from opposite directions.
In Brightline鈥檚 first week of service, the train struck and killed a man on a bicycle. Jeffrey King, 51, was pedaling home from work at Troy鈥檚 Barbecue and tried to beat the train on Ocean Avenue in Boynton Beach.
A video from the front of the train showed King looking straight ahead, unaware of what was coming.
King鈥檚 was the fourth Brightline death. Members of Congress demanded answers. Marco Rubio, then a U.S. senator, of the train鈥檚 safety record.
U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fort Pierce, rejected Brightline鈥檚 public comments that people like King should simply heed safety warnings at the crossings.
鈥淪top victim blaming and take responsibility for the fact that your trains are killing people,鈥� Mast at the time, sharing a story about King鈥檚 death. 鈥淭rains should stop running until massive safety flaws are resolved.鈥�
The company鈥檚 president, Patrick Goddard, told a congressional committee in April 2018 that those claiming the train was unsafe 鈥渃hoose to ignore the facts and the actual police reports surrounding these incidents, a common theme of bending information to suit their anti-progress narrative.鈥�
鈥淓very person who has died on our railroad has either chosen to end their lives or been under the influence of drugs,鈥� he said.
Brightline President Patrick Goddard addressed the train鈥檚 safety record at a hearing of the House Oversight committee in April 2018.
Two of the six deaths by then were ruled suicides. The rest of the victims tested positive for drugs, but it鈥檚 unclear whether that played any role in their deaths. King had marijuana in his system, but the Palm Beach County medical examiner鈥檚 office told the Herald/WLRN team that it鈥檚 impossible to know whether he was impaired, based on his toxicology results.
In public statements, the company has combined suicides and cases where a person had drugs in their system, that 75% of deaths were 鈥渢he results of suicide or drugs.鈥�
The suggestion that most Brightline fatalities were self-inflicted baffles the brother of Randy Johanson, a 62-year-old whose gruesome death last year occurred at the Barefoot Boulevard railroad crossing in Micco, north of Vero Beach.
Johanson was having a typical day. He walked to the Winn-Dixie liquor store, bought a few tiny, black-cherry-infused whiskey bottles and headed toward home.
It wasn鈥檛 far. But he would have to cross the tracks, and a train he had never heard of was whizzing along at 102 miles an hour.
Johanson was deaf 鈥� he had measles as a child. At home beside his bed, he had left his hearing aids. His uneaten lunch, ramen noodles, sat on the counter.
He walked past the warning gate and was just across the tracks when the train hit him, video shows. Trains extend beyond the track about three feet on each side, and a second or two would have made a difference. The engineer noted Johanson 鈥渨as kind of like shuffling, and didn鈥檛 look up at us.鈥�
Johanson鈥檚 brother, Daniel, a retired Lockheed Martin engineer, choked up during an interview at his Melbourne home in March as he cut into a sealed brown envelope marked as biohazard. He had been holding onto it for a year, avoiding it. He used the scissors as tongs, pulling out his brother鈥檚 blood-spattered ID cards and wallet. Remembering how the train 鈥渄ecimated鈥� his brother鈥檚 body, he said he just doesn鈥檛 understand.
鈥淢y thought, being an engineer,鈥� he said, 鈥渋s that you pre-plan your projects, and you consider all those safety issues 鈥� before you start running a train at 110 miles an hour through small towns where people aren鈥檛 even aware of what鈥檚 going on.鈥�
Randy Johanson鈥檚 death initially was ruled a suicide by the Brevard County Medical Examiner鈥檚 Office, then changed to 鈥渦ndetermined.鈥� Daniel Johanson said his brother loved fishing and watching reruns of 鈥淢*A*S*H.鈥� Randy鈥檚 death was not a suicide, he said.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a travesty that they would even make that supposition, you know, without any evidence to support that,鈥� he said.
鈥楴ever looked up鈥�
Danny Black, a photographer, was crossing the tracks in North Miami in the fall of 2023 when he was hit by a Brightline train.
