Man killed by Brightline train

A Brightline higher-speed passenger train struck and killed a man who was on the railroad tracks in Boynton Beach on Friday, police said.

Train passengers were not injured in the 11:19 a.m. incident in the 1600 block of South Federal Highway, police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater said in an email. Traffic also was not affected by the investigation, she said.

It is not known how the victim, whose name was not released by police, came in the path of the southbound train, which was near East Woolbright Road.

The collision did not happen at a railroad crossing and investigators are determining whether the man Brightline spokeswoman

was trespassing on railroad property, Slater said.

Brightline spokeswoman Ali Soule said in an emailed statement, “We continue working with the Boynton Beach Police Department. The only safe place to cross a railroad is at a designated crossing. Never try to beat a train.”

South Florida pedestrian deaths involving trains rose in 2017.

For Brightline, pedestrian fatalities began when the service was in its testing phase last year.

There were six previous deaths in Brightline collisions since July 2017: In Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach and two fatalities in Boynton Beach, according to South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. This year, two men survived collisions with Brightline trains in Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors.

The company said it has spent “tens of millions of dollars” to upgrade crossings at the Florida East Coast Railway tracks that it uses.

Improvements include flashing red lights, signs and warning bells to alert motorists and pedestrians