An Accident in Delray Beach That Never Should Have Occurred

By Seth H. Bramson

As some of you may/might have heard, there was a terrible accident at a crossing-gates protected crossing in Delray Brach, Florida, several days ago involving a high-speed Brightline passenger train an a Delray Beach Fire Department full-sized hose and ladder truck. It did not end well for the truck, the crew, and 12 of the passengers who were taken to the hospital, along with the crew. While the crew suffered serious injuries, the passenger’s injuries were far less severe and I believe that all of them have already been released.

How and why, at a fully protected with working lights and bells and fully-operating crossing gate arms could this have happened?

Although many people will blame the truck’s driver, the fault is a good bit deeper than that and needs some serious explanation regarding the “how and why? Simply put, while the truck driver made a very serious error in judgement, this writer, although unquestionably in agreement with the conclusion that the vehicle driver’s actions were completely incorrect, no small part of “the blame” must be directed to and both resolved and accepted by, no few Florida local (city and county) as well as the federal agency which regulates rail transportation in America, that being the F R A, the Federal Railroad Agency.

Some years ago, several local Florida governments attempted to impose “Quiet Zones” in which, in their governmental jurisdictions, residents were complaining that the loud sounds of the whistles or horns were keeping them awake. Of course, and as with so many of the perps on “On Patrol Live,” “Cops” and “First Watch” said denizens conveniently overlook the fact that they chose to purchase property or move into an apartment close to a railroad crossing, and, of course, blaming the “noise” on the railroad, ignoring their “culpability” for having moved into a home or apartment that close to active railroad tracks. Fortunately, at that time, the then-in-existence now sunsetted Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) almost immediately ordered all affected railroads to ignore said statutes and blow their horns/whistles and ring the locomotive bell at every grade crossing, a long time and important safety practice.

Times change and a number of years ago, local Florida municipalities and counties decided to try again, but this time the F R A, which replaced the ICC, did nothing, when, in truth, fact and actuality, that federal agency could have and should have done exactly what the ICC did and not only should have told the railroad to continue proper signal warning for every crossing, but, and in addition, should have made it clear to the local government entities that they have no place in or will not attempt to legislate issues dealing with interstate commerce. The F R A did nothing and simply ignored the local incursion into something which should have been a mandate which could and should have been issued/imposed only under federal jurisdiction, hence that agency bears no small level or responsibility for the accident in question.

Now, what about the driver, and how did it happen?

While the Florida East Coast Railway, one of the nations most revered and legendary lines, has operated from Jacksonville to Miami (and, at various times over the years to Key West, the Jacksonville beaches, Palatka and on other branch lines no longer in use) the railway not only schedules a sizeable number of freight trains between the two terminal points, but shorter trains as well, for the purpose of assembling the freight cars at various major yards in order for them to be “picked up” and carried to the railroad’s terminals by the through freight trains. Although no longer operating its own passenger trains, the FEC is the host railroad for the Bright Line, a high speed commuter-type service operating along much of Florida’s east coast on the railroad of that name.

Train movements are controlled by dispatchers who are based in New Smyrna Beach, and they direct all traffic on the railroad; not only were the crossing gates at the crossing in Delray Beach where the accident occurred working flawlessly, but so were all signals controlling traffic on both tracks, so there was no issue with, about or regarding mal- or non-functioning signal or safety equipment at or on any place on the railroad.

As we now know, the first truck pulled up at the crossing where the gates were down while a long freight train passed. Because the Bright Line trains operated at a much higher speed than the freight trains, the crossing protection gates, due to the high speeds of the passenger trains, go down and stay in the closed position for a length of time necessary to insure that they the gates will be down and blocking traffic from crossing the tracks involved well before the high-speed train reaches that crossing, but, and again, because the F R A took no action when the “quiet zones” were imposed the number of crossing accidents has increased.

At any rare, the truck driver, upon passing of the freight train, noted that the gates did not go up, and because there were no horn or whistle blasts emanating from the Bright Line locomotive, he made an assumption (unfortunately a quite false assumption) that the gates were stuck in the down position and he made the as we now know very unfortunate decision to go around the closed gates. Sadly and unhappily, although so far with no loss of life, the decision based on a false assumption was a terribly poor and incorrect one.

Because I am a member of a good few railroad-related internet groups, some with nationwide interest and several with a Florida focus, I see many if not most of the comments and have viewed the cab camera view of what occurred and how the accident came about. It is nothing short of shocking.

So, you ask, “Seth, what is the answer?” And the answer is several-fold.

First, the F R A MUST immediately order the repeal of the “quiet zone” ordinances, step in and order all railroad to immediately begin having their engine crews properly sound/blow their horns/whistles and ring their bells for every crossing. Now, the second and third steps are a bit more complicated, not to mention, which I am doing, the creation of a major cost factor and the question of who is going to pay for the proposals.

The first of the proposals is to have quadrant gates at every crossing, at which the gates are not just on the side of travel but on both sides of the roadway(s) on both sides of the track. In other words, four crossing barriers at every crossing instead of two (one on each side of the direction of automobile, bus and truck traffic) but the second proposal, if adopted, will not only require extensive roadwork and will disrupt traffic during its installation but will be very in not massively expensive.

That third of said suggestions/thoughts is to have steel or some type of metal barrier which, upon receiving the signal from an approaching train, will come up out of the ground in both directions of auto travel on both sides of the track. Indeed, it certainly sounds good, but, and as I have asked our subscribers and posters on each list, “who is going to pay for it?” and at that point all the well-meaning-er and excited posters seem to become quite quiet, as, frankly, and at this point, nobody has an or the answer, and, likely, never will.

Now, what about culpability? (I am not an attorney, although, having taken more than the required 18 credits in law during my 2 ¾ Master’s degrees, I am qualified to teach undergraduate law, hence I can not comment on that question) However, given all information available, everything from statements of eye-witnesses to the Bright Line video taken from the cab of the locomotive involved in the accident, it certainly appears that the fire truck driver did not act correctly. However, and at this point, all we can do is wait and see, but, hopefully, we will also begin to see the F R A act in a strong and positive manner to reinstate horn/whistle blowing by every railroad at every road or highway crossing. While there may still be accidents, fatal or otherwise, the number of same will certainly decrease.

Please be safe, all, have a wonderful 2025, and above all, drive carefully and respectfully.

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