Since 2017, Rail Safety Week has been saving lives by educating the public on how to safely maneuver and interact with railroads. As the Brightline reopens, we sat down with president Patrick Goddard to learn more about the train and how to act around them.
Although railroads have been around for hundreds of years throughout the country, some people still don't know how to approach them, he says. South Florida is notorious for being one of the places where accidents with railroads and trains happen often, but Brightline has invested in educating the public and making improvements to change this.
"It's a very simple message, stay off active railroad tracks, you're not supposed to be there," he says. "If you're at an activated rail crossing don't try and beat the train!"
With Brightline opening in November after being closed for over a year, the company is adding stations in Boca Raton and Aventura, along the way from Miami to West Palm. They're also on their way to Orlando.
If you've ever worried about getting to the train station, Brightline has a solution for that. They will be operating a fleet of private and shared vehicles to take guests from wherever they are to the train station, and then from the station to wherever they need to go.
"We're going to be offering that on a promotional basis when we restart so everyone gets to try it out," says Goddard. "We'll have a fleet of Teslas, we'll have some shuttles, we'll have some golf carts, it'll be a predominately electric fleet."
You can plan your next trip with Brightline here.
