CSX had a bad day Wednesday because of trespassing in NJ.

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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PENNINGTON --An unidentified man died yesterday after he was hit by a traveling freight train at the Route 31 overpass, authorities said.

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The pedestrian was struck at 2:42 p.m. by a CSX freight train near the West Delaware Avenue railroad bridge, said Casey DeBlasio, a spokesperson for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. He was killed instantly.

“The conductor and the engineer witnessed it,” said DeBlasio.

Officials said the man was not hit at the crossing. Authorities, as of yesterday, did not release further information about how the accident occurred.

The train was operating northbound, from Philadelphia, Pa., to Kearny, with two locomotives that held 22 cars, said Gary Sease, the public information officer for CSX Transportation.

The victim was struck by an intermodal train, Sease said, which carries a variety of consumer goods inside containers and truck trailers on flat beds.

The accident scene resembled a clip from a gruesome horror movie as investigators collected strewn body parts by the side of the railroad tracks.

DeBlasio said the Mercer County Medical Examiner Dr. Raafat Ahmad wason the scene.

Ahmad will begin trying to make an identification today.

The man was crushed so severely by the freight train, that he was unrecognizable, authorities said.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, 203 trespassers have died in the first five months of this year. This number is a 14 percent increase over last year’s count of 178.

Pennington Borough, Hopewell, the Sheriff’s Office and the New Jersey State Police, who had crime scene officers on the scene, are investigating the incident, along with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and the CSX Railroad police.

CSX Transportation ships automobiles, juice, fruit, fuel chemicals, food products, agriculture, paper products and forest products and operates a rail

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Please remember the Engineer and Conductor, they are personal friends of mine.

Thank you.

Nick

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That’s very sad. It is something the Railroads have been fighting for years.

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Yep, there’s a reason for those NO TRESPASSING signs…!

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I guess these clowns cant read. Used to be death by cop, now that the police will try to only wound or taze you they seem to think the train is the way to go! I have had people say when they see me get off a motor " I didnt think people actually ran them anymore!!"So I guess it is assumed they are all remotes. Someone needs to start a better public campaign on railroads and maybe this will stop.
BTW to your friends on that train, tell them to go to a stress debriefing. it hlps. We have hit about 5 now on my division since july. Two were confirmed suicides and the jury is still out on the one that looks that way.
Luckily the only living thing I have hit was a deer a tree rat and a few birds, luckily not a human being ( I hope never to but I still have 30 plus to go before I want to retire so odds are…)

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one word stupid

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Well the only thing I can and will say is that if people would stay off of the tracks the railroads would not have to pick up their remains.

ICMR

Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]

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let’s hope other rr’s do this:
BNSF’s commitment to railway crossing safety
As one of the leading supporters of the Operation Lifesaver program to promote safety at railway crossings and right-of-ways, the BNSF Railway, in 2000, established a grade-crossing closure program. This program, wherein BNSF works with communities and landowners to identify crossings that are unnecessary or redundant, has helped close over 2,000 of BNSF’s railway crossings throughout the United States. Largely thanks to this program, BNSF has been the industry leader in lowering the amount of grade-crossing collisions.

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I’ll have to check to be sure, but I’m almost certain this guy was a suicide. Which makes it even worse.

I never hit anyone when I was in train service, but I’ve been on-scene twice as a supervisor.

Nick

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[sigh] I just wish people could respect trains for the large, heavy things they are…

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How unfortunate…

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a while ago in skool we taked about the acela hitting a van-- someone asked the winning question–“cant they stop the train?” [xx(][banghead][%-)][|(]

o ya whoever had the friends on the train-- i hope theyll be ok. i want to run trains 1 day-- i hope i can cope with this raelity when its my turn.

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This could have been a suicide or a graffitti "artist " learning a horrible lesson.[:(]

bill

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My prayers are with the engineer, conductor and those who had to clean up this guy’s mess.

Look Listen and LIVE.

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This is another one of those subjects. Like policemen doing their job. Nobody has a good word to say for what’s right. “Look, those nasty trains ran over somebody, again.” Trains run on tracks. The tracks are railroad property which is PRIVATE property. If you don’t work for the railroad or are an invited guest, STAY THE HELL OFF OF THE TRACKS. Trains sometimes run very fast. Trains do not stop on a dime. They do not stop like a car. Hell, they don’t even stop like 18-wheelers. At speed, sometimes it takes more than a mile of track to get the thing stopped. By then, it’s way too late. We need a good hard-hitting program of educational films (like they had for driving schools) to show people what happens when a train hits something, like a car or truck or a human being. Of course, if these instances are S.B.T. (suicide-by-train) there isn’t too much you can do about it. You would be surprised (I was) to learn that a good percentage of fatalities in single car accidents are suicides that are never recognized as such. Collisions with stationary objects (trees, poles, etc.) automatically raise a good police officers suspicions as to what really happened. Given a good weather scenario and a driver who is in apparent good health makes you wonder sometimes. Even those of us who are familiar with railroads etc. need to step back once in a while and question “Is what I’m doing really safe?” It might pay off someday.

Just my $.002

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All of you that offered thoughts for my crew, Thank you. One guy is back to work, but the other is still off Critical Incident.

Nick

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[quote]
Originally posted by nbrodar

All of you that offered thoughts for my crew, Thank you. One guy is back to work, but the other is still off Critical Incident.

NiNick;
It is with the support from you & others like you that will help these fellows put this tragic incident behind them. Good on you.
Tom

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Nick, my thoughts and prayers go out to your friends. I get to watch this train go by just about every day in the Pennington, Ewing area. I work for the states traffic operations for Rt.31 and surroundings highways and like clock work this train comes through between 5pm and 6 pm. It’s never moving that fast and it makes a stop every so often right in this area so it gives me a great chance to see and take pictures of it, the landscape of rolling hills and bridges is the perfect back ground.

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My son was crewing a train where the person hit was sitting between the gauge and non responsive to active horn use. Incident was at night which made the conditions even more likely to turn out badly. Subsequent investigation by authorities established that the deceased was a known drug user who had consumed a lot of acohol before the incident. Apparently an argument with some friends prior to the incident may have triggered the sit down.

One subsequent incident had a better outcome. Two hunters were observed by the crew casually walking within the gauge. Horn was vigorously applied and they had time to get out of the way. The train was stopped and the conductor asked the almost recently departed why they were walking between the gauge. Response? “We thought the rail line was abandoned.”

Hmm, two guys carrying loaded rifles that are that unfamiliar with the area in which they’re hunting. “Honey, it’s hunting season make sure the children wear their bullet proof vests before they go out to play.”

Jon

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Unfortunately, according to the story, this didn’t happen at a crossing.