By Jay Wasserman

Every day, dozens of Brightline trains run the length of Florida’s southeast coast, from Miami through Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach, then north and inland to Orlando International Airport. In South Florida they share a corridor with Florida East Coast Railway freight trains, on tracks that cross hundreds of streets in some of the most densely developed communities in the state. Many of those crossings sit a few feet from busy parallel roads like Dixie Highway and U.S. 1, where a driver turning toward the tracks may have very little room to stop.

The result has been a death toll without parallel among American passenger railroads. A 2019 Associated Press analysis of federal data found that Brightline had the highest per-mile death rate of any railroad in the United States, and news investigations published this year count well over 180 people killed since the system began operating, with some tallies now above 200. Most were pedestrians or cyclists. A large share of the deaths have been classified as suicides. But many were drivers and people on foot who were trying to cross, and each one raises the same questions for a family: what happened, who was responsible, and whether federal law allows the claim at all.

This article explains how injury and wrongful death claims involving Brightline and other trains work in Florida. Many of the rules apply equally to Florida East Coast Railway freight trains, CSX, Tri-Rail, and SunRail, but the Brightline corridor, which runs past our Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando offices, is where we see these cases most often.

Why the corridor is so dangerous

Several features of the South Florida rail corridor contribute to the number of crashes.

Speed. Brightline trains run at up to 79 miles per hour through Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, and considerably faster on the segment north of West Palm Beach and on the dedicated line to Orlando, which opened in 2023 and is designed for speeds up to 125 miles per hour. A train at 79 miles per hour covers more than 115 feet every second. Even with emergency braking, a passenger train can need well over half a mile to stop.

Frequency and quietness. Passenger trains run far more often than the freight traffic many residents grew up with, and modern passenger trainsets are quieter than freight locomotives. Much of the South Florida corridor is a designated quiet zone, discussed below, where train horns are not routinely sounded at crossings.

Crossing density and geometry. The corridor crosses streets every few blocks in many cities. Some crossings are close to signalized intersections on parallel roads, which can leave a vehicle stopped in traffic with part of the car on or near the tracks. Others are used heavily by pedestrians and cyclists going to and from beaches, downtowns, and transit stops.

Behavior. Federal and state investigators have repeatedly found that drivers going around lowered gates and pedestrians walking along or across the tracks account for a large share of incidents. That is an important fact in many cases, and it is the defense’s central theme in almost all of them. But it is not the end of the analysis, because crossings, warning systems, sight lines, and train operations can all contribute to a crash that a careless choice set in motion.

Florida’s crossing laws, and the 2024 penalty increases

Florida’s traffic code imposes specific duties on drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians at railroad crossings.

Fla. Stat. § 316.1575 requires a person approaching a crossing to stop between 15 and 50 feet from the nearest rail, and not proceed until it is safe, when a signal warns of an approaching train, a gate is lowered or a flagger is signaling, a train sounds an audible signal or is an immediate hazard, or an approaching train is plainly visible and in hazardous proximity. It also prohibits driving through, around, or under a gate or barrier while it is closed or being opened or closed.

Fla. Stat. § 316.1576 prohibits driving onto a crossing unless there is enough room on the other side to clear the tracks completely without stopping, even when a traffic signal on the far side says to proceed.

In 2024, the Legislature substantially increased the penalties for these violations, raising the fine for a first violation to $500 (or community service) with points on the license, and adding a larger fine and possible license suspension for repeat violations. Brightline and the state’s other railroads publicly supported the change.

These statutes matter in a civil case because a violation is evidence of negligence. A driver who went around a lowered gate will face a strong comparative fault argument. But the statutes also define what a reasonable person could be expected to do, and when the warnings were absent, malfunctioning, obscured, or ambiguous, the driver’s duty under these statutes may not have been triggered in the way the railroad claims.

Who may be responsible

Train cases almost always involve more than one potentially responsible party, and identifying all of them early is one of the most important steps in the case.

Brightline. Brightline Trains Florida LLC is a private company, not a government agency, and it is subject to ordinary negligence and wrongful death claims and ordinary deadlines. Claims against it may involve the operation of the train, including lookout, speed in relation to a specific hazard, braking, and use of the horn; the training and conduct of the crew; and, depending on the segment and the agreements in place, the maintenance of the track, crossings, and signals.

