Brightline, Virgin form strategic partnership; Brightline will be called Virgin Trains USA

Brightline has announced that it has formed a strategic partnership and trademark licensing agreement with the Virgin Group.

It says the agreement will establish a new brand and will rename itself Virgin Trains USA this month.

Virgin will make a minority investment in Brightline, which will still be managed and operated by Brightline’s executive team as well as affiliates of Fortress Investment Group, the rail service said.

“Virgin has built a respected and trusted brand in travel and hospitality.  With our shared focus on customer experience, powered by a culture of innovation and disruption, we are well positioned to build on our success," Brightline Chairman Wes Edens said in a statement.

Brightline is operating in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties and has been considering a stop on the Treasure Coast.

It also has plans to expand into Orlando and Tampa.

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) - One person died Tuesday morning when a car was hit by a high speed train in South Florida, officials said.

The Brightline train, which operates between Miami and West Palm Beach, struck the car at an intersection in Pompano Beach about 10:12 a.m. Tuesday, said sheriff's spokeswoman Gerdy St. Louis. One person was confirmed dead.

Witnesses to the crash said the vehicle went around the guard rails, a Brightline spokesman told The Associated Press.

More than 40 people have been killed by the train, which travels at speeds up to 79 mph (127 kph) through some of Florida's most densely populated cities, according to records. An analysis of data by The Associated Press in December found the death rate is about one for every 29,000 miles (47,000 kilometers) the trains have traveled, which is the worst per-mile death rate of the nation's 821 railroads.

Denver, Colorado voted for 1/4-cent 'climate change' sales tax to fund climate-focused initiatives, including potential transit investments.

To reduce the burden of the tax, the measure would not apply to purchases of food, water, fuel, medical supplies and feminine hygiene products.

[Amtrak] has been his primary mode of transportation to his work as a politician in Washington, D.C. and back home to Delaware, where he and his current wife reside. It started because of tragedy, but over time he became a huge proponent of trains during his time as a senator and subsequently vice president. It's become an indelible part of his life and work. So how did Joe become "Amtrak Joe," and why is it so significant to understanding who he is?

Biden's apparently traveled over 2 million miles, the equivalent of four years of his life, on Amtrak. He's a huge advocate for rail travel, facilitating over $2 billion loan in 2016 to help them update trains and stations. He even blogged to Huffington Post about why America needs trains. In it, he talk about the importance of Amtrak to his life. "It has provided me another family entirely?a community of dedicated professionals who have shared the milestones in my life, and who have allowed me to share the milestones in theirs."

Biden now over the line ...

But did you know the Joe Biden's nickname is "Amtrak Joe"
 

Yes, I did. During the course of my research for a trip to the US next September (originally this September) I came across this...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_ACS-64#/media/File:Cities_Sprinter_cab.jpg

To be fair, therefore, his green credentials are not bad at all by US standards. Amtrak will probably be well pleased at his election.

Have you used the correct URL there - that's a truck sliding off a road and no fire?

The train rumbles through the darkness along Pennsylvania’s southern edge before curving north towards Pittsburgh. It’s the middle of the night, and the sleeper cabins are lulled by the low hum of the engine and a rhythmic click-clacking from the tracks below.

These pleasant noises are interrupted every now and then by the blast of the train’s horn and the clanging bells of a crossing guard as we barrel through one small town after another. Their street lights flicker through the cabins for a moment before the darkness and the low hum returns.

Long-distance rail travel in America today is for romantics. Taking this old train between Washington DC and Chicago isn’t the fastest, the cheapest, or even the most comfortable way to get between the two cities. To travel this way, you have to love these sounds, or at least have plenty of time to kill.

Pete Buttigieg, the new transport secretary, is one of those romantics. But he has nonetheless expressed a desire to drag this country’s rail system into the 21st century. Americans, he says, “have been asked to settle for less” when it comes to rail travel. He advocates massive investment to build high-speed rail and upgrade existing regional lines, and he has the full support of ‘Amtrak Joe’ Biden, perhaps the most train-friendly president in US history.

According to the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration, there were 21,061 accidents involving BNSF between 1996—when BNSF was established by the merging of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and Burlington Northern Railroad—and 2020.

Over the last 25 years, BNSF has been involved in 3,102 fatalities, including 82 employee-on-duty deaths, and 25,031 other injuries, involving a staggering 15,903 employees.

When all other American rail companies are included, the total number of accidents jumps to 126,420 between 1996 and 2020, with 21,148 fatalities and 236,329 injuries, including 492 employee deaths and 136,464 employee injuries.

The number of accidents, fatalities, and injuries in the US compared to the total amount of rail miles traveled exceeds those of most other highly industrialized nations. While there undoubtedly are several factors that have led to this carnage, a determining cause has been the deregulation of the rail industry coupled with a lack of extensive rail modernization and investment in safety protocols.

