Another news story about the "accident".
Jun. 18th, 2002 05:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lionkingcmslPolice said the pair might have thought they were on another track. There has been a series of fatalities.
By Peter Sigal
Inquirer Staff Writer
Two men walking on railroad tracks in Bucks County yesterday were struck and killed by a CSX freight train near the Langhorne station, even though they may have had enough time to get out of the way, Middletown Township police said.
The conductor of the 68-car, Baltimore-bound freight frantically tried to slow down, and once he saw the men, who were from Penndel, "he laid on the horn and he stayed on the horn," said Officer Michael Lubold, a Middletown Township police accident-reconstruction specialist.
The men, whose backs were turned to the train, knew the train was approaching because they pantomimed sounding the train's horn, Lubold said. But though they apparently had time to get off the tracks, Lubold said they made no attempt to do so.
Because there are three parallel sets of tracks and a slight curve at that location, police speculated that the men may have thought they and the train were on different rails.
One of those killed yesterday was Edwin Richard Celins, 40, police said. The name of the second victim was not immediately released, but Lubold said he was a friend and neighbor of Celins.
Friends and relatives told police the men were walking from their homes to a nearby flooded quarry to skim stones. Although the quarry is closed to the public and patrolled by security guards, it is known as a popular hangout spot, Lubold said.
He said that during the 13 years he has been on the Middletown force, at least a half dozen other motorists or pedestrians have been struck and killed in the Langhorne station area.
The CSX train, which was carrying 4,273 tons of municipal waste, was traveling slower than the 50-m.p.h. legal limit, Lubold said. Still, it took a mile before it could come to a stop.
The track on which the accident occurred at 3:45 p.m. was closed for three hours. SEPTA trains travelling on one of the other sets of tracks continued running, but at a reduced speed.
The men were declared dead at the scene by the Bucks County Coroner's Office.
The train has a "black box" like those on airliners, and CSX is going to download the data to determine what was happening at the time of the accident, said Gary Sease, a spokesman for CSX in Jacksonville, Fla.
The company has its own police and investigators, who also were investigating, Sease said.
Yesterday's was the latest in a series of fatal train accidents in the region in the last six months. Many were suicides.
In the worst of the incidents, three Morrisville teenagers who had been taking drugs were struck and killed by an Amtrak Acela train in Bensalem on Dec. 9.
Just a few weeks ago, on May 25, a Northeast Philadelphia man deliberately stood in front of an oncoming CSX freight train near Hasbrook and Cottman Avenues in Burholme.
The following day, police found the stabbed body of his girlfriend in his apartment.
On May 12, a New Jersey couple addicted to drugs and with no way to support $300-a-day habits walked onto railroad tracks in North Elizabeth, hugging each other moments before a speeding Amtrak train struck and killed them.
Less than a week earlier, on May 7, in another apparent suicide, a 50-year-old Clifton Heights, Delaware County, woman was killed by a SEPTA train.
On April 30, again in an apparent suicide, a 76-year-old woman was killed by a high-speed Amtrak Acela train near the Cornwells Heights SEPTA station in Bucks County.
On April 3, a man was struck and killed by a SEPTA train near the Lansdowne, Delaware County station.
In another high-profile incident, an 84-year-old retired Temple University professor was killed by a SEPTA commuter train on March 11 as he tried to take his daily shortcut across the tracks near his home in Glenside, Montgomery County.
I will say it again: It is dangerous, and illegal, to use railroad tracks as short cuts. End of story. Don't do it!
Yes, I know I may be preaching to the choir, but this is important to me.
WE are taught, as a safety rule:
Expect any train on any track, at any time, in any direction.
By Peter Sigal
Inquirer Staff Writer
Two men walking on railroad tracks in Bucks County yesterday were struck and killed by a CSX freight train near the Langhorne station, even though they may have had enough time to get out of the way, Middletown Township police said.
The conductor of the 68-car, Baltimore-bound freight frantically tried to slow down, and once he saw the men, who were from Penndel, "he laid on the horn and he stayed on the horn," said Officer Michael Lubold, a Middletown Township police accident-reconstruction specialist.
The men, whose backs were turned to the train, knew the train was approaching because they pantomimed sounding the train's horn, Lubold said. But though they apparently had time to get off the tracks, Lubold said they made no attempt to do so.
Because there are three parallel sets of tracks and a slight curve at that location, police speculated that the men may have thought they and the train were on different rails.
One of those killed yesterday was Edwin Richard Celins, 40, police said. The name of the second victim was not immediately released, but Lubold said he was a friend and neighbor of Celins.