Florida East Coast Railway. On much of the South Florida corridor, Brightline operates on track owned by Florida East Coast Railway, which runs its own freight trains on the same line. Ownership of the track, responsibility for crossing equipment, and the allocation of duties between the two railroads are governed by agreements that have to be obtained and reviewed. A freight train crash involves FEC directly.

FDOT, counties, and cities. Florida law gives the Florida Department of Transportation authority over public railroad-highway grade crossings, including the installation and upgrading of warning devices, under Fla. Stat. § 335.141. Counties and cities typically own the roads approaching the crossings, maintain traffic signals on parallel roads, and designate quiet zones. A government entity can be responsible for a dangerous condition it created or failed to correct, but claims against it are subject to Florida’s sovereign immunity statute, § 768.28, including a written notice requirement, a waiting period, and caps on damages. Our guide to claims against the government in Florida explains those rules.

Contractors. Companies hired to build, upgrade, or maintain crossings, signals, fencing, or the roadway are ordinary private defendants. Crossing, signal, and fencing upgrades along the corridor are often performed by contractors.

Drivers and other parties. In a crash where one vehicle pushed another onto the tracks, or where a stopped line of traffic trapped a car on the crossing, other drivers may share responsibility. A passenger in a car struck by a train may have claims against the driver of that car as well as against the railroad, and the driver’s auto insurance and the passenger’s own uninsured motorist coverage may both come into play. Our guide to uninsured motorist claims explains how that coverage works.

Federal preemption: the rule that shapes every train case

The most important legal difference between a train case and an ordinary car crash is federal preemption. Railroad safety is heavily regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration, and the Federal Railroad Safety Act, at 49 U.S.C. § 20106, provides that federal railroad safety regulations generally preempt state laws, including state tort claims, covering the same subject matter. In practice, that means some of the claims a family would most naturally want to bring are barred, while others survive.

Train speed: Easterwood

In CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Easterwood, 507 U.S. 658 (1993), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a claim that a train was going too fast is preempted when the train was operating within the maximum speed federal regulations set for that class of track. A jury generally may not find a railroad negligent simply because a lower speed would have been safer, if the train complied with the federal limit.

Adequacy of crossing warnings: Shanklin

In Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Shanklin, 529 U.S. 344 (2000), the Court held that once federal funds have been used to install warning devices at a crossing, and the devices are installed and operating, a claim that those devices were inadequate, for example that the crossing needed gates rather than only flashing lights, is preempted. Whether federal money was actually spent on the devices at the specific crossing is therefore a critical fact, and it has to be established from project records, not assumed.

What survives

Preemption is significant, but it is not a blanket immunity. Claims that commonly survive include:

Failure to comply with a federal standard. In 2007, Congress amended § 20106 to make clear that state law claims are not preempted when they allege that the railroad failed to comply with a federal standard of care, failed to comply with its own plan, rule, or standard created under federal regulation, or violated a state law that is consistent with federal law. A railroad that violated the federal horn rule, its own operating rules, or federal inspection and maintenance requirements can be held liable under state law.
The specific, individual hazard. Even when general speed claims are preempted, courts have recognized that a railroad may still be liable for failing to slow or stop for a specific, individual hazard, such as a vehicle stalled on the tracks or a person the crew saw or should have seen in the train’s path, when there was time to react.
Lookout and braking. Claims that the crew failed to keep a proper lookout, or failed to apply the brakes promptly once a hazard was apparent, are often viable, and the train’s event recorder and video are usually the key evidence.
Malfunctioning warnings. Shanklin addresses whether the devices chosen were adequate, not whether they worked. Gates that failed to come down, lights that did not activate, or a warning time that was too short because of a signal problem raise claims that generally are not preempted.
Sight lines and vegetation. Claims that vegetation, structures, or stored equipment on railroad property blocked a driver’s view of an approaching train may survive, depending on the federal regulations that apply and how the claim is framed.
Crossing surface and roadway conditions. Rough or deteriorated crossing surfaces that cause vehicles to stall or lose control may support claims against the railroad or the entity responsible for the road.

