Watch passenger train smash into 18-wheel trailer stuck on tracks

A passenger train plowed into and decimated a car hauler trailer in south Florida on Wednesday when it became stuck on railroad tracks amid biblical rainfall.

Dramatic video shows the 18-wheeler helplessly flashing its hazards while trapped on the Hollywood, Florida tracks as the Brightline train smashed into its rear around 7:45 p.m.

The car carrier was instantly severed.

Six of the eight cars stacked aboard the trailer were ripped from the vehicle, with at least one dragged partially under the train wheels.


The trailer stuck on the tracks.
An 18-wheeler was stuck on the tracks in Hollywood, Florida.
Alexander Quintero via Storyful

The train smashes into the trailer.
The trailer was severed by the speeding passenger car.
Alexander Quintero via Storyful

The train smashes into the trailer.
Two stoplights were yanked down during the collision.
Alexander Quintero via Storyful

The stoplights at the South Dixie Highway and Washington Street intersection were ripped to the ground as the flying cars topped over. Some of the rail arms were also trashed in the accident.

Luckily, no one was injured in the crash.

Alexander Quintero, who captured the disastrous collision while stopped at the roadway, said the trailer appeared to have been caught in light flooding caused by severe rain.

“He tried to continue going forward and I noticed his wheels started to spin and he was not moving at all,” Quintero told Storyful.


The cars lie on the side of the road.
No one was injured in the crash.
Alexander Quintero via Storyful

“I realized that he was stuck on the railroad. I looked on my mirror and I noticed the light of the train coming behind me, that is when I thought something was about to happen.”

“The train was going fast and he was using the horn and the truck was not moving until the train crashed [into] the trailer and split it in half,” Quintero said.

The incident forced Brightline to pause service between its Fort Lauderdale and Miami stations but resumed normal operations around 8 a.m. Thursday, the company said on Facebook.

The crash came while the communities surrounding the Fort Lauderdale airport suffered more than 25 inches of rain — a record-breaking amount for the metro area.