From: Martin Engel <martinengel_at_(domain_name_was_removed)>
Date: Mon Dec 03 2007 - 18:16:36 PST

Every year, it's about a dozen, give or take. More are suicides than accidents, although many of those accidents are "dumb mistakes." Caltrain talks a lot about safety being their first priority. Wonderful! Ian McAvoy, deputy chief of development for Samtrans, talked about this at a recent council meeting in Menlo Park. How important safety was. In Caltrain's recent safety agenda, they installed those small pedestrian crossing barriers, but refused to install the second set of traffic gates for the lane that remains un-gated when trains go by. Could it be because they are resisting Quiet Zones, for which those four-quad gates are required?

About a year ago, I wrote a number of letters and editorials about fencing and asked why there wasn't complete fencing, how much it would cost, etc. I can still walk one block and see a whole block long rail corridor unfenced. Yea, I know that suicides can take place even at train stations, such as the one in the article.

Actually, that's a very interesting and frightening problem. Imagine this: The high speed train has been built and is running on two tracks. Caltrain's baby bullets, now running at 110 mph, are running on the other set of tracks. Imagine even that the entire length of the corridor is now completely fenced, except, of course, the station platforms. At the stations, trains are whizzing by in both directions at incredible speeds. Now what? Will mentally disturbed people be lining up at train stations to jump in front of the next high speed train? What, exactly, does Caltrain mean by "safety?" What is an "acceptable" number of fatalities?

(Note: I love the sentence that tells us that the man was "white." And the point of that is?)

Martin

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Published Saturday, December 1, 2007, by the San Mateo Daily Journal

Man killed by train in San Mateo

By Dana Yates

A man died after being struck by a train in front of the downtown San Mateo Caltrain station Friday night.

"At this time it appears to be suicide," said San Mateo police Sgt. Al Baccei.

The man was struck by a southbound train at approximately 4:49 p.m. Friday.

Police and paramedics arrive on scene shortly before 5 p.m. to investigate and control traffic at the intersection of Second and Railroad avenues. Officers taped yellow tarp to the west side of the train to shield the dead body from the view of riders waiting on the northbound platform.

The man was white and appeared to be in his 40s.

An identity was not immediately available because the coroner was not yet on scene, Baccei said.

This is the second train-related death in San Mateo in three months. On Sept. 6, a man was struck by a train at Ninth Avenue.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@... or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.

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Martin Engel
1621 Stone Pine Lane
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650:323-1670
martinengel@earthlink.net


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Received on Mon Dec 3 20:08:03 2007