FLORIDA MAN RAILWAY.

Your tax dollars at work.

Tracks used by the nation’s deadliest railroad will see added fencing to keep pedestrians away and safety improvements at crossings under a $25 million federal grant announced Monday.

Brightline and government officials announced the grant as the privately owned passenger line continues to be plagued by deaths along its tracks between Miami and West Palm Beach.

In the past two weeks, Brightline trains have killed three people, and 68 since the service began its first runs five years ago. That’s about one death for every 33,000 miles (53,000 kilometer) its trains travel, and is the worst fatality rate among the nation’s more than 800 railroads, according to an ongoing Associated Press analysis of Federal Railroad Administration data.

The grant, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program, will cover safety features, including 33 miles (53 kilometers) of fencing at locations of frequent trespassing along with extensive crossing improvements at all 333 crossings along the corridor, which will eventually stretch from Miami to Orlando, Brightline President Patrick Goddard said.

It's not until the sixth paragraph that the report clarifies that "nation's deadliest railroad."

None of the deaths involving Brightline have been blamed on the railroad, its equipment or its crews. Law enforcement investigations showed most victims were either suicidal, intoxicated, mentally ill or had gone around barriers at an intersection in an attempt to beat the trains, which travel up to 79 mph (128 kph) through densely populated areas with stops in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

There's a reason, dear reader, for the seemingly expensive elevated structures that accompany Chinese and Japanese bullet trains, and for the concrete supports marching across the San Joaquin valley.  An economics professor of my acquaintance used to provoke students by suggesting that if a society really placed an infinite value on human life, there would be no level crossings on school bus routes, as for a finite sum of money it would be possible to avoid any loss of a child in a school bus that got in the way of a train.