Amtrak train hits and kills man in Mansfield MA

[Ryan]

so about 500 trespasser fatalities per year would put Amtrak in as bad a situation as Indian Railways. Does anyone know what is the annual trespasser fatality number for Amtrak is?

I have no idea, but almost 2 a day sounds like a lot to me.

I agree that trespasser fatalities/train mile would be a better measure.

 

[John Bredin]

I would presume the Indian Railways number of 15,000 is for the entire system, including intercity, commuter, and freight trains. So the equivalent number for the U.S. would be trespasser fatalities for the entire FRA-regulated railroad system: Amtrak, commuter rail, and all freight railroads.

 

[Texan Eagle]

I would presume the Indian Railways number of 15,000 is for the entire system, including intercity, commuter, and freight trains. So the equivalent number for the U.S. would be trespasser fatalities for the entire FRA-regulated railroad system: Amtrak, commuter rail, and all freight railroads.

Yes it is, since every train across the country is run by Indian Railways- long distance, corridor, freight, commuter trains.. so yeah, for US to get as bad as India in terms of trespasser fatality, there has to be about 500 deaths across the board- Amtrak + NS + CSX + UP + BNSF + smaller freight railroads + all commuter railroads.

 

[amamba]

Wow I am on the mbta commuter rail and we are minutes outside of Mansfield. Hopefully everything is clear.

 

[Ryan]

The article was from like 7 this morning, so you should be fine.

 

[amamba]

Haha yeah we just passed through. Sorry I am half asleep and skimming.

 

[Acela150]

For the record, I looked at the status maps archives. The offending train was train 67. Left RTE on-time and departed PVD 3+ hours late.

 

[afigg]

I would presume the Indian Railways number of 15,000 is for the entire system, including intercity, commuter, and freight trains. So the equivalent number for the U.S. would be trespasser fatalities for the entire FRA-regulated railroad system: Amtrak, commuter rail, and all freight railroads.

For the stat geeks: To find the trespasser fatality and other rail accident stats for the US, go to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics website and dive down to the Data Library: Safety page and go from there. There is a LOT of data available, down to each incident. Should be summary stats on the FRA website as well.

For all railroads that fall under the authority of the FRA (from freight to commuter rail), looks like there were 548 trespasser fatalities and 127 Non-trespasser fatalities in 2012, if I am extracting the stats correctly. 118 of the Non-trespasser fatalities are Highway-Rail Crossing Incidents, so my interpretation is these are grade crossing accidents.

Looking at it by railroad, again if I'm reading the data tables correctly, Amtrak was involved in a total of 111 fatalities in 2012. This number has been declining since 2009 (2009: 139, 2008: 132, 2011: 113), so the safety has been improving. Looks like 70 of the 111 fatalities were trespassers with 35 nonfatal trespassers injuries. There were 36 Highway-Rail incident fatalities in 2012, down from 51 in 2009.

For comparison, CSX was involved in 101 fatalities in 2012, 67 of those trespassers. UP was involved in 133 fatalities in 2012, 74 of those trespassers, 5 employee fatalities.

The rail statistics do NOT include transit systems such as the NYC subway, DC Metro, and so on. There is a separate Transit classification I have not examined.

If anyone wants to dig up detailed stats on India and other countries, be my guest. But take care to make sure there is some equivalence in the stats.

 

[afigg]

For the record, I looked at the status maps archives. The offending train was train 67. Left RTE on-time and departed PVD 3+ hours late.

No, it appears to be have been #94 (8/21) which left PVD 25 minutes late and never got to Rt. 128. The accident occurred at approximately 10:40 PM on Wednesday August 21 for a northbound train heading to Boston. #67 was likely delayed due to the accident investigation until the tracks were released.

Edit: I might be wrong, maybe it was #67. The passengers on #94 were bussed, regardless of whether it was in accident. I'm searching for news reports on the incident and, boy are the reports muddled. What I get from this local newspaper report is that the body was over a widespread area, the catenary power was shut off, and the tracks were closed for hours. There should be follow-up news reports, but the local papers may not bother.