The preemption analysis is crossing-specific and fact-specific. It is also one of the first motions the defense will file, which is why the investigation has to be built around it from the start.

Quiet zones and the horn rule

Federal regulations, in 49 C.F.R. Part 222, generally require a locomotive engineer to sound the horn in a prescribed pattern when approaching a public crossing. The same regulations allow local governments to establish quiet zones, in which routine horn sounding is eliminated, if the crossings in the zone have supplemental or alternative safety measures, such as four-quadrant gates, raised medians that prevent drivers from going around gates, or one-way streets, that compensate for the loss of the horn.

Much of the corridor through Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties is in quiet zones. That has consequences for injury claims:

The engineer may still sound the horn in an emergency, and is expected to do so when a person or vehicle is in danger. Whether the horn was sounded, and when, is recorded and is often visible on video.
The quiet zone depends on its safety measures. If the required supplemental measures were not installed, not maintained, or not functioning, the conditions that justified silencing the horn may not have existed. That can support claims against the railroad, the public authority that established the zone, or both.
Pedestrians are especially affected. People on foot who are not looking at the crossing, wearing headphones, or crossing at night may receive no audible warning in a quiet zone other than the crossing bells. A wrongful death lawsuit filed over a pedestrian’s death in Boca Raton’s quiet zone has raised these issues.

People on foot and on bicycles

Most Brightline fatalities involve pedestrians and cyclists. Their claims raise a distinct set of issues.

At a public crossing. A pedestrian or cyclist crossing at a public grade crossing is generally a lawful user of the crossing and is owed the duties the law imposes on the railroad and the crossing authority. The crossing statutes apply to them as well, so whether the warnings were active, and whether the person saw or could have seen them, will be central.

On the tracks away from a crossing. A person walking along the tracks or crossing at a place that is not a crossing is usually a trespasser on railroad property. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.075, a property owner generally owes a trespasser only the duty to refrain from intentional misconduct, and, once the trespasser is discovered, to avoid gross negligence and to warn of known dangerous conditions that are not readily observable. The same statute bars many claims by trespassers who were under the influence of alcohol or drugs above the statutory threshold. Those rules make claims by people struck away from crossings difficult, but not impossible: when the crew actually saw a person on the tracks with time to react and did not brake or sound the horn, the question becomes whether that response was grossly negligent. Fencing and other trespass-prevention measures the railroad promised or was required to install can also become relevant.

Suicides. A significant share of deaths on the corridor are suicides. A family that has lost someone this way faces a different set of questions, and in most such cases there is no viable claim against the railroad. But the classification of a death is not always correct, and families sometimes learn from video or witnesses that what was initially reported as intentional was actually a fall, a medical event, or a person who became disoriented or trapped. A medical examiner’s finding is evidence, not the final word, and families who have doubts should ask for the records.

Our guide to pedestrian and bicycle accidents in Florida explains the general rules for people on foot and on bikes.

Passengers

People injured while riding Brightline, Tri-Rail, or SunRail, whether in a derailment, a collision with a vehicle on the tracks, a sudden stop, or a fall on a platform or in a car, have claims against the operator as a common carrier. Florida law has long required carriers to use a high degree of care for the safety of their passengers.

Two federal and contractual issues are specific to passenger claims:

The federal aggregate cap. Under 49 U.S.C. § 28103, total damages awarded to all passengers for claims arising from a single rail passenger accident are capped at an inflation-adjusted figure that exceeded $320 million at its last adjustment, and the statute sets a heightened federal standard for punitive damages in passenger claims. The aggregate cap matters only in a mass-casualty event, but it can determine how a fund is divided in a serious derailment.
Ticket terms. Tickets and app purchases come with terms and conditions that may contain notice requirements, forum provisions, or dispute resolution clauses. Whether those terms are enforceable against an injured passenger, and especially against a minor or a person who did not buy the ticket, depends on their wording and Florida law. They should be reviewed before any deadline in them passes.

Tri-Rail and SunRail. Tri-Rail is operated by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, a public agency, and SunRail is a public commuter system in Central Florida. Claims involving those systems may be subject to sovereign immunity rules, including presuit notice, waiting periods, and damages caps, that do not apply to Brightline. Identifying the correct entity, and whether it or a private contract operator is the proper defendant, is an early and important step.