The train conductor told police that Black, 55, was wearing headphones and 鈥渘ever looked up or seemed to know that the train was approaching.鈥�
Black鈥檚 home was a few blocks away. He was walking east, to an area with restaurants and a Publix. He had taken up jogging to lose weight. He loved NASCAR. He was 鈥渁 wonderful man,鈥� his sister Jody McDonald said, crying, in an interview at her Canaveral Groves home in March.
A neighborhood road abuts the tracks, and a path through the grass shows Black wasn鈥檛 the first to trespass in a location where there was no official crossing.
Brightline鈥檚 tracks run near schools, parks and neighborhoods. Homeless encampments have sprung up. Well-worn trespassing paths are evident throughout the route.
For Black, using the official crossing would have added several blocks to his trek. In one cul-de-sac in Palm Beach Gardens, pedestrians trying to get to a neighborhood mall would have to take a 1.5-mile detour to get to the nearest official crossing.
鈥淚f anything else killed that many people, they would take it away,鈥� McDonald said. 鈥淲hatever they鈥檙e doing isn鈥檛 working.鈥�
Even if there鈥檚 a well-worn path, walking onto the tracks if you鈥檙e not at an official crossing is trespassing in Florida, a misdemeanor. Brightline officials emphasize that people such as Black were breaking the law. Trespassing is frequent along the Florida East Coast Railway tracks that Brightline shares, a problem that the Florida Department of Transportation detailed in a .
Brightline was warned of the risk years earlier. The FEC railroad, which birthed the city of Miami and many others along Florida鈥檚 eastern seaboard, was one of the nation鈥檚 most treacherous rail corridors going back decades. In 2016 and 2017, just before Brightline launched, 54 people were killed by FEC freight trains, according to federal data. It was the railroad鈥檚 deadliest two-year stretch since at least 1975.
FEC freight trains, which travel at slower speeds, have killed 132 people since 2018, a fatality rate of 13 deaths per million miles. Brightline鈥檚 rate, about 24 deaths per million miles, far outpaces that.
Despite the corridor鈥檚 deadly history, Brightline spent years disputing the need for safety upgrades and downplaying warnings from local governments and regulators, reporters found.
Frank Frey, a Federal Railroad Administration engineer, was part of a team of regulators and railroad officials who walked the Brightline route in 2014 during a federal review process. In a subsequent , Frey warned that trespassing across the tracks had reached 鈥渆pidemic鈥� proportions.
Frey urged Brightline to install fencing to direct pedestrians to crossings, and he called on the company to add crossing-gate arms and median dividers north of West Palm Beach to deter drivers from going around gates where trains would exceed 80 mph. Brightline resisted.
鈥淸T]hey are not exercising appropriate safety practices and reasonable care,鈥� Frey wrote in the report.
After Frey鈥檚 report became public, and amid pressure from Martin and Indian River counties, FDOT 鈥� the agency responsible for rail safety in Florida 鈥� said it would require Brightline to follow the federal guidance.
But those safety measures only applied to the 110-mph span of track that opened in late 2023 north of West Palm Beach. Crossing upgrades were less common in the South Florida counties (Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade), where most of the deaths occur.
SA国际传谋 100 crossings have just two gate arms, one on each side of the tracks, which means drivers can still veer into the wrong lane to drive across. Brightline officials say the remaining 69% of the 331 crossings have four gate arms, and some have median dividers to keep people from driving into the other lane.
State bills introduced in 2017, 2018 and 2020 would have expanded FDOT鈥檚 authority to regulate Brightline, and would have required the rail company to pay for fencing at popular trespassing shortcuts and for safety equipment at crossings. Brightline 鈥� and each time, the legislation died without reaching a floor vote.
Brightline argued that the bills improperly targeted the company and weren鈥檛 needed.
The company was arguing against stricter fencing requirements. Rusty Roberts, then a Brightline official, said it was ineffective, expensive and difficult to maintain. Brightline officials recently told reporters that fencing that the company installed near the Aventura station has been knocked down three times.