 

[OBS]

For the record, I looked at the status maps archives. The offending train was train 67. Left RTE on-time and departed PVD 3+ hours late.

No, it appears to be have been #94 (8/21) which left PVD 25 minutes late and never got to Rt. 128. The accident occurred at approximately 10:40 PM on Wednesday August 21 for a northbound train heading to Boston. #67 was likely delayed due to the accident investigation until the tracks were released.

Edit: I might be wrong, maybe it was #67. The passengers on #94 were bussed, regardless of whether it was in accident. I'm searching for news reports on the incident and, boy are the reports muddled. What I get from this local newspaper report is that the body was over a widespread area, the catenary power was shut off, and the tracks were closed for hours. There should be follow-up news reports, but the local papers may not bother.

It was 94. 67 was held for investigation to clear up.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

I wonder how often people are struck by passenger trains in other countries? Is America the worst when it comes to number of people killed by trains?

Oh no way. not by a long shot. India is notoriously bad when it comes to number of trespassers killed by trains. As per some estimates, about 15,000 (yes, fifteen thousand) people are killed on the tracks in India per year.. that's on an average 50 people every day, or about two people every hour. Incidentally, that number is more than the total casualties in all wars with Pakistan and China combined! Sad sad situation there

Well aside from third world countries

Define third world, second world and first world countries?

Yup.

I also dont know any third world countries where they have up to standards top notch infrastructure (insert pitiful American passenger railroad system here).

 

[Anderson]

I edited the title to reflect the fact that the train was not an Acela and to avoid confusion due to the media mis-reporting.

 

[NW cannonball]

I would presume the Indian Railways number of 15,000 is for the entire system, including intercity, commuter, and freight trains. So the equivalent number for the U.S. would be trespasser fatalities for the entire FRA-regulated railroad system: Amtrak, commuter rail, and all freight railroads.

For the stat geeks: To find the trespasser fatality and other rail accident stats for the US, go to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics website and dive down to the Data Library: Safety page and go from there. There is a LOT of data available, down to each incident. Should be summary stats on the FRA website as well.

For all railroads that fall under the authority of the FRA (from freight to commuter rail), looks like there were 548 trespasser fatalities and 127 Non-trespasser fatalities in 2012, if I am extracting the stats correctly. 118 of the Non-trespasser fatalities are Highway-Rail Crossing Incidents, so my interpretation is these are grade crossing accidents.

Looking at it by railroad, again if I'm reading the data tables correctly, Amtrak was involved in a total of 111 fatalities in 2012. This number has been declining since 2009 (2009: 139, 2008: 132, 2011: 113), so the safety has been improving. Looks like 70 of the 111 fatalities were trespassers with 35 nonfatal trespassers injuries. There were 36 Highway-Rail incident fatalities in 2012, down from 51 in 2009.

For comparison, CSX was involved in 101 fatalities in 2012, 67 of those trespassers. UP was involved in 133 fatalities in 2012, 74 of those trespassers, 5 employee fatalities.

The rail statistics do NOT include transit systems such as the NYC subway, DC Metro, and so on. There is a separate Transit classification I have not examined.

If anyone wants to dig up detailed stats on India and other countries, be my guest. But take care to make sure there is some equivalence in the stats.

Thank you for posting the links --

 

[June the Coach Rider]

I edited the title to reflect the fact that the train was not an Acela and to avoid confusion due to the media mis-reporting.

Thanks, I only had the news reports to go by when I first posted this.

 

[BLOND37]

>> It is also hard for the engineers who were driving the train at the time. >>

i can only imagine how that feels... shaking my head.. what is the procedure for when something like this happens?

 

[haolerider]

>> It is also hard for the engineers who were driving the train at the time. >>

i can only imagine how that feels... shaking my head.. what is the procedure for when something like this happens?

The engineer and other crew who are involved are able to request to be relieved; however many continue, but the images never leave their memories.