Comparative fault

Florida’s comparative fault rules apply to train cases. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6), for causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023, a plaintiff found more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing, and a plaintiff found less at fault has damages reduced by their percentage of fault.

That rule makes the facts of the crossing decisive. A driver who drove around fully lowered gates will often face an argument that the driver was mostly at fault. A driver whose car was trapped on the tracks by traffic, whose view was blocked, or who faced gates that came down late or not at all stands in a very different position. In a wrongful death case, the decedent’s fault reduces the survivors’ recovery the same way. Our guide to wrongful death claims in Florida explains who may bring the claim and what damages are available.

The evidence, and why it disappears

Train cases are won or lost on evidence that is in the railroad’s possession, and some of it is overwritten or altered quickly.

Event recorder data. Federal regulations require most lead locomotives to carry an event recorder, which captures speed, throttle and brake applications, horn and bell use, and other data. That data shows what the crew did and when.
Forward-facing and inward-facing video. Most modern passenger trains are equipped with cameras. Forward-facing video often shows the crossing, the gates and lights, the victim’s movements, and the train’s horn and headlight in real time.
Crossing signal data. Many crossings have equipment that logs when the warning system activated and when the gates descended. Warning time is often central to the case.
Maintenance and inspection records. Federal rules require periodic inspection and testing of crossing warning systems, and the records of those inspections, and of prior malfunction complaints, can show a known problem.
Prior incidents. Federal Railroad Administration data, police reports, and news coverage can show earlier crashes and near misses at the same crossing.
The crossing itself. Sight lines, vegetation, signage, pavement markings, and nearby traffic signals should be photographed and measured as soon as possible, before they are changed. Crossings on the Brightline corridor are being upgraded under a large safety program, which means the conditions at the time of the crash may not exist for long.
Third-party video. Cameras on nearby businesses, homes, traffic signals, and vehicles are frequently overwritten within days.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Railroad Administration may investigate significant crashes. Their involvement can produce valuable information, but NTSB reports are subject to federal limits on their use as evidence in civil litigation, and families should not wait for an agency report before preserving evidence of their own. A prompt written preservation demand to the railroad and every other potential defendant is essential.

Deadlines

For most Florida negligence and wrongful death claims arising after March 24, 2023, the statute of limitations is two years. Claims against government entities require written notice and a waiting period before suit, and have their own deadlines. Contractual notice requirements in passenger ticket terms may be shorter. Our guide to Florida’s personal injury statute of limitations explains the exceptions.

A hypothetical

A 41-year-old nurse in Delray Beach is driving home at night on a street that crosses the FEC corridor a short distance from Federal Highway. Traffic on the far side of the tracks backs up from a red light on Federal Highway, and she stops behind the car in front of her, believing she is clear of the tracks. Her rear bumper is within the path of the train. The crossing lights activate and the gates descend, one of them striking her trunk lid. A northbound Brightline train strikes the back of her car at about 75 miles per hour. She survives with a fractured pelvis and a traumatic brain injury.

The railroad’s first response is that she violated § 316.1576 by stopping where she could not clear the tracks. That will be a significant issue. But the investigation raises others. Signal logs show the gates began descending fewer seconds before the train’s arrival than the minimum warning time the crossing was designed to provide. The traffic signal on Federal Highway was supposed to be preempted by the crossing circuit, clearing the cars queued over the tracks when a train approached, but the interconnection had been reported as malfunctioning two months earlier. The forward-facing video shows her car stopped on the tracks for several seconds within the engineer’s view, and the event recorder shows the horn was sounded but emergency braking was applied only about two seconds before impact.

Her claims would likely include a claim against the railroad for failing to respond to a specific, individual hazard, a claim against whoever was responsible for the failed signal interconnection, which may be a public entity subject to § 768.28, and a dispute over warning time that is not preempted because it concerns a malfunction rather than the adequacy of the devices. Her comparative fault will be argued, and it may reduce her recovery, but on these facts it is unlikely to exceed the combined fault of the parties responsible for the crossing.