About 28 train cars derailed Saturday afternoon along a rail line in Albert Lea, Minn., with cleanup efforts continuing Sunday.

A Union Pacific Railroad spokesperson Saturday that said the train “was carrying mixed commodities; however, we have confirmed two of the derailed cars are leaking hydrochloric acid. Union Pacific is working with emergency responders to determine a response plan.”

After initially issuing a shelter-in-place order for nearby residents as the scene was assessed, authorities later said there was no danger to the public. There were no injuries.

From YouTube - with an interesting comment that Americans love trains when they come to Europe, but have so few of them that when it comes to local votes they don't know enough about them to vote for appropriate rail projects.

I met an American family who felt that 25MPH on the West Somerset Railway was "too fast" for a "museum line" They seemed rather shocked when I told them that very similar rolling stock was still used at several times that speed on the main line.

San Jose shooting: Eight killed in California rail yard shooting



A gunman has killed eight people at a commuter train yard in California, police say.

The shooting took place at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority rail yard in San Jose on Wednesday.

Officials say the victims include transit employees and the suspect, a former employee, is also dead.

The shooting broke out at 06:45 local time (14:45GMT), transit officials say. Authorities say they are checking the scene for explosive devices.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo told reporters "this is a horrific day for our city. My attention will turn to ensuring this never happens again to our city."

He added that one person succumbed to their injuries while being transported to hospital.

A local CBS station reports that the shots broke out during an employee meeting for rail workers. Just before the shooting, a fire broke out at a home belonging to a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) employee, CBS reports.

According to the LA Times, the suspect may have set his home on fire before embarking on the rampage, which authorities are looking into but have not confirmed. The suspect's age was not provided by authorities.

The shooting shut down traffic on nearby streets during the morning commute. Trains will halt service at noon local time.

Authorities said that a bomb squad is at the scene and searching for explosive devices but that there is no active threat to the public. They would not specify how many explosive devices had been found.

San Jose Sherriff's Deputy Russell Davis emphasised that the investigation was active and ongoing. Authorities will give another update at 13:30 local time (21:30GMT).

Railway president Glenn Hendricks told reporters that the attack "'happened on the yard but it did not happen in the operations control centre".

California Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted: "We are in close contact with local law enforcement and monitoring this situation closely."

Federal agents, including the FBI, are assisting in the investigation. Mayor Liccardo said he has spoken on the phone with Vice-president Kamala Harris - a Californian herself - and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Across the US, there have been 230 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

A mass shooting is defined by the group as a crime in which four or more people are fatally shot.

The Santa Clara VTA operates three train lines, making up over 40 miles (65km) of rail. They also operate about 70 bus lines in the city.

A forest fire being fought from atop a slowly moving train. A train of tank wagons can carry a vast amount of water if compared to aircraft or land vehicles.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-57922181

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60177979

Looks rather alarming ! And also far from efficient as most of the heat looks to be wasted in large luminous gas flames that heat the sky.
The light output looks distracting to the train driver at night.
Possibly a fire risk to any train that stops with flames underneath. Risk of igniting waste paper or leaves caught on the underframe ? Damage to rubber hoses or plastic insulated wires ?

We used to use gas heating of points in the UK, and few installations may remain in use. These however used non luminous blue flames, carefully directed to the parts needing heating.
Generally burning propane, but mains gas was used in a few places including Waterloo station.

Electric heating of points is now the norm.

There are according to a recent NR internal meeting I recently attended there are less than 5 sites on the National network operating on gas all LPG.

Electric point heating on the UK National network has quite a clever control system, which has been in use for around for 30 years.   There 'hot' and 'cold' rail temperature sensors which work in conjunction with a humidly sensor and some locations a blown snow sensor.  Most installations have remote monitoring which detect if one on the heater strips has failed and report it back to the Route 'flight engineers'

That is very interesting, thank you.  Not asking you to name the 4 ( ?  ) sites - but can you comment on Bradford Junction, where the line towards Swindon has on occasions been put out of use in inclement weather when (it seems) all the other junctions up and down the line remain in service?

Did we EVER use the type of gas points heating pictured in the O/P ?
I certainly recall gas heated points but these used non luminous blue flames, invisible in daylight and barely visible after dark.

Usually propane burning, the metal mesh cages each containing four large propane cylinders were once a familiar sight beside the track. These propane cylinders had many other other uses and theft was a recurring problem.
Also if fire broke out from some unrelated cause there was a risk of explosions.

A few large installations used mains gas, including the approach to Waterloo station.

