Trespasser Incidents

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AmtrakBlue

AmtrakBlue

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Delaware
04/04/15: http://6abc.com/news/person-fatally-struck-by-amtrak-train-in-sharon-hill/625364/

Officials say a person was fatally struck by an Amtrak train in Delaware County.

It happened around 7:00 p.m. Saturday just south of the Sharon Hill Station in the 400 block of Sharon Avenue.

According to authorities, the Amtrak train was headed southbound when a person on the tracks was struck.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

No word on that person's identity.

Officials in Delaware County are investigating.
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Some people are just clueless but I'm inclined to believe that many people who are killed without obvious cause are likely to be intentional suicides.
 
Bigval109 said:
What is it with people walking on active train tracks? Some with their headphones on.
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I have to agree.

Locally, there were these landscaping workers/laborers who every day, used the freight tracks as a short-cut between their place of employment and the nearest bus stop. One would think that with that, they were all well aware that freight trains come down those tracks every 15-30 minutes.

Though, on this one day, with their headphones on, walking on the tracks themselves, backs to the on-coming direction, a freight train came thru and #%$*@. :eek:
 
It would seem that the case above mentioned by John B involved a man who just could not cope with all the things happening to him. Perhaps the wife was in the same state of mind. These cases are very sad and do not fall into the category of "stupid Darwinian acts". :(
 
Southbound Acela 2163 hits trespasser north of Wilmington, DE

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2015/04/30/pedestrian-reported-hit-train-claymont/26654765/

A pedestrian was hit Thursday afternoon and killed by a high-speed Amtrak Acela Express train in Claymont.

The fatality, which occurred about 4:30 p.m., is affecting service through the area – including Septa service from Philadelphia to Wilmington – with delays and congestion expected through evening rush hour, Amtrak officials said.
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http://6abc.com/news/pedestrian-stuck-killed-by-train-in-delaware-/690536/

Friday, May 01, 2015 07:00AM


CLAYMONT, Del. (WPVI) --
A deadly crash involving a pedestrian shutdown SEPTA services for hours in Delaware.

Police say a man was struck and killed by an Amtrak Acela Express train traveling southbound through Claymont.

It happened just after 4:30 p.m. Thursday and as a result SEPTA service between Marcus Hook and Newark was suspended for about three hours.
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From what I can tell, the majority of pedestrian trespasser fatalities on the NEC occur between WIL and PHL. Many of these are or near the SEPTA stations with low level platforms on that segment with people cutting across the tracks and around the fence in the middle of the tracks. Upgrading those SEPTA stations to high level platforms with more effective fencing around the stations should reduce the number of incidents, but at SEPTA's current pace of upgrading their stations on their regional rail lines, it will take several decades before they get to many of the stations between WIL and PHL.
 
afigg said:
From what I can tell, the majority of pedestrian trespasser fatalities on the NEC occur between WIL and PHL. Many of these are or near the SEPTA stations with low level platforms on that segment with people cutting across the tracks and around the fence in the middle of the tracks. Upgrading those SEPTA stations to high level platforms with more effective fencing around the stations should reduce the number of incidents, but at SEPTA's current pace of upgrading their stations on their regional rail lines, it will take several decades before they get to many of the stations between WIL and PHL.
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Who owns the tracks thru that stretch? Amtrak or SEPTA? If Amtrak, couldn't they just tell SEPTA that they cannot use those stations until they have been upgraded?

peter
 
PerRock said:
afigg said:
From what I can tell, the majority of pedestrian trespasser fatalities on the NEC occur between WIL and PHL. Many of these are or near the SEPTA stations with low level platforms on that segment with people cutting across the tracks and around the fence in the middle of the tracks. Upgrading those SEPTA stations to high level platforms with more effective fencing around the stations should reduce the number of incidents, but at SEPTA's current pace of upgrading their stations on their regional rail lines, it will take several decades before they get to many of the stations between WIL and PHL.
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Who owns the tracks thru that stretch? Amtrak or SEPTA? If Amtrak, couldn't they just tell SEPTA that they cannot use those stations until they have been upgraded?

peter
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You really want to upset a lot of travelers by removing those stations? Though I don't use them myself, except the rare occasion I go to Philly, I'd be pretty mad if SEPTA wasn't available considering how bad I-95 can be especially during rush hour.
 
