Train 85 hit trespasser 7/8/11

[sttsxm]

Train 85 hit a trespasser just before Metropark today.....we were held up 2 hours waiting for a rescue train. We had 225 pax to put onto (i think) 137....it was SRO.....the conductor said 225 pax, the story below has a lower number..

 

 

here is a link....

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=7546418

we just stopped short of the station...i heard some pax opened a door and got out and walked to metropark, but i can't confirm this. I didn't hear any horns sounding a warning, nor did the train feel like it hit the brakes hard....not speculating or anything, just reporting what my experience was being on this train this afternoon.....not sure what i expected-in all my train travels, i have never been a pax on a train that hit someone/thing until today......

 

[Grandpa D]

Thanks. I saw this tweet from @amtrak but never found any details.

Amtrak passengers should expect delays on Northeast Corridor travel between New

York and Philadelphia due police activity

near Iselin, NJ.

 

[sttsxm]

Police activity is an understatement.....at least 10 cop cars, PLUS amtrak police, NJTransit police and a few assorted others who really didn't seem to have anything to do except look important.......

They did sort of keep us informed...the conductor, after about 20 minutes of stop time, said that we hit a trespasser...although one passenger coming back from the lounge car told us. I was in the quiet car, and several of us moved to the lounge so we could talk..........

the local news station...news 12 new jersey had a camera person there, but as of a short time ago, the only mention i could find was that NJ transit was back to normal. They cancelled a couple trains going into NYC (NJT that is..)

 

[RCrierie]

This is ridculous. All that should be needed is a hose to clean off the train, and maybe a 10-15 minute delay to document the scene and tag n' bag the corpse, then be on our merry way, leaving it for the local cops.

(yes, I do take a hard line on trespassing on railroad ROWs, why do you ask?)

 

[George Harris]

This is ridculous. All that should be needed is a hose to clean off the train, and maybe a 10-15 minute delay to document the scene and tag n' bag the corpse, then be on our merry way, leaving it for the local cops.
(yes, I do take a hard line on trespassing on railroad ROWs, why do you ask?)

It ain't that simple.

 

[PanAm98]

This is ridculous. All that should be needed is a hose to clean off the train, and maybe a 10-15 minute delay to document the scene and tag n' bag the corpse, then be on our merry way, leaving it for the local cops.

(yes, I do take a hard line on trespassing on railroad ROWs, why do you ask?)

As the above poster pointed out, it is nowhere near that simple.

It's easy to jump to conclusions when you bear no responsibility or liability for the outcome, which is many times years down the road and completely unpredictable at the time of the incident. However, for the people who get paid to do those things, being in a rush and jumping to conclusions is the recipe for sloppy investigations, civil liability, public humiliation in the media, and possible unemployment.

What if investigators automatically jump to the conclusion that it's "just a trespasser" or a suicide and it later turns out to be a homicide or other foul play? Not to mention that even if it IS "just a trespasser", the civil lawsuits can go on for years and end up depending heavily on written records, accurate measurements, and other investigative documentation since the personal memory of anyone who was there will by then be less precise, not to mention many times some of the investigators will have retired by the time it comes to trial. Then, if the affected agencies failed to do an extremely thorough job of documenting and investigating the incident, guess who gets publicly criticized, dragged through the mud, and possibly named in yet ANOTHER civil suit?

As a retired investigator for an agency that had several main RR lines in its jurisdiction, I can tell you that any time someone or something got hit by a train - or in any investigation, for that matter - we made sure every "i" was dotted and every "t" was crossed. You don't want to find out later it was actually a homicide, insurance fraud, or whatever, and five years later you're sitting on a witness stand being asked by a grandstanding civil attorney why you didn't do your job.

Inconvenience to a few people at the time of the incident is the least of your worries.

 

[NJCoastExp]

Try about 15000 people delayed for up to 3 hours on NEC in the latest incident.