America’s most novel train project is too deadly

TO RIDE ON Brightline, a private passenger train in Florida, is a luxurious experience. A “premium” journey begins in a lounge with four kinds of beer on tap; the train itself has smart leather seats and a bar service with champagne. It is a lot better than driving on the state’s famously congested roads, and faster too. Often it is cheaper than flying. In 2023 the firm opened the first new private passenger train track in America in over a century, expanding service from Miami to Orlando (see map). Brightline’s growth offers hope that private enterprise could bring to America a new golden age of rail. There is just one rather unfortunate problem. People keep getting hit by its trains.