Well, it's been a crappy morning all the way around. NJ Transit had yet another trespasser incident with a pedestrian killed by an oncoming train just outside the Radburn Train Station. That left the morning commute for folks on my usual train line screwed. Today's incident was about a 1/4 mile from the nearest proper crossing.
This one appears to have been a suicide.
That's after another such incident last night on a nearby line. We've had an incident like this about once a month on the Main/Bergen line alone. That's despite all kinds of warnings, additional signage, and efforts to get people to understand that they shouldn't cross tracks when the gates are down and flashing.
Not much you can do when someone wants to commit suicide, but the engineer and train crews have to live with this the rest of their lives. In fact, most of the train crews have someone on their crew who has had to deal with one of these incidents - often more than once. It's part of the nature of the suburban train line with at-grade crossings, but not one you can ever get used to.
Drivers continue to ignore signage, pedestrians ignore common sense, and there are people who are absolutely determined to take their own lives.
NJ Transit has previously issued a report on how to reduce train fatalities, but without additional enforcement and better fencing to restrict access to the right of way, these are going to continue.
Heck, despite there being NJ Transit officials and the crossing gates flashing while down at the Radburn train station, people still sought to cross in front of an oncoming train. These people take their lives into their own hands - one slip and fall could mean serious injury or a fatality. It's just not worth it.
And try explaining your actions to the engineers and train crews that have to deal with those actions.
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