New York City will begin removing homeless people from subways at night

Mayor says public fear of subways is driving riders from the system and announces more mental health support to homeless

New York leaders pledged Friday to clear homeless people from the city's subway following a spike in violence on the underground transit system since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mayor Eric Adams said he was instructing police officers and social workers to remove anyone sheltering inside train cars and on station platforms.

"The system was not made to be housing, it's made to be transportation," Adams, 61, told reporters.

Homeless people sought refuge in the subway system after shelters closed at the height of the pandemic in spring 2020 and as workers stopped commuting to offices.

Adams said police officers would work with outreach workers who would help take homeless people to shelters or towards hospital help if they appear mentally ill.

Or as the Daily Mail puts it


Article continues.  Also offers links if any of the following is of interest:

Here Is What Full Mouth Dental Implants Should Cost You in Frome
How Much Does It Cost To Hire A 24-Hour Live-In Carer in Frome?
The Cost Of Hair Transplant In Frome Might Surprise You
Single over 50 in Frome? See who's on Ourtime!
Drink This Before Bed, Watch Your Belly Fat Vanish
How much will it cost to replace your roof in 2022?
Bowels: A Simple Trick To Empty Them Completely

I do hope those adverts weren't personally targeted at you Grahame.

US freight rail companies and unions representing their workers have reached a "tentative agreement" to avert the first national rail strike in 30 years.

The deal follows months of back and forth negotiations and 20 hours of overnight talks on working conditions.

From the BBC


Reading and hearing about these potential strikes, the threat of them comes across as utterly understandable when you read what the main "grouch" was/is.     I'm also struck by what appears to be a strike threat has resulted in further negotiations to avert the strikes and to avoid an actual shutdown - is there a lesson there for folks in the UK to learn from and follow?

Some passengers called 911 fearing they were being held hostage, prompting conductor to announce ‘we’re not holding you hostage’

Hundreds of Amtrak passengers in South Carolina were stranded on a train for more than a day, prompting several to call the police out of fear they were being held hostage.

The train, which departed from Washington DC, was delayed for more than 29 hours after being rerouted due to a derailed CSX freight train, reported ABC News.

Panicked passengers fearing a more serious situation eventually began dialling 911, prompting the conductor to announce, “For those of you that are calling the police, we are not holding you hostage.”.

The autotrain, which allows passengers to travel with their vehicles, was set to arrive in Sanford, Florida, at about 10am on Tuesday. But after a scheduled stop in Lorton, Virginia, at 5.30pm on Monday, it halted in a wooded area in Denmark, South Carolina, an hour outside of Columbia.

After a long wait, the employees “timed out”, meaning they could not legally operate the train, and had to wait for a new crew to arrive. The train had limited food supplies and multiple pets in need of a bathroom break, reported the Washington Post.

The major delays caused several people onboard the train to panic and call 911. Frustrated staff asked them to stop.

“For those of you that are calling the police, we are not holding you hostage,” said one conductor in a recorded video of the announcement. “We are giving you all the information which we have. We are sorry about the inconvenience.”

The conductor also reminded passengers not to open their windows to smoke.

Throughout the ordeal, several trapped passengers took to social media to air their frustrations.

“Any help heading towards the fully booked Amtrak auto train full of elderly passengers that is now almost 10 hours past arrival time? No food, no access to medical care, crew has disembarked, no replacement. Stuck in SC,” wrote one Twitter user, who also tagged the US transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg.

An Amtrak spokesperson, Christina Leeds, stated the delays were caused by the derailed freight train and that Amtrak had “[provided] regular updates to customers, along with meals, snack packs and beverages”.

The train, which carried 563 passengers and 333 vehicles, finally reached its destination on Wednesday morning.

Amtrak service has been increasingly affected by delays, cancellations and other travel chaos.

In June 2022, over 25% of Amtrak customers experienced delays. Cancellations, while rare, also increased during the summer, reported the Washington Post. More recently, inclement weather through the midwestern region in December caused major delays. In Chicago, several trains were delayed by a winter storm.

From The Grauniad

The train had limited food supplies and multiple pets in need of a bathroom break, reported the Washington Post.

Off topic, but:
I presume "pets in need of a bathroom break" has been lifted verbatim from the WaPo. Of course if the pets literally needed a bathroom, there are bathrooms on the train.

Slightly more on topic: I recall from books and movies that American passenger trains used to carry a set of portable steps that the conductor could use to let passengers off the train if, for some reason, it stopped other than at a platform. For instance, if it overshot a request stop. I don't know if that's still the case but if it were, maybe the pets (and their owners) could use it.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has called on the rail industry to immediately improve safety standards or face stiff penalties after a train derailment in Ohio forced mass evacuations and a toxic chemical spill and burn off.

