Feds release Brightline safety funding to address ‘unnecessary danger’

The Trump administration on Monday announced it is committing $42 million to address safety concerns along the Brightline route, as officials respond to the train’s record as the deadliest major passenger railroad in the nation.

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the agency is releasing funding for four grants that had first been announced under the Biden administration but were lacking finalized agreements.

At a July congressional committee meeting, one day after the Miami Herald and WLRN published an investigation revealing that more than 180 people have been struck and killed by Brightline trains, Duffy addressed the issue after U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Miami Democrat, called the high fatality rate a “crisis.”

There have been “way too many deaths,” Duf