With Brightline, your criticism is a bit misguided: the story is truly that that FEC is not using best practice. Urban railroads in North America generally use a "sealed" corridor principle to secure the tracks. FEC really doesn't approach running the railroad this way - and Florida government is really absent in oversight this area. Only recently is this now being rectified with a USDOT grant to secure just the railroad crossings.
Thanks, Andrew! I thought I was more defending Brightline from the seemingly hit piece, which was very very harsh. It seems (from the reaction on Twitter and BlueSky) that a lot of people basically want it shut down. I think it's mostly unfair framing. I mostly blame the local and Florida gov, too.
Appreciate you drawing attention to the much deadlier impacts of car culture — I thought the same thing when I saw these headlines about Brightline
Thanks for the mention!
No prob! Thanks for adding some context over on X.
Thanks for the mention. Yes, plan to go beyond Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto during your next visit to Japan.
Thanks, Mark! Yes, that is the plan. Did make it to the edges to Tokyo away from tourists and that was pretty cool, too. Glad I did.
With Brightline, your criticism is a bit misguided: the story is truly that that FEC is not using best practice. Urban railroads in North America generally use a "sealed" corridor principle to secure the tracks. FEC really doesn't approach running the railroad this way - and Florida government is really absent in oversight this area. Only recently is this now being rectified with a USDOT grant to secure just the railroad crossings.
Thanks, Andrew! I thought I was more defending Brightline from the seemingly hit piece, which was very very harsh. It seems (from the reaction on Twitter and BlueSky) that a lot of people basically want it shut down. I think it's mostly unfair framing. I mostly blame the local and Florida gov, too.