Normally I would not post this up....

But we had a fatality this morning at Fresno. And it was not a suicide, it was just a guy going about his business...and the circumstances of how it happened are why I am posting this up. He died after being hit by our train after waiting at a crossing for another train to go by. This happens a LOT. Folks get stopped at a crossing which protects 2 or more tracks, they see one train go by, figure it is ok to go, and either walk or drive around the gates thinking it is safe only to be hit by another unseen train traveling on the other track. This is what happened this morning. He was walking, waited for a freight train to go by, as it passed him, he walked under the gate and got hit by Amtrak 711.....

These incidents are caused by people being impatient and unwilling to wait for the gates to go up. NEVER EVER drive around the gates, even if you can not see a train. If they are down, they are down for a reason. Something is coming. It's the holiday season, we are all rushing and having fun trying to get to people, places and things...take the time to let me and my guys go by, wait for the gates to go up, look both ways, then go.....this morning just did not need to happen, and we are all saddened by this incident.

Best to you all

Brett

Very sad to hear that. Condolences to his family. Not much you can do about stuff like that. Most people have enough common sense to wait. Unfortunately some people do not. I'm a firm believer in fate. If the poor guy didn't get it this time, more than likely something else would have gotten him.

Damn that's nuts.

Terrible...

Sorry people in your field see so much of this Brett. :(


CH3NO2

The way this happened has grown ever since the advent of the Walkman age. Headphones and railroad tracks do not mix well.

From my POS T-mobile thingie

thanks guys...Charlie, the engineer, was visibly upset when I got there. He's better now. But I posted this up in the hopes that we all take something away from this incident. That we all are more cognizant of the rails and how to move across and around them in our lives. So if we all take this incident, and take a lesson from it to take a bit more time, I think that then this guys may not have died in vain.....

Very sorry to hear, my condolences. Patience is a virtue!

Sorry to hear that!!

I was on a train in New Jersey that ran over someone walking down the tracks at night with headphones on (had his back to the train). The engineer was very upset also. I will never forget the sound. It was like a splintered log being run over by the train. You could hear the body bumping against the floor getting closer and closer until the body was past the part of the train I was sitting on.