New Railroad, Old Problems in the Sunshine State

1476
SHARE

This Senate measure and its House companion (HB269) seek to add additional safety regulations and standards to the railroads, like protective fences alongside tracks. Opponents of the measure say that much of the regulation is already covered by federal agencies and would create a climate of uncertain regulatory authority. Further, the company doesn’t want to pay for additional regulations that they believe to be ineffective.

General Counsel for Brightline, Myles Tobin, even went as far as to say that people could become ‘trapped’ behind rail-side fences in front of oncoming trains. How a fence could be so easily and almost unintentionally crossed one minute only to be an impossibly crossable ‘trap’ the next remains a bit unclear, but there is indeed good research suggesting that these fences make little protective difference.

Because the project is so ambitious financially and the number of riders the company will actually receive when it begins operation is uncertain, Brightline says that HB386 could delay plans further and derail future expansion projects entirely. Already having to compete with Amtrak, the local passenger railroad company operating in south Florida which receives government subsidies, Brightline has an uphill climb ahead and they know it.