2018 is clearly not turning out to be a great year for US trains as reports come out of South Florida saying that the much hyped Brightline train was involved in a sixth accident already since testing began.
Rescue workers had to transport a man to hospital after he had been struck by a Brightline train in Wilton Manors, causing him to be pinned underneath.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Mr Stephen Gollan said: “We received a call earlier this evening for a pedestrian that had been struck by the train.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: Pedestrian struck, pinned under Brightline train in Wilton Manors <a href="https://t.co/yeADnZzjdQ">https://t.co/yeADnZzjdQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/UPMUI8uMqS">pic.twitter.com/UPMUI8uMqS</a></p>— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) <a href="https://twitter.com/wsvn/status/961768174688534529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The private rail line now has the very sad record of having been involved in six accidents since testing began in 2017. Four of those resulted in fatalities and two leaving people with serious injuries.
Related coverage: <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/17740-Miami-Orders-Train-Safety-Check-After-Amtrak-Accidents">Miami Orders Train Safety Check After Amtrak Accidents </a>.
Onlookers who were asked whether the safety gates were enough of a safety measure to prevent future pedestrian crashes said: “No, definitely not. These gates are for the freight trains, for old-school trains. This thing is flying through here.”
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Breaking News: Fire officials say a man purposely laid down between tracks and a Brightline train rolled over him in Wilton Manors. <a href="https://twitter.com/nbc6?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBC6</a> <a href="https://t.co/MOghPqsRG1">pic.twitter.com/MOghPqsRG1</a></p>— Michael Spears NBC6 (@MikeSpearsNBC6) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeSpearsNBC6/status/961778304733925376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2018</a></blockquote>
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A passenger on board the train explained they were only notified about the crash much later. “The train came to a stop, and they said, ‘It wasn’t a problem with the gates. We actually had a collision.'”
Republican Marco Rubio, Senator for Florida, has called for a federal safety review of the trains operation.
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They would be using a windows server. What do the trains run on?
Next time I take the train I'm asking for a safety belt.
What is the deal with trains the last few months? Oh, and aren't there a few missing from the NTSB's site here? And where are the NTSB spokesmen for all of this? Check this out… https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/railroad.aspx