Woman Killed When Brightline Train Collides With SUV In Aventura

AVENTURA, FL — A woman was killed Friday afternoon when her Mercedes SUV was struck by a Brightline train not far from the Aventura Mall.

Detective Lee Cowart of the Miami-Dade Police Department told Patch the crash occurred at 3:24 p.m.

"A vehicle, driven by an adult female, was struck by a train while it was crossing the train tracks at West Dixie Highway and Ives Dairy road," he said.

Brightline was reporting "heavy" delays between Miami and Fort Lauderdale as of Friday night.

Miami-Dade Commissioners recently paved the way for Brightline to build stations at PortMiami in 2020 and in Aventura not far from the scene of Friday's crash. The PortMiami station will be the only intercity rail system in the U.S. connecting an international airport directly to a major cruise port.

In Aventura, the county commissioners approved the Aventura Brightline Station — agreeing to purchase land designated for the station — with a park-and-ride commuting lot and a pedestrian bridge to the mall.

The company included a map in its 2019 draft prospectus that also shows a future planned Disney stop as well as another future station in Tampa.

While the expansion of the only privately funded inter-city train service in the United States has ushered in a new era of transportation for car-dependent South Florida, it also brings with it new challenges from a safety perspective, particularly in South Florida where there have been a number of pedestrian and vehicle strikes.

The train can reach speeds of 79 mph between Miami and West Palm but will reach speeds of up to 125 mph once the planned stop at Orlando International Airport is added in the future. The fastest speed will be on the stretch between Cocoa and Orlando International where Brightline plans to construct 40 miles of new grade separated track.

Patch found no shortage of drivers during playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the train tracks in Aventura when the service expanded into Miami last year.

Cowart said the woman in the Mercedes SUV was pronounced dead by medical staff on the scene. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash.

"Traffic Homicide will be taking over the investigation," Cowart added.