Killer Train podcast: ‘You never think that you’ll die in that way’
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Killer Train
Brightline is the deadliest major passenger railroad in the United States. An investigation by the Miami Herald and WLRN reveals the shocking toll and the failures that led to it.
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Jon Alexander loved to feed squirrels.
A 64-year-old Marine Corps veteran, Alexander lived with his sister in Hollywood, Florida, and he used to ride his motorized wheelchair to a nearby park with walnuts in hand to feed the critters.
It was on his way back home from the park on a Monday afternoon in 2022 when Alexander drove his chair over railroad tracks at Fillmore Street and was hit side-on by a Brightline train. He died in the hospital two weeks later.
Alexander’s death was ruled an accident.
His sister, Sandra White, sprinkled his ashes in the ocean. She tells him she misses him every day.
For years, Brightline officials have said most deaths on the tracks were the result of suicide or drugs.
Reporters from WLRN News and the Miami Herald built a database tracking every death, and here’s what we found: More than 180 people have been struck and killed by Brightline trains, and only about 40 percent of their deaths were ruled suicides by medical examiners. The majority were accidents or had undetermined causes.
In episode 3 of the “Killer Train” podcast, hosted by WLRN’s Danny Rivero and the Miami Herald’s Brittany Wallman, we hear the stories of three people who lost their lives, in the words of the loved ones they left behind.
This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
