Palm Beach County Congressman Brian Mast continues to call out Brightline. The Republican is speaking out after the discovery that the higher-speed rail line may not meet a deadline for the installation of positive train control, or PTC.
The Federal Railroad Administration sent a letter to Brightline’s parent company, All Aboard Florida, expressing concern that the technology will not be installed in all trains by the end of the year as mandated by Congress.
PTC can detect if a train is going too fast or being operated unsafely. It allows onboard computers to kick in and slow or stop trains to avoid collisions with other locomotives. The technology is not yet installed on any trains, Brightline’s fleet or freight trains that also use the FEC (Florida East Coast) railroad.
Brightline says it is in the process of installing PTC and currently using Automatic Train Control, which a spokesperson says has many of the same features.
Mast is calling for the Brightline trains to be suspended until the technology is in. He’s been an opponent of the rail line from the beginning.