This is an important example; Brightline feels qualitatively different from Amtrak and they get points for actually delivering new passenger rail service. They have a newer, cleaner, faster product. I rode once from Orlando to Boca and sat next to some British rail fans who went out of their way to try "the new train" on their way to a cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale.
Unfortunately despite significant capital investment to run double track on the FEC corridor from West Palm to Miami (their initial route before expanding north), they and the FEC have been unable/unwilling to do much about the fundamental flaw of rail in densely populated South Florida: at-grade crossings, many in no-horn zones because nearby residents have lobbied for that. This has been a problem for decades even when the line was freight-only.
All too predictably, a recent investigation [1] found Brightline is the deadliest passenger railroad in the US. Good data visualization and sobering reporting in that article. The railroad wants to socialize the costs of upgrading the crossings but of course privatize the profits. That said, I feel communities that want the density/development benefits of "transit" should be prepared for the costs of achieving that safely.
Agreed! I knew to expect it, but not the slow burn of anxiety and mystery that (for me) resulted from being trapped in that single take as it evolved. Our screening was 2D but I think it was shot in 3D. I wonder if that would make the effect even more pronounced.
Personal anecdote: This was the first film I ever projected in 35mm. Our university theater obtained a print from the national film archive of Venezuela; it was a copy of the 1995 restoration. Incredibly striking, lush visuals, and partially responsible for my continued personal and professional interest in screening archival film. Six years later, I still remember the joy of projecting this exact sequence. I'm glad the film survives.
Archives of personal letters and ephemera, preserved in manuscript/special collections libraries, are incredibly important research sources. This often includes letters which were never meant to published. LOC had a project to preserve every tweet (published to the world) until a few years ago - who knows what tweets might be useful to future researchers?
Over the past four days I have volunteered to a) join groups in order to archive them, and b) run instances of Warrior, the ArchiveTeam download client. I never used Yahoo Groups, but watching the group names fly by I have been struck by the variety and earnestness of the communities it contained. Too bad for Verizon that they can't find PR benefit in cooperating with archivists, or even a possible business opportunity in preserving this content (AI training? must be some use for the dataset).
Unfortunately despite significant capital investment to run double track on the FEC corridor from West Palm to Miami (their initial route before expanding north), they and the FEC have been unable/unwilling to do much about the fundamental flaw of rail in densely populated South Florida: at-grade crossings, many in no-horn zones because nearby residents have lobbied for that. This has been a problem for decades even when the line was freight-only.
All too predictably, a recent investigation [1] found Brightline is the deadliest passenger railroad in the US. Good data visualization and sobering reporting in that article. The railroad wants to socialize the costs of upgrading the crossings but of course privatize the profits. That said, I feel communities that want the density/development benefits of "transit" should be prepared for the costs of achieving that safely.
[1]: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article308679915.html