Friends and relatives told police the men were walking from their homes to a nearby flooded quarry to skim stones. Although the quarry is closed to the public and patrolled by security guards, it is known as a popular hangout spot, Lubold said.
He said that during the 13 years he has been on the Middletown force, at least a half dozen other motorists or pedestrians have been struck and killed in the Langhorne station area.
The CSX train, which was carrying 4,273 tons of municipal waste, was traveling slower than the 50-m.p.h. legal limit, Lubold said. Still, it took a mile before it could come to a stop.
The track on which the accident occurred at 3:45 p.m. was closed for three hours. SEPTA trains travelling on one of the other sets of tracks continued running, but at a reduced speed.
The men were declared dead at the scene by the Bucks County Coroner's Office.
The train has a "black box" like those on airliners, and CSX is going to download the data to determine what was happening at the time of the accident, said Gary Sease, a spokesman for CSX in Jacksonville, Fla.
The company has its own police and investigators, who also were investigating, Sease said.
Yesterday's was the latest in a series of fatal train accidents in the region in the last six months. Many were suicides.
In the worst of the incidents, three Morrisville teenagers who had been taking drugs were struck and killed by an Amtrak Acela train in Bensalem on Dec. 9.
Just a few weeks ago, on May 25, a Northeast Philadelphia man deliberately stood in front of an oncoming CSX freight train near Hasbrook and Cottman Avenues in Burholme.
The following day, police found the stabbed body of his girlfriend in his apartment.
On May 12, a New Jersey couple addicted to drugs and with no way to support $300-a-day habits walked onto railroad tracks in North Elizabeth, hugging each other moments before a speeding Amtrak train struck and killed them.
Less than a week earlier, on May 7, in another apparent suicide, a 50-year-old Clifton Heights, Delaware County, woman was killed by a SEPTA train.
On April 30, again in an apparent suicide, a 76-year-old woman was killed by a high-speed Amtrak Acela train near the Cornwells Heights SEPTA station in Bucks County.
On April 3, a man was struck and killed by a SEPTA train near the Lansdowne, Delaware County station.
In another high-profile incident, an 84-year-old retired Temple University professor was killed by a SEPTA commuter train on March 11 as he tried to take his daily shortcut across the tracks near his home in Glenside, Montgomery County.
I will say it again: It is dangerous, and illegal, to use railroad tracks as short cuts. End of story. Don't do it!
Yes, I know I may be preaching to the choir, but this is important to me.
WE are taught, as a safety rule:
Expect any train on any track, at any time, in any direction.
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no subject
Date: 2002-06-18 05:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-06-18 09:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-06-18 09:24 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-06-18 10:30 am (UTC)You know as much as I do. :=/
I'll be watching the news for further updates.
no subject
Date: 2002-06-18 12:13 pm (UTC)The biggest problem I see with this is that it leaves the conductor wrecked... call it heartless but I hope both of these guys were single and never had any extra-cirricular activities. Go Darwins!!!
no subject
Date: 2002-06-18 12:20 pm (UTC)Actually there is a typo. It's not the "conductor", but the engineer. And yes it leaves him "wrecked". Being an engineer myself, I know what it's like to hit something. I have hit a van that tried to beat the train through the crossing. It was a tie and he lost, just like it says in my sig. The guy basically walked away from the accident, while I sat on a rail an cried. The emotions run strong. You blame yourself, even though you are blameless. ;=/
Yes, that engineer will have to live with the fact that he killed two stupid idiots who thought they knew better, even though he didn't "kill" them. :={
My heart goes out to that engineer.
Re:
Date: 2002-06-18 12:34 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-06-18 12:45 pm (UTC)Don't worry about it. ;=3
no subject
Date: 2002-06-18 04:16 pm (UTC)I am familair with that predicament, though I do not "know how it feels," as it were.
The man who fatally colided with my beloved Cameron was doing nothing wrong. It was dark and foggy, she was wearing dark clothes, and he could not see her.
Hor his part, he was turning on a green light, driving about 20 MPH as he accelerated out of the turn, and had his lights on (low beams in the fog). He was coming home from his Fireman's duties, and did everythinghe could, adminsitering as much paramedic assistance as he could without the ambulance.
My heart goes out to people who fatally injure others outside their ability to prevent it. It's a tramautic event, and I can assure your readers is not one to be taken lightly. I hope no one ever does anything so stupid as these two boys that intentionally puts someone else in such a predicament again.
*Hugs*
--TK