DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — A man was hit and killed by a Brightline train Tuesday morning in Delray Beach, police said.
The crash happened just before 9 a.m. near Southeast Eighth Street and Southeast First Avenue.
According to a police department spokesman, the man was crossing the train tracks from west to east when he was struck. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
A pedestrian was struck by a Brightline train this morning near SE 8th Street and SE 1st Ave. He was pronounced dead at the scene. pic.twitter.com/IjM9xTkZWg
— Delray Beach Police (@DelrayBeachPD) August 2, 2022
The Brightline train had been stopped on the tracks since 8:45 a.m., but eventually got moving again at about 10:15 a.m.
"It's a very deadly situation to try and beat a train, whether you're walking or you're in a vehicle," said Ted White, the public information officer for the Delray Beach Police Department. "This was an area where a pedestrian was not suppose to be, an area where there was a path that clearly had no trespassing markings all around the area."
In January 2020, an Associated Press analysis found that Brightline had the worst death rate per mile of any railroad in the country.
Investigators, however, found that none of the deaths were the railroad's fault, determining that many were suicides or drivers or pedestrians trying to beat the trains.
Brightline trains travel up to 79 mph through densely populated urban and suburban areas along about 70 miles of track between Miami and West Palm Beach. The company hopes to complete its expansion to Orlando in early 2023.
Brightline previously released surveillance video of a crash in February when a driver tried to beat a train, but was struck and taken to the hospital with "incapacitating injuries."
WATCH: Surveillance video of Brightline train crash
