Sad News From Southwest Iowa

[Agent]

Authorities are investigating after a woman was found dead near the tracks in Stanton, Iowa. She is suspected of having jumped from an Amtrak train. This may be why Amtrak #5(04) lost time between Creston, Iowa and Omaha.

 

[SarahZ]

 

[Garethe7]

Has anything like that happened before? I can't imagine why somebody would jump from a train.

 

[CHamilton]

Has anything like that happened before? I can't imagine why somebody would jump from a train.

This sounds unfortunately like last year's incident where apparently a disoriented passenger unlatched a door while the train was in motion.

 

[Henry Kisor]

Some years ago I heard a story from a train chief about a lady with Alzheimer's who, while aboard the Zephyr, repeatedly attempted to "go out to my garden" while the train was at speed. The chief reluctantly locked the exterior doors to her sleeper. A few days later the chief heard from the Indiana state police. The lady had at last succeeded in going out to her garden from the Lake Shore Limited. These things apparently are rare but not unheard of.

 

[John Bobinyec]

Did those two incidents happen on Superliners? If so, is there something inherent in the design of the doors which makes it easy for a passenger to open them? Perhaps they are designed to be opened easily by passengers in case of a wreck.

jb

 

[oldtimer]

Did those two incidents happen on Superliners? If so, is there something inherent in the design of the doors which makes it easy for a passenger to open them? Perhaps they are designed to be opened easily by passengers in case of a wreck.

jb

The vestibule doors of a superliner are designed to be used as an emergency exit, it takes 3 actions to open the door thus any action would have to be deliberate (if the passenger is of a sound mind). I also recall a young female passenger that walked off the last car of the CZ several years ago in Utah IIRC. The end gate bars were not secured. She did survive only to be found by a group of hunters who r-ped her and left her along the tracks. She was found by a UP freight crew who stopped and attended to her until she was able to be rescued.

 

[SarahZ]

Oh my god. What the hell is wrong with people? :angry: I will never understand how someone could do that to another person.

 

[Garethe7]

Oh my god. What the hell is wrong with people? :angry: I will never understand how someone could do that to another person.

I second that.

 

[Agent]

An update: Police have confirmed the woman came from an Amtrak train and that she was a French tourist.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

Some years ago I heard a story from a train chief about a lady with Alzheimer's who, while aboard the Zephyr, repeatedly attempted to "go out to my garden" while the train was at speed. The chief reluctantly locked the exterior doors to her sleeper. A few days later the chief heard from the Indiana state police. The lady had at last succeeded in going out to her garden from the Lake Shore Limited. These things apparently are rare but not unheard of.

I'm not sure that lady had lost her mind at all. When I get to that condition, please allow me to "go out to my garden", rather than hauling me off to get the Guantanamo treatment at the local rest home. YMMV.