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Comments
The Herald is reporting the woman was hit where the tracks
cross the intersection of Alexander Avenue and Channing Road. The photograph with the Herald story also seems to confirm that this happened at a grade crossing, and not because the woman was trespassing on the tracks.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/200...
Not trespassing, but not a gated crossing either
Before you even added your comment, I pretty much guessed where this accident occurred. No street crosses the track at this location, but a heavily travelled footpath does. I don't believe there are any gates, lights, or bells where the footpath crosses the tracks
The nearest street crossings are a very long distance in either direction, and the tracks separate the high school from a substantial residential area.
This Google Map aerial photo shows the area pretty clearly, including the dirt footpath.
And here's a Street View of the footpath entrance from Channing Road.
Thanks for the clarification. I was fooled by the Herald photo
which seems to show a crossing bell and lights to the left of the train. Of course, it's entirely possible that the Herald used a stock photo of another accident.
No fence? Gaps in fence?
I guess I'm asking what the deal is since, as HenryAlan pointed out, it's an obvious cut-through to the field and school from that neighborhood... are people "supposed" to be able to cross there to get to school or the ballfields?
I was there
hi, I am a junior at BHS and would like to clarify about the holes in the fences. there are many holes that students go through to take a shortcut across the track, I have done it many times, and it was just a complete shock when we found out that one of our seniors was killed. it was complete chaos, so many people were crying, I mean, almost all the students have crawled through the holes in the fence, and it could have been anyone of us. I pray for the parents of the girl.
A very hard lesson
Trains can't stop like cars can. A very hard way to learn a very hard lesson.
Yes there was a gate
No one is "supposed to" cut through but everyone who lives in that area of town and needs to get to the high school by foot certainly does. This girl had a gate in the fence of her backyard so that they could access the tracks. Most people merely cut across via one of the less formal entrances cut in the fence.
See the video of the girls father walking up to the tracks through the fence in his backyard.
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO128815/
Of course it's trespassing.
Of course it's trespassing. The rail line is private property, and the informal "crossing" that can only be accessed by cutting a chain link fence is not a public way.
The Herald photos look perfectly good to me. Trains don't stop on a dime, so the cars would not be sitting where the accident happened.
The Herald has updated their photo since they first printed
the story earlier today.
The original photo I based my previous comment on showed the front end of a commuter-rail locomotive near a grade crossing. The differences in background details between the original photo and the current one (which shows the front end of a control car INSTEAD of a locomotive) confirms my earlier thought that the Herald may have originally used a "stock" photo.
Herald has multiple photos up now
including the one you saw there originally. I don't think that's actually a gate, just a set of railroad signals.
That area is grade
That area is grade separated. However, looking at google maps, it appears that it is a likely cut through between Channing Road and the high school, as Alexander Ave. dead ends at the right of way.
Teen
Sorry to the family of teen that was struck and killed..
Even though I didn't know this woman, I too express sympathy
to her parents, family, and friends for their loss.
In addition, I ask everyone reading this to also consider the train engineer who struck this woman. They are going to have to live with the memory of having killed somebody while they were simply performing their daily job.
I can't imagine a more helpless feeling....
..than seeing someone on the track in front of you -- and knowing that there is absolutely nothing you can possibly do to stop in time.
More than 400 people are
More than 400 people are killed by trains each year. I've read a statistic that the average engineer is likely to be at the controls for two accidents over the course of his/her career. It must be traumatic for all involved.
Always remember to look both ways before crossing *any* track, even one which is "never used". In train vs. anything else (person, car, truck), the train always wins.
I'm constantly amazed at people trying to "beat" the trains on the Green Line!
Sad to say, I witness pedestrians trying to "beat" the
commuter rail trains in the face of flashing lights, ringing bells, and the train blowing its horn several times a week. It is amazing (and fortunate) that these folks don't get killed.
And the usual outcome of these episodes (as told to me by my train crew friends) is that the local police will call the railroad to complain that the train blew the horn in a "quiet zone".