Amtrak train hits and kills man in Mansfield MA

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Ryan said:
The Acela train was traveling from Norfolk, Va. to South Station when the man was struck at about 10:40 p.m. in the area of the School Street Bridge
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BWAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!Thanks, I needed that laugh.
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What a pitiful remark! You think it is funny that they made a mistake in the story, while someone was killed? You need some help!
 
While trains have the absolute right-of-way, it is still tragic when someone is struck and killed. It is also hard for the engineers who were driving the train at the time.

As for the news article the misidentified the train or its origination, I can only say that the state of America journalism is sad. I wouldn't even be surprised if the so-called reporter who wrote the article didn't have real journalism training.(writing for news blogs don't count)
 
Found a short Boston Globe boston.com news blurb that states it was #94 that hit the trespasser. Which originates in Newport News, but is obviously not an Acela. It is sad how often these fatal trespasser accidents occur, even on closed off tracks.
 
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?
 
Given the level of stupidity required to get HIT BY A TRAIN in 98% of the cases, I think a bit of ridicule is actually in order...
 
Shawn Ryu said:
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?
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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 :(
 
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Shawn Ryu said:
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?
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I don't have stats for it, but I suspect the fatality rate for pedestrians struck by trains is pretty low in the US compared to many other countries, either by per capita or mile of track. There were at least 37 killed in a single incident in India just a few days ago (see the thread in the General Rail Discussion forum).
 
I would think the numbers are lower in Europe than the US. I also follow carnival / amusement rides as another interest of mine. In the US all rides need to be fenced, gated, gates need to swing out, and almost idiot proof so you don't get near the running ride. In Europe, you often see no gates and some rides have no fencing at all. If you are stupid enough to get to close to a running ride, I guess you are just responsible for your own actions. However, here in the US, if someone was injured you would be suing even if the person was at fault.

The story doesn't have that many facts. If it was truly an accident, I am truly sorry for the guy. If he was acting stupid or tried to commit suicide, I don't feel bad for him but in any case, his family, friends, and the engineer on this train will live with this forever and I hope they can overcome it.
 
Texan Eagle said:
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 :(
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This is no doubt too high and a combination of heavy reliance on rail as intercity transportation combined with poor control of the ROW, lots of trespassers (not to mention children trying daredevil stunts like jumping on coaches from catenary towers).

The comparable statistic in the US would be highway fatalities in motor vehicles as well as pedestrian strikes by motor vehicles on all types of roads. Contrary to the choices of the Indian gov't, the US gov't made a decision to switch to highways as intercity transportation mode of choice and this is reflected in the accident statistics. You also need to compare per capita (India is a more populous country) as well as per vehicle mile traveled (US engineers' preferred metric). This is not to say that the US has not made enormous strides in safety in the last 30 years.

Ped strikes by all rail vehicles in US has dropped in part due to education campaigns in public schools and community campaigns to raise awareness about grade crossing safety.
 
I'm pretty sure there are more pedestrians killed by passenger trains in Europe and the UK than in the US, due to higher frequencies of passenger rail service and the higher population density.

The relevant metric is to compare ped strikes per train miles travelled. That would tell you who is safer, although it still won't account for settlement patterns.
 
Texan Eagle said:
Shawn Ryu said:
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?
Click to expand...
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 :(
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Well aside from third world countries
 
guest said:
Given the level of stupidity required to get HIT BY A TRAIN in 98% of the cases, I think a bit of ridicule is actually in order...
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Tell that to the engineer who hit the person and see how much ridicule he/she would assign to the experience.
 
haolerider said:
Ryan said:
The Acela train was traveling from Norfolk, Va. to South Station when the man was struck at about 10:40 p.m. in the area of the School Street Bridge
Click to expand...
BWAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!Thanks, I needed that laugh.
Click to expand...
What a pitiful remark! You think it is funny that they made a mistake in the story, while someone was killed? You need some help!
Click to expand...
It is possible to feel bad for the operating crew and still find amusement in the utter foolishness of reporters.
 
Well -- 20 or so years ago there were lots of news stories about train delays in Japan. Mostly suicides. Suicides aside - Japan has a super great rail system that even this gaijin can use without understanding Japanese.

But on my first visit to Japan last fall, did see several times on the digital 4-language (Japanese,English,Chinese,Korean) notice board in every railcar in Tokyo - notices like "Chuo-sobu delayed 17 minutes due to passenger in jury" - That seems likely to mean a suicide by train.

Yes - statistics per passenger mile would be helpful -- but hard to come by. India? Shiva only knows. China? Possibly the Party knows but won't ever tell. Europe -- probably has good stats. USA -- ??

Locally near MSP latest trespasser injury was a 9yo trying to climb on a freight and got his feet cut off by the wheels .

USA -- I'm a young geezer -- but I look at the mortality stats. For young persons, it's Motor Vehicle accidents, suicide, homicide. For us geezers the accidental death biggies are falls in the home, MVA.
 
And I second that about the total laziness of reporters -- they seem to just replay whatever nonsense they hear with no fact checking, no knowledge, and a bias of whatever they learned when they were 8 years old. And no empathy, just whatever their editor thinks will sell papers (or clicks)
 
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Ryan said:
haolerider said:
Ryan said:
The Acela train was traveling from Norfolk, Va. to South Station when the man was struck at about 10:40 p.m. in the area of the School Street Bridge
Click to expand...
BWAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!Thanks, I needed that laugh.
Click to expand...
What a pitiful remark! You think it is funny that they made a mistake in the story, while someone was killed? You need some help!
Click to expand...
It is possible to feel bad for the operating crew and still find amusement in the utter foolishness of reporters.
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True this. The media is seriously Clueless when it comes to things like this.
 
Shawn Ryu said:
Texan Eagle said:
Shawn Ryu said:
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?
Click to expand...
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 :(
Click to expand...
Well aside from third world countries
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Define third world, second world and first world countries?
 
NW cannonball said:
Yes - statistics per passenger mile would be helpful -- but hard to come by. India? Shiva only knows.
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Shiva might know all details, but I know some details that you might be interested in. Not total passenger-miles, but number of passengers. Indian Railways carries about 9 billion passengers per year, and sees 15,000 trespasser fatalities. That comes to about 1 fatality for every 600,000 passengers carried. Amtrak carries about 30 million passengers a year, 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?

Of course this is still not an accurate measure to compare, we need to take into account number of miles trains run in a year, rather than number of passengers carried, since a train with 1 passenger running 10 times has a greater chance of hitting a trespasser than a train with 1000 passengers that runs only once a day.
 
Texan Eagle said:
NW cannonball said:
Yes - statistics per passenger mile would be helpful -- but hard to come by. India? Shiva only knows.
Click to expand...
Shiva might know all details, but I know some details that you might be interested in. Not total passenger-miles, but number of passengers. Indian Railways carries about 9 billion passengers per year, and sees 15,000 trespasser fatalities. That comes to about 1 fatality for every 600,000 passengers carried. Amtrak carries about 30 million passengers a year, 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?

Of course this is still not an accurate measure to compare, we need to take into account number of miles trains run in a year, rather than number of passengers carried, since a train with 1 passenger running 10 times has a greater chance of hitting a trespasser than a train with 1000 passengers that runs only once a day.
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Thanks much for posting some actual data. (Rather frightening data at that. fifteen thousand? OMG!)

Hope others can add more facts.

Indian Rail sounds more and more scary and adventurous. I will never jaywalk their tracks.
 
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