 

[family]

I think it is beyond disrespectful to ridicule anyone involved, as a family member of the deceased I was appalled to come on this forum and see people laughing and worrying about a typo. I had not stopped to think about the train operator and my thoughts and prayers are with them as well as my grief stricken family. Please remember "a man" "a woman" is someones child, or someones parent or sibling although just another news article to you....

 

[VentureForth]

Please understand that we do feel and understand the loss of a family member. This is a tragedy on all fronts.

As rail advocates many of us here continuously try to think about ways our fragile rail system can hang on. We live in a society that doesn't quite embrace the efficiencies and freedoms of passenger rail travel. Passenger rail travel is being attacked on all fronts. Scenarios such as this continue to fuel the fire to end this mode of transportation.

I believe that most of the comments on this thread have been fairly rational. If this family member's intention was to kill himself, then how thoughless and selfish of him to traumatize the locomotive engineer and inconvenience humdreds of others? If it were an accident, what could be changed to prevent this sort of tragedy in the future?

But in all honesty, the majority of the ridicule here has to do with the reporting of the incident. Rail travel is so misunderstood that even reporters who live right under the nose of passenger rail service don't understand it well enough to be reporting on it.

So, where I do understand and can sympathize for your loss, please understand that we here also sympathize for the others whose lives were unwillingly discomforted.

May your relative rest in true peace.

 

[family]

Thank you for your words. I was waiting for further word, in all honesty the family has been riddled by the question of was it suicide was it an accident, none of us could believe he would end his own life, and I guess thankfully, it was an accident, though no one feels thankful of his loss we are relieved he did not make such a terrible choice. The possible confusion you were describing may have been the fact he was waiting for a train to pass when he crossed the tracks another train was moving in the opposite direction.

I agree 100% something needs to be done, our family member crossed those tracks everyday as so many others do in his town, it is a known shortcut...I tried not to read of others loss in this manner but it seems locally in Mansfield this was the third fatality even this month, but my facts may be askew. Hopefully whoever's responsibility for public safety involving mass transit will focus their efforts on prevention of the continuance of tragic loss, instead of only responding to the call.

 

[VentureForth]

I hope that you are still around. While I continue to sympathize for your family's loss, I would also like to encourage you to accept the following considerations. I'm not a person of authority. I am a citizen just like you - subject to the same rules and consequences for breaking them.

I would like to emphasize that ANY crossing of these tracks by ANYONE is at risk. These tracks are fenced off. Access to them is dangerous and illegal. Crossing these tracks is trespassing. I don't mean to sound heartless, but it was indeed the lack of respect for what a train can do that killed your relative.

Crossing tracks ANYWHERE where there is not a desginated crossing is extremely dangerous. That's why Amtrak and the various local municipalities have spent millions of dollars removing them, trying to force pedestrians and vehicles to take over/underpasses. When individuals try to take the easy way out by cutting a fence and crossing the tracks where trains can go as fast as 150 MPH, is it the fault of the railroad or government if they get hurt? I can assure you, in other countries the railroad would bill the family for the disruption.

I lived near a hospital that was up against a very busy street. The city constructed a walkway over the street so that patients and employees could get to the various restaurants across the street. In two years, I never ever saw a person use it. Nurses, doctors, patients, and others would cross the busy street right under the walkway. If they got hit, is it the city's fault?

So, thank you for letting us know that this was likely not a suicide. That is comforting. But I hope that through this tragedy, others, including children, will realize that this is not the way to get across the tracks. If an adult could get hit, so much more so a child.

That all being said, I can see how crossing the tracks can be tempting. There are only a few ways to cross the tracks in Mansfield. It's almost a mile between School St. and Commercial St. Commercial to Copeland is about a 1/2 mile. Then it's another 1/2 mile to Chauncy. Perhaps the city could consider a pedestrian overpass along I-495 from School to Forbes. That's the only place where I would even see the need for such. But even this seems unnecessary because it doesn't appear that there is a pedestrian need to connect an industrial part of town on the West to the commercial side of the tracks to the East. I've heard of these "shortcuts" where kids avoid mile long walks to get from their home to school, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.