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Suicides and trespassers contribute to rail deaths

By Andy Castagnola
Ventura County Star writer
Saturday August 26, 2000

Former Amtrak engineer Brian Sims still remembers the man draped in a raincoat who stepped in front of his train near San Diego.

"Your heart sinks. You swallow your throat. There's a period of short anger, and you feel absolutely helpless," Sims said of the 1998 incident.

Sims witnessed two fatalities in one year as a student engineer. Two years later, he opted for an Amtrak office job.

"You always second-guess yourself," Sims said about his career choice. "Is this something you really want to do?"

Suicides and accidental pedestrian deaths are familiar scenes on state and local rails. Eighty-six people were accidentally killed by trains or train equipment in California last year, twice the total of the next highest state, Texas.

These are joggers, dog walkers and kids who trespassed onto private railroad property.

Then there are people who step directly in front of trains on purpose.

At least three people have committed suicide or apparent suicide on Ventura County rails this year, and 14 in the past five years, according to the Star's archives.

This summer, 34-year-old Jude Basil Kumar Abeyratne and Herman Carlos Castro Sr., 56, took their lives on county rails. Engineers in both cases said the men walked onto the tracks and waved their arms, waiting to be hit by 500,000 pounds of moving steel.

Numbers are higher in San Francisco, where about 50 people have used Caltrain to take their lives since 1992.

Suicide cases seem to fall between bureaucratic cracks. Railroad companies are not required to report deaths ruled as suicides, so the Federal Railroad Administration doesn't keep exact counts.

FRA spokesman Warren Flatau said suicide cases are beyond the scope of the railroad industry. It's an issue more suited for behavioral health experts, he said.

"We're not part of the mental health community," Flatau said. "Our efforts have got to be focused on the majority of people who think railroad property is public."

FRA and railroad companies such as Amtrak and Union Pacific work with Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit organization, to prevent accidental train deaths.

The keys to keeping people off tracks, Operation Lifesaver president Eric Jacobsen said, are education, enforcement and engineering.

About 3,000 Operation Lifesaver volunteers -- mostly train operators -- visit schools, fairs and offices to preach the dangers of passing trains.

Jacobsen said people tend to underestimate their speed and power. A freight train moving at 70 mph needs more than a mile to stop. Yet people race across tracks to avoid waiting.

Others don't even hear it coming. Flatau said trains are quieter than they've ever been. New, continuously welded tracks eliminate the clickity-clack of an approaching train.

Two joggers, for example, never heard the Metrolink train approach them from behind in a 1997 accident near Corona. At least one of the joggers was wearing headphones.

"Trespassing incidents are largely preventable," Flatau said. "They are needless deaths and injuries. We need to raise the level of awareness, especially among young people."

Flatau also hopes people realize the far-reaching impacts of train deaths. Passengers and freight are stranded for hours in the aftermath. And train crews must cope with an overwhelming feeling of helplessness.

"It isn't just the poor soul run over," Union Pacific spokesman Mike Furtney said. "There's big-time trauma for the people running the trains."

Operation Lifesaver also works with local police to encourage enforcement of trespassing fines.

Fines for walking onto railroad property vary throughout California, although some state lawmakers are pushing for a $270 across-the-board fine, Jacobsen said.

In addition, railroad companies are experimenting with engineering solutions to prevent trespassers. Some measures, such as fencing, can work only in certain locations. Others, such as cameras connected to law enforcement offices, are costly to install.

Beyond Operation Lifesaver's three-pronged attack on railroad fatalities, Amtrak spokeswoman Liz O'Donoghue said the best prevention might be the deaths themselves.

"The best thing that can happen within a tragedy like this is that people learn tracks are no place to walk," she said.