Footage taken from a Brightline train on Feb. 19, 2025, shows the open tracks along Dixie Highway in Pompano Beach. Matias J. Ocner / Miami Herald
But in 2022, when a federal grant offering millions of dollars for fencing became available, Brightline was on board. FDOT submitted an application, with Brightline鈥檚 support.
Now, company officials say fencing, though not a 鈥渃ure-all,鈥� is a good idea. Lefevre, the vice president of operations, recently called it 鈥渃ommon sense鈥� and said it would have an 鈥渋mmediate impact.鈥�
鈥淲hen done in the right area and with the proper length, fencing can be a benefit to channel pedestrians to the nearest crossing,鈥� Lefevre said in a statement.
Under terms of the grant, Brightline will spend $10 million on safeguards, while federal and state governments will spend $35 million. That will pay for 33 miles of protective fencing and landscaping along the tracks, warning markings at crossings, and 168 crisis-support signs for people who are suicidal.
In the 33 months before the funding was released, 101 people died.
The U.S. Department of Transportation blamed the delay on a 鈥済rant backlog鈥� from the Biden administration. In a statement to the Herald/WLRN, spokesman Nate Sizemore said the Federal Railroad Administration 鈥渉as worked to hold Brightline ... accountable to the highest standards.鈥� He said drivers and trespassing pedestrians were 鈥渢he direct cause鈥� of all of Brightline鈥檚 fatalities.
鈥淲e will continue to closely review any safety incident with Brightline and work with the railroad to prevent future occurrences,鈥� Sizemore said.
Brightline declined to provide information to the Herald/WLRN on exactly how much of the nearly 200-mile route between Miami and Cocoa is currently protected by fencing, vegetation or other barriers. The tracks are easily accessible in most of South Florida.
In April, reporters visited the stretch of track where Maddie Brunelle died eight years ago in Boca Raton. It was still unfenced.
Maddie was an artist, an A student who had been admitted to college. But she was in a personal crisis. That afternoon in 2017, she walked out of a recovery center in Boca Raton, and, just a few blocks away, saw the open tracks.
Her mother, Amy, told reporters that getting to the tracks was too easy. Suicide can be an impulsive act, she noted, and the Brightline train runs past communities of 鈥渧ulnerable鈥� people.
According to FDOT, the FEC/Brightline tracks are surrounded by 鈥渄isadvantaged communities鈥� and 鈥渁reas of persistent poverty.鈥�
鈥淲hat scares me is how much open track there is,鈥� Brunelle said, 鈥渁nd how close it is to public areas.鈥�
barriers and other measures can help. At San Francisco鈥檚 Golden Gate and Tampa鈥檚 Sunshine Skyway bridges, safety netting, fencing, signs and emergency call boxes have curbed suicides.
鈥橲hould be permanently closed!鈥�
As she inched her Honda forward at a railroad crossing in North Miami in March 2023, a young mother made a terrible mistake. Traffic wasn鈥檛 moving. The gates came down in front of her, and she was stuck on the tracks. A Brightline train was coming.
The 28-year-old had only seconds to decide what to do. She flung the door open, grabbed her 2-year-old son out of the back seat, left the car that she had just bought that day, and ran.
The train slammed into her car 42 seconds later.
The crossing at 141st Street and U.S. 1 is one of the most dangerous along the Brightline route. At least seven times, Brightline trains have crashed into cars, mostly after drivers have scrambled to exit before impact.
Officials have discussed closing the crossing to traffic for years, so cars would no longer be able to drive across the tracks. In a 2023 email, Frey, the federal rail official, said regulators 鈥減leaded with City officials to close this, but sadly the City declined.鈥�
鈥淭here is absolutely no reason why this crossing should exist,鈥� Frey wrote. 鈥淚t should be permanently closed!鈥�
The 141st Street crossing is one of nearly two dozen that regulators recommended for closure more than 10 years ago. All of them remain open today.
SA国际传
A key reason the Brightline corridor is so dangerous, reporters found, is the prevalence of crossings and local officials鈥� resistance to closing them.