AmtrakBlue said:
PerRock said:
afigg said:
From what I can tell, the majority of pedestrian trespasser fatalities on the NEC occur between WIL and PHL. Many of these are or near the SEPTA stations with low level platforms on that segment with people cutting across the tracks and around the fence in the middle of the tracks. Upgrading those SEPTA stations to high level platforms with more effective fencing around the stations should reduce the number of incidents, but at SEPTA's current pace of upgrading their stations on their regional rail lines, it will take several decades before they get to many of the stations between WIL and PHL.
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Who owns the tracks thru that stretch? Amtrak or SEPTA? If Amtrak, couldn't they just tell SEPTA that they cannot use those stations until they have been upgraded?

peter
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You really want to upset a lot of travelers by removing those stations? Though I don't use them myself, except the rare occasion I go to Philly, I'd be pretty mad if SEPTA wasn't available considering how bad I-95 can be especially during rush hour.
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That's the point. The people would get mad, and SEPTA would have to upgrade them. Of course if SEPTA owns the tracks, there isn't much Amtrak can do.

peter
 
If you think Septa owns anything on the NEC trackage wise. You're sadly mistaken. Station wise Septa owns everything until DE. Those are owned by the state. On top of that all station projects must be approved by Amtrak.
 
PerRock said:
afigg said:
From what I can tell, the majority of pedestrian trespasser fatalities on the NEC occur between WIL and PHL. Many of these are or near the SEPTA stations with low level platforms on that segment with people cutting across the tracks and around the fence in the middle of the tracks. Upgrading those SEPTA stations to high level platforms with more effective fencing around the stations should reduce the number of incidents, but at SEPTA's current pace of upgrading their stations on their regional rail lines, it will take several decades before they get to many of the stations between WIL and PHL.
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Who owns the tracks thru that stretch? Amtrak or SEPTA? If Amtrak, couldn't they just tell SEPTA that they cannot use those stations until they have been upgraded?

peter
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What a brilliant idea that would be! Tick of Schuster and his ilk in the Pennsylvania House delegation. Why didn't anyone think of that before? ;) :p Do you really think there will be no adverse consequences for Amtrak if it suddenly shuts down a bunch of Philadelphia suburban stations. If you really think so, I guess you are more politically naive than I had imagined :(
 
PerRock said:
AmtrakBlue said:
You really want to upset a lot of travelers by removing those stations? Though I don't use them myself, except the rare occasion I go to Philly, I'd be pretty mad if SEPTA wasn't available considering how bad I-95 can be especially during rush hour.
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That's the point. The people would get mad, and SEPTA would have to upgrade them. Of course if SEPTA owns the tracks, there isn't much Amtrak can do.
peter
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Amtrak owns the tracks and ROW along the southern part of the NEC. Yes, SEPTA is responsible for all the stations between WIL and PHL. But Amtrak is in no position to make a demand of SEPTA to upgrade stations only used by SEPTA. The NEC Commission would not go along with any such demand and the NEC Commission is becoming the controlling authority for NEC infrastructure project decisions.

And where would SEPTA get the funds to upgrade all their NEC stations in one fell swoop? SEPTA has 153 regional rail stations and many of those stations have been in need of modernization and improvements for a long time. SEPTA has been arguably the most consistently underfunded of all the major transit systems in the US over the past several decades. SEPTA got a critical boost in capital funding with the gas tax increase deal struck in the PA legislature back in late 2013. But SEPTA's backlog of maintenance and bridges, power systems, tracks, rolling stock in need of replacement and/or repair is huge and will take decades to get through. SEPTA is planning to upgrade a number of regional rail stations with high level platforms in their 12 year plan, but I think most of the stations between WIL and University City are not very high on their 6 and 12 year planning priority list. In the SEPTA FY2016 capital budget, Marcus Hook is the only one on that segment on the upgrade list in the 2021 to 2027 6 year planning window that I see.

The near term affordable fix may be improved fencing and more video monitoring systems along that segment of the NEC. If the funds for even that can be allocated.
 
Hmmm, all this talk about spending large gobs of money to affect changes to stations in order to protect stupid people from themselves sure seems like a waste of money to me. Trust me, stupid people will be just clever enough to get around any new changes made in the name of safety. from what I can tell, every single trespasser knew they were on or near the tracks when they were struck. Like seeing mountain lion tracks in your back yard, you have to assume that it (like a train) is coming back.
 
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