Mr Buttigieg unveiled a package of reforms on Tuesday that would increase fines for “egregious violations”, force rail companies to provide sick pay and inform local officials when they are transporting hazardous materials through their state.

Not the first such accident - US rail is has a much worse record that British, for which we should be thankful.  It brings to mind, though Llangennech.

Apparently Trump is going to visit East Palestine today. It'll be interesting to see what he says.

Apparently Trump is going to visit East Palestine today. It'll be interesting to see what he says.

It might not be prudent for him to mention deregulation of railway safety. 

Prudency and Trump tend not to go together.

CCTV shows the moment a ceiling panel came crashing down, nearly hitting a commuter at a subway station in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MBTA) said the panel was installed in the 1980s, and weighed about 11kg (25 lbs) because of moisture build-up.

No injuries were reported, and the MBTA said it had now removed any other panels from the station that posed an immediate safety concern. It also announced it would carry out inspections on panels in all of its stations.

The train was carrying Ethonol and corn syrup

NTSB investigating 2 Brightline high speed train crashes that killed 3 people in Florida this week

FORT LAUDERDALE Fla. (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday it will investigate two crashes involving Florida's Brightline train that killed three people at the same railroad crossing on the high speed train's route between Miami and Orlando.

The crashes happened Wednesday and Friday at a crossing along the U.S. 1 corridor in Melbourne, on Florida's Atlantic coast, where the high speed train passes through on its daily routes to and from South Florida. Since Brightline launched the 160-mile extension that links South Florida and Orlando in September, there have been five deaths, according to an Associated Press database.

Friday's crash killed driver Lisa Ann Batchelder, 52, and passenger Michael Anthony Degasperi, 54, both of Melbourne. On Wednesday, 62-year-old Charles Julian Phillips was killed when the vehicle he was driving was hit by the train. Three passengers in that vehicle were injured, according to Melbourne police.

Melbourne Mayor Paul Alfrey told reporters at the scene that the SUV tried to outrun the train. He said he's spoken to Brightline officials about doing another public safety campaign to warn drivers not to go around railroad crossings because the train is traveling at higher speeds.

“I start by saying if the arm is down don’t go around,” Alfrey told Orlando television station WKMG. “There’s no good outcome with a train. This is an unfortunate situation. We have the loss of life again. There’s safety precautions for a reason, and people need to adhere them.”

The bright, neon yellow trains travel at speeds up to 125 mph (201 kph) in some locations. The 3.5-hour, 235-mile (378-kilometer) trip between Miami and Orlando takes about 30 minutes less than the average drive.

Four years later - the Florida toll continues

From Yahoo News

New York police have arrested one of two people they suspect of taking and crashing an empty subway train.

The person arrested, a 17-year-old girl, is charged with criminal mischief over the incident in Briarwood subway station in Queens, shortly after midnight on 12 September.

She and her companion are accused of entering and operating the train, then causing a "collision".

A search continues for the companion. No injuries were reported in the crash.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has offered few other details and it remains unclear how the pair gained access to the train.

The BBC has contacted the NYPD and New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for further comment on this aspect.

Nor have officers said how far they were able to travel in the train before they fled.

Surveillance images released by police showed one suspect dressed fully in pink - including a shower cap - and a second person wearing blue.

As well as the criminal mischief charge, the arrested teenager has also been charged with reckless endangerment.

The second person was described by the NYPD as a male with a slim build and light complexion, who was last seen wearing a blue tank top and red shorts, and carrying a black backpack.

A similar incident was reported in January at Forest Hills-71st Avenue station, also in Queens. Again, nobody was hurt and no damage was reported.

At the time, officials speculated that a stolen key was used.

They moved to reassure the public that the train would not have been able to leave its yard and reach active tracks.

A sparsely populated town in Texas is home to the least-used Amtrak train station in America, only receiving 247 passengers within a year.

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, better known as Amtrak, spans across 21,000 route miles in 46 states in the US, operating more than 300 trains a day.

[snip]

In Amtrak data analysed by MailOnline, it was revealed that Sanderson, an area in Terrell County, Texas, with a population of only around 700 people, received 247 passengers at its station in 2023.

[snip]

Despite its low passenger use, the station got a $3m makeover in 2021, with a new open-air shelter, concrete platform and walkways to make the station more accessible.

The station is served six times a week, westbound and eastbound, by the long-distance Sunset Limited train that runs from New Orleans to San Antonio, then to Los Angeles for a 48-hour-long journey, as well as the 32-hour Texas Eagle, which departs from Chicago on its way to Los Angeles.

While only a small town, Sanderson has come to be known as the “Cactus Capital of Texas”, and is also an important livestock grazing center.

From the Independent

... a new open-air shelter ...

In other words, a roof with no sides.