鈥淭here are things that could be done to reduce the number of crossings and therefore the number of interactions between the railroad and the public,鈥� Brightline鈥檚 Lefevre said. 鈥淚t is not for lack of effort or interest on Brightline鈥檚 part that those things aren鈥檛 being done.鈥�
Amit Bose, who led the Federal Railroad Administration under then-President Joe Biden, said in a recent interview that he walked some of the Brightline corridor and 鈥渃ouldn鈥檛 believe the number of grade crossings.鈥�
鈥淚 knew the numbers, but just seeing it for myself, and seeing it, you know, every quarter-mile, half-mile continuously in these populated areas,鈥� he said, 鈥渋t definitely made my antenna go up.鈥�
In other states, railroads and governments have in fencing, upgraded crossings, pedestrian bridges and other projects to prevent cars and people from accessing train tracks.
In Florida, where three passenger railroads rank among the deadliest in the country, even basic safeguards such as sounding a horn have not been deployed.
Normally, trains are required to blow their horns in a standardized pattern 鈥� two long blasts, one short blast and another long blast 鈥� as they approach crossings. Before approving communities to become quiet zones, federal regulators require them to add safety equipment to account for the danger of keeping horns silent.
In 2023, the Federal Railroad Administration took the rare step of amid a spike in deaths at Brightline crossings.
Among those who had been killed was a homeless man who had just been handed a $1 bill in an area of open track not far from a 鈥淣o Train Horn鈥� sign in Pompano Beach. The man who gave it to him turned back a moment later to see him flying through the air. The $1 bill floated to the ground.
The federal agency determined that Broward could keep its quiet zone if additional safety measures were taken and awarded a $15 million grant to upgrade 21 crossings throughout the county. That was two years ago; the grant agreement was .
The Florida transportation department has done little to address Brightline鈥檚 safety record. Jared Perdue, the agency鈥檚 director since 2022, declined repeated interview requests.
In response to detailed written questions, an agency spokesperson offered a general statement that blamed the public.
鈥淒ata shows that the leading cause of rail-related fatalities at railroad crossings in the U.S. is human behavior and this shows true in Florida statistics as well,鈥� said the spokesperson, Michael Williams.
FDOT has invested nearly $180 million over the past decade to 鈥渆nhance the safety of rail crossings around the state,鈥� Williams said. The funding included a $60 million initiative to paint white Xs known as 鈥渄ynamic envelopes鈥� at the approach to each crossing.
Williams did not respond to repeated requests for a list of completed projects.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who expressed concern in 2019 over Brightline鈥檚 death toll, did not respond to reporters鈥� requests for comment.
A band played at the funeral of Amelise Renoir Noel, 60, at the Bethlehem Haitian Baptist Church on Jan. 11, 2025. Noel was hit by a Brightline train in Palm Beach County in December. Bethlehem Haitian Baptist Church
Death on the tracks
The day after Christmas, a Brightline train loaded with 236 passengers was rolling north from Miami to Orlando when a woman in gray braids stepped onto the tracks.
Amelise Renoir Noel was walking home from her job at a catering company.
The horn sounded, but Noel stumbled. She couldn鈥檛 get out of the way.
Inside the train cab, the crew members knew they wouldn鈥檛 be able to stop in time. There wasn鈥檛 even time to pull the emergency brake, the conductor told investigators.
Brightline reported to federal regulators that the crew had 鈥渙bserved a trespasser standing, fouling their track.鈥�
Noel鈥檚 death, ruled an accident, threw many into mourning. Friends, co-workers and family packed every pew at the Bethlehem Haitian Baptist Church for her funeral. It spanned two and a half hours. A brass band marched up the aisle.
Noel was 60 but seemed more like a 20-year-old, said her daughter-in-law, Elmide Dictant. For years, she had walked that route to and from work, across the tracks. Though it was technically trespassing, Noel would have had to walk out of her way to reach an official crossing. Her home was minutes from the tracks in Lake Park in northern Palm Beach County.
