- The woman, 32-year-old Melissa Lavell, was crossing the tracks of the new Brightline train after the sun set on Friday
- Witnesses told police the woman tried to make it across after the guard rails were down, attempting to beat the train
- The Brightline train gave VIP rides to government officials and reporters on Thursday and Friday
- The company will make 10 round trips daily and nine trips on weekends, starting as early as 6am
Melissa Lavell (pictured), 32, was crossing the tracks of the new Brightline train when she was struck and killed
A high-speed train that was offering preview runs a day before its debut struck and killed a woman, police in Florida said Saturday.
The woman, 32-year-old Melissa Lavell, was crossing the tracks of the new Brightline train after the sun set on Friday, Boynton Beach police said in a statement.
Witnesses told police the woman tried to make it across after the guard rails were down, attempting to beat the train, which was traveling north. No one on the train was injured.
‘(The) Tri Rail has that same problem so you know I wasn’t too surprised that was going to happen,’ said Jupiter resident Matthew Litwin.
The Brightline train gave VIP rides to government officials and reporters on Thursday and Friday and began its service on Saturday running between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
Witnesses told police the woman tried to make it across after the guard rails were down, attempting to beat the train
The company will make 10 round trips daily and nine trips on weekends, starting as early as 6am. It will expand south and north to take passengers from Miami to Orlando.
The Brightline train gave VIP rides to government officials and reporters on Thursday and Friday (Pictured: Interior of train)
The Sun Sentinel reported the train was running smoothly Friday evening when it made an abrupt stop and a Brightline employee informed the passengers about a ‘trespasser incident.’
The passengers on the preview ride were taken in buses to West Palm Beach and then back to Fort Lauderdale.
‘I think people will always do stupid things and that’s a risk and it doesn’t look good from a PR standpoint but you can’t argue with the laws of physics. If you put yourself in front of a train, there’s danger. There’s a risk,’ said passenger Elena Postal.
It is the third killing by a Brightline train. A woman was struck in July in Boca Raton in a case that was investigated as a suicide, and another woman was hit on the tracks in Deerfield Beach in November.
The company will make 10 round trips daily and nine trips on weekends, starting as early as 6am (Pictured: Two employees check out a mural at a Brightline train station)