# Train kills two in Derry Borough



## profwebs (Oct 31, 2009)

I can't imagine what the other 2 kids are going through and will go through for the rest of their lives...

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburgh...d/s_650854.html

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09304/1009889-100.stm

If you look at the beginning of this video, it looks like there may have been a grade crossing there at 1 time. Either that or it is that heavily used by residents.

It doesn't seem as though there is an easy way to get from 1 side of town to the other. Still a bad decision on the mothers part, but they need to do something, maybe a paved pedestrian crossing to avoid this. Also, I read that the speed limit through here is 60, maybe reduce that?


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## profwebs (Oct 31, 2009)

Just realized I posted this in the Amtrak forum, feel free to move it, sorry.


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## TVRM610 (Oct 31, 2009)

profwebs said:


> It doesn't seem as though there is an easy way to get from 1 side of town to the other. Still a bad decision on the mothers part, but they need to do something, maybe a paved pedestrian crossing to avoid this. Also, I read that the speed limit through here is 60, maybe reduce that?


If "they" is referring to the railroad then they need to do nothing. If "they" is referring to the people who cross the tracks then they need to learn not to trespass.

The article you linked to says there is an overpass over the tracks "50 yards" away. My thoughts are with the engine crew who do not deserve this... and naturally to the surviving family members.


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## profwebs (Oct 31, 2009)

"they" meaning borough or county officials. Yeah, the trespassing thing has been said time and time again here.... Take a look on Google Earth, yeah there is a highway overpass not far away. As I said, it was a bad decision on the mother's part, but people will take the easy way every time.


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## DET63 (Nov 1, 2009)

I've just looked at some Google Maps images of the area, and it does indeed appear that Chestnut Street formerly crossed the tracks on a grade crossing. Probably the crossing was closed "in the interests of safety."


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## eee (Nov 1, 2009)

Some of this has to fall on city planners. Looking at the map of that town, if I lived there I'd probably be crossing the tracks illegally, as well. There appears to be one way to cross the tracks that dissect the town, via a big overpass that looks downright hostile to pedestrians.

It looks like an absolutely terrible place to walk, that overpass. Somebody slapped on a sidewalk a foot away from the road surface, where cars are presumably traveling 30 or 40 mph a foot away from where you'd be walking. That town's planners are basically forcing everyone in that town to either drive every time they want to cross the tracks, or to cross them illegally.

If I lived there, I'd choose to cross illegally, too.


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## George Harris (Nov 2, 2009)

eee said:


> Somebody slapped on a sidewalk a foot away from the road surface, where cars are presumably traveling 30 or 40 mph a foot away from where you'd be walking.


This is the usual description of the location of a sidewalk along a major street, whether on an overpass or not. Therefore, this is a fake issue.


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## profwebs (Nov 2, 2009)

George Harris said:


> eee said:
> 
> 
> > Somebody slapped on a sidewalk a foot away from the road surface, where cars are presumably traveling 30 or 40 mph a foot away from where you'd be walking.
> ...


Yeah I agree that a sidewalk is a sidewalk, but in this case, using that sidewalk is a lot longer of a walk than most people are going to take. I personally also cross the tracks rather than walking to the bridge to get to the other side of the tracks.


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## DET63 (Nov 3, 2009)

Is there a stairway up to the bridge, or do pedestrian bridge-users have to go all the way to the end of it to get on the sidewalk? If the latter is the case, a one- or two-block walk across the tracks becomes a five- or six-block trek through the neighborhood to get to and from the bridge, which may entail exposure to other hazards, especially for a woman with children pushing a child in a stroller.

Perhaps a pedestrian crossing of the track with at least a flashing signal and a bell is in order.


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## profwebs (Nov 17, 2009)

Looks like the borough is putting up a fence to block access to the tracks:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09316/1012770-55.stm

Just heard it on the news, but that story is from the 12th. KDKA said the labor was also donated to install the fence.


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