A wife, mother and grandmother, Noel 鈥渓oved dancing,鈥� Dictant remembered. 鈥淪he loved making jokes, she loved to cook and loved making Haitian snacks.鈥�
Noel鈥檚 death was the third in a two-year span for the young conductor in the train cab. None of them were her fault. The first time, she was so 鈥渋n shock鈥� she couldn鈥檛 tell police what happened, according to a report. Three months later, it happened again. A woman was walking between the tracks with her head down. Then, Noel鈥檚 death.
In March, she was in the locomotive cab when the train hit a fourth person, a thin, young man homesick for Ecuador.
He held his arms out, a deputy wrote, 鈥渁s if he was welcoming the train to strike him.鈥�
After each of the 182 deadly strikes, a similar scene unfolds.
The train stops. A crowd of officials descends on the tracks. Investigators pick through the gravel, collecting remnants of a life lost: A pinky finger, a zippered bag that says 鈥渇abulous,鈥� a wedding ring. A head, a heart, a pair of jeans.
Engineers emerge to see that the front of the train is dented. Once, the train impaled a couple鈥檚 pickup truck, pinning them against the train鈥檚 nose.
Investigators鈥� records chronicle the collateral damage. Loved ones show up. A witness 鈥渨ith red and watery eyes鈥� has to compose himself to tell officers what he saw. A boyfriend rides up on a bicycle and begins 鈥渟obbing uncontrollably.鈥�
Eventually, a body-removal company collects what鈥檚 beneath the tarp.
Inside the train, where commuters are in a hurry to get somewhere, the shades are drawn down.
Will Mann, a Brightline passenger during a March fatality in Palm Beach County, told reporters that free potato chips and water were distributed while riders sat for three hours waiting, wondering. They couldn鈥檛 see outside.
They were told there had been an 鈥渋ncident,鈥� he said, involving a 鈥渢respasser.鈥� They got no further details.
The train had struck a woman, Christy Mateluna, who died at a hospital in West Palm Beach.
After her body was removed and the train finally got going, Mann said, passengers around him started clapping.
Anyone who is experiencing suicidal thoughts should contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (988) or Crisis Text Line (text 鈥淗ELLO鈥� to 741741) for immediate support. Regular check-ins with primary care physicians and clergy members, who often have insights into community resources, can also be beneficial.
How the Miami Herald and SA国际传谋 found Brightline鈥檚 death toll
A team of reporters from the Miami Herald and SA国际传谋 spent over a year documenting every death involving Brightline trains since the rail line鈥檚 launch seven years ago. Drawing on autopsy reports and local law enforcement records, reporters discovered that 182 people 鈥� so far 鈥� have been killed by the fast-speed train.
The team of reporters analyzed federal railroad data, reviewed federal safety studies, consulted experts and reviewed hundreds of pages of medical examiner and police incident reports to better understand the factors that contributed to each death and to compare Brightline鈥檚 safety record against other railroads nationwide.
Read the full methodology here.
Credits
SA国际传谋
- Danny Rivero | Reporter
- Joshua Ceballos | Reporter
- Jessica Bakeman | Editor
- Sergio R. Bustos | Editor
- Denise Royal | Editor
- Merritt Jacob | Audio Engineer
- Mihail Halatchev | Digital Production
- Matheus Sanchez | Digital Editor
- Alyssa Ramos | Digital Engagement
- Valentina Sandoval | Digital Engagement
Miami Herald
- Brittany Wallman | Herald Reporter
- Aaron Leibowitz | Herald Reporter
- Shradha Dinesh | Data Journalist
- Allison Beck | Reporter
- Susan Merriam | Data Visualization & Design
- David Newcomb | Data Visualization & Development
- Sohail Al-Jamea | 3-D Modeling & Animation
- Rachel Handley | Illustrations
- Matias J. Ocner | Photography
- Trish Wilson Belli | Editor
- Jessica Lipscomb | Editor
- David Santiago | Photo Editor
- John Parkhurst | Copy Editor
- Carolina Zamora | Audience & Engagement
Support
The Fund for Investigative Journalism provided support for this series.