What to do after a train crash

Get medical care, and keep every record. Train crashes produce serious injuries that are not always obvious at first, including brain injuries.
Do not give a recorded statement to the railroad or its insurer before speaking with a lawyer. Railroads have claims agents and investigators who respond quickly.
Preserve what you can. Photographs of the crossing, the vehicle, and your injuries; the names of witnesses; and any video from your own car or phone.
Keep the vehicle. The vehicle may contain its own crash data and physical evidence of the impact. Do not let it be salvaged or repaired until it has been inspected.
Send a preservation demand. A lawyer should promptly demand that the railroad preserve event recorder data, video, signal logs, maintenance records, and crew records, and should send similar demands to any public entity and contractor involved.
Identify every insurer. Your own auto policy, including PIP and uninsured motorist coverage, and any other driver’s coverage may provide benefits in addition to a claim against the railroad. Our guide to car accident claims in Florida explains PIP.
For families, request the records. In a fatal case, the police report, the medical examiner’s report, and the railroad’s incident report should be obtained and reviewed carefully.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sue Brightline? Yes. Brightline is a private company and can be sued for negligence and wrongful death like any other private defendant. Federal law limits certain types of claims against railroads, especially claims about train speed and the type of warning devices at federally funded crossings, but claims about malfunctioning warnings, failure to respond to a hazard on the tracks, violations of federal rules, and other issues often survive.

Isn’t it always the driver’s or pedestrian’s fault when someone is hit by a train? No. Behavior at the crossing matters a great deal, and drivers who go around lowered gates face serious comparative fault arguments. But crossings malfunction, warning times are sometimes too short, traffic can trap a car on the tracks, sight lines can be blocked, and crews sometimes fail to react to a hazard in front of them. Under Florida law, a person found 50 percent or less at fault can still recover, with damages reduced by their share.

What is a quiet zone, and does it matter to my case? A quiet zone is a stretch of track where local governments have arranged for trains not to sound their horns routinely at crossings, in exchange for added safety measures at the crossings. Much of the Brightline corridor in South Florida is in quiet zones. Whether those safety measures were in place and working, and whether the engineer sounded the horn when a person or vehicle was in danger, can be important issues.

Does federal law prevent me from suing a railroad? Not entirely. The Federal Railroad Safety Act preempts some state claims, but Congress made clear in 2007 that claims based on a railroad’s violation of federal standards, or of its own rules, are not preempted, and many other claims survive. Preemption is fact-specific and crossing-specific, and it should be analyzed early.

I was a passenger on Brightline. Do the same rules apply? Passengers have claims against the carrier, which owes them a high degree of care. Ticket terms may contain notice or dispute resolution provisions, and a federal statute caps the total awards to all passengers from a single accident, which matters mainly in a mass-casualty event. Claims involving Tri-Rail or SunRail may be subject to sovereign immunity rules.

My family member’s death was ruled a suicide, but we do not believe it. What can we do? Ask for the medical examiner’s report, the police report, and any available video. Classifications are sometimes revised when new evidence emerges. A lawyer can help obtain the railroad’s video and event recorder data, which often shows what actually happened.

How long do I have to file a claim? Generally two years for injury and wrongful death claims arising after March 24, 2023, with notice requirements and waiting periods for claims against government entities. Evidence such as video and signal data can be lost much sooner, so it is important to act quickly.

Talk to a Florida train accident attorney

Train crash cases combine catastrophic injuries with some of the most technical liability rules in personal injury law: federal preemption, quiet zone regulations, crossing signal engineering, multiple railroads and public agencies, and evidence that sits in the defendants’ hands. KWBR’s auto accident, wrongful death, and premises liability practices handle cases along the Brightline and FEC corridor from our Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando offices. If you or a family member was hurt or killed in a crash involving a train, contact us as soon as possible so the video, event recorder data, and signal records are preserved.

This article is for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. Federal preemption in railroad cases is fact-specific and depends on the particular crossing, its funding history, and the applicable regulations; casualty figures cited are drawn from news analyses and vary by source; and every case is different. Consult a qualified Florida attorney about your situation.

Brightline and Railroad Crossing Accidents in Florida: Who Is Responsible, How Federal Law Limits the Claims, and What Families Need to Do First