A pedestrian was struck and killed by a Brightline train on Saturday along the Florida East Coast Railway tracks in Lantana.
The person was not identified by the town’s police, who had no further information about the early afternoon incident that occurred in the area of South Dixie Highway and West Central Boulevard.
A Brightline spokesman declined comment.
Fatal accidents involving pedestrians walking along tracks and motorists who try to beat trains at crossings have been a chronic problem for Brightline and other rail operators in South Florida including Tri-Rail, the Florida East Coast Railway and Amtrak.
Last month, the Federal Railroad Administration in Washington convened a meeting of railroad operators in Boynton Beach that included local government officials to organize a series of steps to reduce fatal incidents involving trains, motor vehicles and pedestrians.
Federal officials cited Florida’s five-year average of 2.84 incidents per grade crossing, compared to 1.51 nationally, as one element that drew their additional scrutiny.
The FRA also announced a series of inspections in South Florida where multiple incidents have occurred.
None of the deaths involving Brightline trains has been determined by authorities to be the fault of the railroad, which has spent millions on safety improvements along the 65-mile stretch of the FEC rail corridor it uses in South Florida.
