Indian River County - Tuesday January 30, 2024: A 30-year-old man walking on the tracks in Indian River County Monday night was struck and killed by a Brightline passenger train.
It happened shortly before 10 p.m. east of the 1800 block of Old Dixie Highway Southwest. The train stopped and the conductor called 911 to report they had struck a person walking on the track.
This was the first person struck and killed by a Brightline Train in Indian River County.
This latest death involving a Brightline train follows a weekend during which two crashes occurred, injuring two people. The two injuries occurred in Boca Raton Saturday evening when the driver and passenger of a vehicle drove into the side of a Brightline train. On Sunday evening another vehicle was clipped by a passing Brightline train. No one was injured in that crash.
'The Alliance for Safe Trains' a citizen advocacy group which has been critical of Brightline's safety record, reports that 108 people have been struck and killed by Brightline trains since the rail carrier began operations in 2018. Brightline is the deadliest rail carrier in the county, according to Federal Railroad Administration data.