Brightline gets $25M grant from feds for railway enhancements. How will the money be used?

Brightline is making another large investment into railroad safety improvements after the train company received tens of millions in new funding from the federal and state governments.

On Monday, Brightline announced the $25 million awarded from the federal RAISE grant. The Florida Department of Transportation is also putting $10 million into Brightline’s safety initiative, which the rail company promised to match.

Altogether, Brightline plans to use the $45 million to construct fencing, signage, road markings and other railroad safety enhancements.

Brightline predicts that the new enhancements would help avoid about 146 crashes and 95 deaths over the next 20 years.

The privately owned passenger rail company was on the list of 166 different entities nationwide that received a portion of the $2.2 billion RAISE grant, which was announced last week by the United States Department of Transportation.

Since its opening in 2018, Brightline trains have been involved in at least 80 collisions. A large majority of the fatal and non-fatal crashes were caused by driver error, in which motorists willfully ignored railroad safety measures like stopping gates.

READ MORE: See video and a timeline of Brightline crashes: How and where did they happen?

READ MORE: Who’s responsible after four years of deaths on Brightline’s tracks

How will Brightline use the money?

The money will be used on the 195-mile railway to improve fencing, add 300 signs and mark streets at 133 crossings to warn drivers or pedestrians they are approaching the high-speed railway.

The improvements will stretch across seven Florida counties from Miami-Dade to Brevard totaling 33 miles of added protection features.

During the press conference Monday at Brightline’s Fort Lauderdale train station, the company’s president Patrick Goddard was joined by Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who helped secure the subsidies.

“I proudly supported this $25 million RAISE grant application from the Florida Department of Transportation: to improve safety measures at rail crossings across South Florida, and to make our community a top-tier transportation showcase,” said Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic Congresswoman from Weston. “We want Brightline to be in the news for all the right reasons.”

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., speaks during a news conference on new funding for railroad safety at the Brightline Train station in Fort Lauderdale on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Looking on are U.S Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., and Brightline CEO Patrick Goddard.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., speaks during a news conference on new funding for railroad safety at the Brightline Train station in Fort Lauderdale on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Looking on are U.S Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., and Brightline CEO Patrick Goddard.

Republican Congressman Diaz-Balart, representing parts of Miami, agrees the improvements will spur change.

“Some of these things are pretty straightforward but it’s things that they know have been proven to actually make a difference,” he said.

The passenger railway company is no stranger to federal money. Back in June, the U.S. government funded Brightline with a $15.8 million grant to help the company build a railway connecting Tampa to Orlando. Brightline promised to match those funds, making the total investment in that project more than $31 million.

By the time of that connection’s completion, the railway will be able to take passengers from Miami to Tampa with stops in Broward, Palm Beach and Orlando.

On Tuesday, Brightline announced it wrapped up constructing its fourth station in Boca Raton, which will connect passengers from there to Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.