Brightline passenger train service launches amid noise complaints

Some residents of West Palm Beach want the rail service suspended until the establishment of quiet zones where the use of train horns is prohibited

The Brightline train between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale began Saturday.
The Brightline train between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale began Saturday.

Some residents of West Palm Beach want a suspension of the new Brightline passenger train service pending safety upgrades at railroad crossings to preclude the use of train horns. The service between downtown stations in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale started today and will extend to Miami within a few months. During a promotional Brightline trip Friday night, the train struck and killed a 31-year-old woman who walked onto the tracks at a crossing in Boynton Beach. The cause of the incident is under investigation.

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After meeting Thursday with officials of All Aboard Florida, the company that operates the Brightline service, West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio said construction work to create horn-free “quiet zones” from the city south to the county line will be completed by March 26. When that work is done, each municipality along the Brightline corridor that wants to prevent the trains from blasting their horns would have to apply to the Federal Railroad Administration to designate a quiet zone. A 21-day waiting period must expire before the federal agency designates a quiet zone. [Palm Beach Post] — Mike Seemuth