A person was hit by a freight train at the Superior St crossing in Albion Thursday morning.
23-year-old Ervin Hunter of Albion was riding a bike when they were hit by the engine of the train and dragged around 100 feet down the tracks. When officers arrived, he was found under the ninth freight car of the train.
Hunter was treated at the scene, then airlifted to Kalamazoo where he is listed in critical condition. He had at least one limb amputated by the collision.
Officials believe he was trying to beat the train, based on video froma nearby business. They believe he was on his way to work.
Anyone who may have witnessed the accident is asked to contact the Albion Public Safety at 269-781-0911.
Railroad giant Union Pacific celebrates 150 years on July 1, 2012. More info can be found at up150.com
EDMONTON - A 46-year-old man who was collecting bottles was struck and killed by a southbound freight train Wednesday morning near Whitemud Drive and Gateway Boulevard.
City police said the man, whose name has not yet been released, was trying to crawl under the crossing arm while pushing a grocery cart.
Kevin Hrysak, spokesperson with Canadian Pacific Railway, said the collision happened around 6:40 a.m. All bells, lights and gates at the crossing where working.
“Our crew noticed the individual and immediately started to sound their horn and blew their whistle and eventually put the train into an emergency brake situation,” Hrysak said.
He was not able to confirm how far back the train was when personnel noticed the man, but said it was moving at a slow speed, given the area.
Glass bottles and a jacket were strewn along the ditch near the train crossing over the Whitemud. A shopping cart with garbage bags attached was rammed up against the front end of the train, which had stopped about 200 metres down the track.
The Sawridge Inn on Gateway Boulevard backs onto the tracks. Amanda Purkiss, who works at the front desk, said the victim — who had reddish curly hair and always wore a tuque —came by each morning to collect bottles.
“He always either had a bag with him or his cart,” Purkiss said. Beginning about two weeks ago, he began passing by the hotel each morning around 7, but she had never spoken to him.
Hrysak said the engineer and conductor in the train’s cab have been temporarily relieved of their duties.
“We’ll follow up with critical incident stress counselling, if they choose to take it,” he said.
Morning rush-hour traffic on major south Edmonton arteries was rerouted around 51st Avenue east of Gateway Boulevard and the Whitemud overpass at Calgary Trail.
Canadian Pacific Police and the Edmonton Police Service are working together on the investigation.
http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20120625/NEWS01/206250309/Crestline-man-killed-trying-outrun-train?odyssey=mod|mostview
NJ Transit presented two rather blunt public service announcements Friday with a simple plea: "Stay off the tracks." The goal is to reduce railroad fatalities.
Titled "You Don't Win" and "You're Dead," the ads that will begin running this weekend on broadcast and cable networks in Philadelphia and New York give dramatic, firsthand accounts from police and transit workers involved in recent fatalities and from the families of people who were killed.
Three deaths last fall were apparently part of a widespread problem on railroads in the region — people trespassing on tracks who are accidentally killed and those who enter the danger zone to commit suicide. In the last two years, at least 91 people have been killed by trains on NJ Transit and SEPTA lines, officials have said.
The videos can be found here: http://www.njtransit.com/rg/rg_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=SafetyTo
RSS Feed