Brightline and rail-crossing crashes in Palm Beach County: what injured drivers and pedestrians should know

Downtown West Palm Beach is laced with railroad crossings. The Florida East Coast corridor runs a few blocks west of Flagler Drive, carrying both freight trains and Brightline passenger service through the city and its station near Clematis Street, then on north and south through Lake Worth Beach, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Riviera Beach and Jupiter. Many of those crossings are at street level, where cars, cyclists and people on foot share the same few feet of pavement with trains. When something goes wrong there, the injuries are often severe and the legal questions are different from an ordinary car crash.

This article does not cite crash counts or claim that any crossing is more dangerous than another. It explains the rules that apply and the evidence that tends to decide these cases.

Who investigates a crash at a railroad crossing?

The local police agency usually responds and writes the crash report: the West Palm Beach Police Department inside the city, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in unincorporated areas and in cities it serves such as Lake Worth Beach, or a city department like Boynton Beach or Delray Beach police. The railroad sends its own personnel, and railroads must report qualifying accidents to the Federal Railroad Administration. In some serious incidents, the National Transportation Safety Board opens its own investigation.

The railroad’s investigators are gathering evidence for the railroad. Their findings are not shared with an injured person as a courtesy, which is why your side needs to request the records formally and early.

What evidence does the railroad have, and how long does it keep it?

A modern passenger or freight train generates data that no car does. Federal rules require lead locomotives running above 30 miles per hour to carry an event recorder that captures speed, throttle, braking and horn activation (49 C.F.R. § 229.135). Many trains also carry forward-facing video. Crossing signal systems often log when the lights activated and when the gates came down, which shows how much warning drivers actually had.

Other useful records include the crew’s work schedules, dispatch communications, the inspection and maintenance history of the crossing equipment, and prior complaints about malfunctioning gates. A written preservation demand sent to the railroad and to anyone who maintains the crossing puts them on notice that a claim exists and that this material must be kept.

What does Florida law expect from drivers at a crossing?

Under Fla. Stat. § 316.1575, when a crossing signal is flashing, a gate is down or moving, a flagger signals, or a train is plainly approaching, a driver must stop within 50 feet but not less than 15 feet from the nearest rail and wait until it is safe. Driving through, around or under a crossing gate is prohibited. Florida also forbids driving onto a crossing without enough room on the other side to clear the tracks (Fla. Stat. § 316.1576).

Those rules shape how fault is argued. A railroad will point to them in nearly every case. But a driver’s obligation does not erase the railroad’s obligations, and a signal that activated late or not at all changes the picture.

Can a railroad be held responsible, and are there federal limits?

A railroad can be negligent in how it operates a train, such as the crew’s lookout and response, or in how it maintains its crossings, such as broken signals or vegetation blocking sightlines. Other parties may also share responsibility: a contractor that worked on the signals, a road authority that controls the approach, or another driver who pushed a car onto the tracks.

Federal law limits certain claims, and anyone evaluating a rail case has to account for it.

Type of claim	Federal limit to consider
The warning devices at the crossing were inadequate	Preempted where federal funds paid for the devices (Norfolk Southern Ry. v. Shanklin, 529 U.S. 344 (2000))
The train was going too fast	Generally preempted if the train was within the federal speed limit for that track class (CSX Transp. v. Easterwood, 507 U.S. 658 (1993))
The crew failed to keep a lookout, sound the horn as required, or brake when danger was apparent	Not preempted by those cases; decided on the facts
Signals malfunctioned or were poorly maintained	Not preempted by those cases; maintenance records are central

Some crossings are in federally approved quiet zones under 49 C.F.R. part 222, where horns are not routinely sounded. Whether a crossing was in one, and what safety measures it was required to have, is part of the investigation.

What if I was walking or riding a bike across the tracks?

Pedestrians and cyclists face the same comparative fault rules as drivers. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6), an injured person found more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing, and anyone found 50 percent or less has the recovery reduced by that share. A person who stepped around a lowered gate will face a hard argument. A person crossing at a designated pedestrian crossing where the signal never activated is in a very different position.

Insurance also works differently for people on foot. Florida PIP covers pedestrians struck by a motor vehicle, but a train is not a motor vehicle under the no-fault law’s definition (Fla. Stat. § 627.732(3)). Health insurance usually becomes the first payer for medical care, and the claim against whoever was negligent covers the rest.

Is Brightline treated like the government?

No. Brightline is privately owned, so the written-notice requirement and damage caps in Fla. Stat. § 768.28 do not apply to claims against it. Tri-Rail, which runs on a separate corridor in Palm Beach County, is operated by a public agency, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, and a Tri-Rail incident can bring those government-claim rules into play. If a crash involved a city or county road condition at the crossing, that part of the claim may also be subject to § 768.28.

For a private-party negligence claim arising on or after March 24, 2023, the general lawsuit deadline is two years (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a)).

Getting help in Palm Beach County

Wolfson & Leon has represented injured people since 1963. If you or a family member was hurt at a rail crossing, call our West Palm Beach office, open by appointment, at 561-782-1585. The consultation is free, in English or Spanish. If we take the case, it is on a contingency fee that we explain in writing before you sign, and the firm advances the costs, including the cost of obtaining and analyzing the railroad’s data.