On the same day Brightline started service from South Florida to Orlando, one of the company’s trains fatally struck a person in Delray Beach on Friday morning, authorities said.
The Delray Beach Police Department said just after 7 a.m. that officers are investigating a deadly crash between a Brightline train and pedestrian at Southeast 2nd Avenue and Southeast 4th Street.
Ted White, the public information officer for the Delray Beach Police Department, said a person crossing the southbound tracks was struck and killed by the train.
White said it appears to be a suicide.
The Brightline train involved in Friday’s deadly wreck is not the same train that’s part of the inaugural ride to Central Florida.
That train departed Miami at 6:50 a.m. It was scheduled to arrive in West Palm Beach at 7:45 a.m., then depart for Orlando International Airport about 15 minutes later. However, the fatal crash in Delray Beach has delayed the route.
A passenger on the Brightline involved in the wreck told WPTV the train was heading southbound and had departed from West Palm Beach.