Train Hits Pedestrian

[Berwynite]

Train hits pedestrian

Published June 21, 2005, 11:37 AM CDT


A female pedestrian survived an encounter this morning with a slow-moving freight train on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks in west suburban Berwyn, officials said.

The incident delayed four Metra rush-hour commuter trains, which use the line to reach Chicago from the western suburbs.

The woman, whose identity was not released, was crossing the BNSF tracks at the Harlem Avenue grade crossing on the Berwyn-Riverside border shortly after 8 a.m. when the train struck her, according to Metra and Berwyn officials.

The woman was alive when an ambulance arrived, said Berwyn city spokesman Scott Waguespack. She was taken to Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, to be treated for head injuries.

Information about how seriously the woman was hurt was not immediately available. Police were investigating, Waguespack said.

Four inbound trains were delayed for up to 20 minutes, a Metra spokesman said. They were Train Nos. 1252, 1254, 1256 and 1258, ordinarily scheduled to arrive at Union Station in downtown Chicago between 8:33 a.m. and 8:42 a.m.

Trains were moving again and operations had returned to normal by 8:45 a.m., the spokesman said.

[shrugger]

Sounds like this lady actually might not be doing that well (critical condition/head injuries, see article below). Hopefully she pulls through ... I wonder if she was doing the illegal "dash across the tracks" or if she just fell down or something.

This was apparently a "slow-moving" freight train, but I saw that the police were out again this morning at the Berwyn station trolling for rail-jumpers. And somehow it seems like they always catch a few commuters trying to scurry to the south platforms while the gates are down. I think that it would make sense to keep the idea alive for a pedestrian underpass (between Grove and Oak Park?), especially if development occurs in the DD. Not only for commuters but for pedestrians in general ... I know that sometimes during the day a freight train will come in and just clog up all the intersections for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. 

And this might be only me, but I always notice that in these types of articles it talks about how the train "hit" or "struck" someone/something, as if it were usually the train's fault. "I was trying to drive my truck around the crossing gates right quick, and the train just came out of nowhere and popped me one!"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Woman critically injured after being hit by train

Published June 22, 2005

BERWYN -- A Riverside woman was hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday after she was struck by a slow-moving freight train on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks in Berwyn, officials said.

Morgan Strand, 39, of the 300 block of Herrick Road was crossing the BNSF tracks at the Harlem Avenue grade crossing on the Berwyn-Riverside border shortly after 8 a.m. when the train struck her, according to Metra and Berwyn officials.

Strand sustained head injuries and was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Berwyn city spokesman Scott Waguespack said. She was undergoing surgery at the hospital Tuesday afternoon, he said.

The single-engine train belonged to Indiana Harbor Belt railroad, BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg said.

Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune

[OakParkSpartan]

I feel bad for the engineer's and conductor's, cuz they see exactly what is going to happen, and cannot do a thing to prevent it.

Cheers,
Brian

[markberwyn]

And this might be only me, but I always notice that in these types of articles it talks about how the train "hit" or "struck" someone/something, as if it were usually the train's fault. "I was trying to drive my truck around the crossing gates right quick, and the train just came out of nowhere and popped me one!"

Well, that's just a function of the old grammar rule that favors active over passive voice. Take the following two descriptions:

A pedestrian was struck by a train.

A train hit a pedestrian.

Which one is the stronger, cleaner sentence? Both are accurate; the latter doesn't ascribe intent to the train, as if it meant to do harm to the person. I suppose if you wanted to be really fussy, you could say a *moving* train hit a pedestrian, but that's kinda implied.

(Takes off Grammar Nazi armband.)

I'm a little concerned to learn that the new building just north of the tracks on Ridgeland is going to be a school. For some reason I thought it was going to be a document storage facility.

[Bear]

Truly amazing that the school board would choose that location for Freedom.
This is a logistical nightmare, you have not only the trains to deal with but
the blind spots created by the viaduct. Berwyn PD will have their hands full dealing
with that mess twice a day. I can only imagine the high number of accidents
taking place in a school year. What a debacle. Your tax dollars at work Berwyn.

[pkd50]

A really huge school was built in Cicero in a similiar site.  It's right next to the el tracks, which are ground level.

[Juliet]

We've argued this argument before.  Absolutely no one is happy with the location of the new middle school, I agree.  But where else in South Berwyn do you suggest it should have been put?  I don't remember anyone in our land locked community forking over any other possible locations three years ago.

[T-Stan RPCV]

It's how it works these days.  Schools can only afford the cheap land.  In the far western suburbs they are having all kinds of problems because developers in new communities are required to set aside land for schools.  In most cases this ends up being the low lying that is most diffiult to build on.  After a few years they have mositure problems and spend a fortune trying to prevent the building from falling apart. 

That being said, a damp school is preferable to kid vs. train match ups.

[sterling]

Unfortunately the woman passed away. She had two young children.  A sad thing.