Passenger Trains > We missed a double fatality on Thursday

Amtrak San Joaquin, Train 717(12), struck and killed two males in Berkeley on Thursday
night, Sept. 12. 

They were transients, apparently from a nearby large homeless encampment on State
property which had been cleared by CalTrans earlier in the week.  Berkeley authorities
have not released any information about impairment from drugs or alcohol; nor about
their identities.

Train passengers were taken to Emeryville and Oakland by bus.* Train 717 of 09/12/2019.         
* THIS TRAIN EXPERIENCED A SERVICE DISRUPTION.
* San Joaquin

* BFD * * 1 212P * 219P Departed: 7 minutes late.

* FNO 1 412P 1 416P 422P 424P Arrived: 10 minutes late. | Departed: 8 minutes late.

SKN 1 636P 1 640P 638P Arrived: 2 minutes late.

* MTZ 1 728P 1 731P 734P 735P Arrived: 6 minutes late. | Departed: 4 minutes late.
* RIC * * 1 755P * 804P Departed: 9 minutes late.
EMY 1 815P 1 818P PT
OKJ 1 830P * * PT

The deceased were known as Jupiter and Fixie.

They were eating pastries from Peet's Coffee and standing on the tracks waiting for a freight train to pass when Amtrak rolled through and hit the two men, according to a witness. The witness, who was eating pastries with the two men, said he jumped into the clear with his bicycle when he saw Amtrak approaching.

Neither of the deceased was intoxicated, according to the witness, who spoke to a reporter from the news website berkeleyside.com.

Berkeleyside.com had the story on Thursday night, with an update yesterday.

Here's the link:  https://www.berkeleyside.com/2019/09/12/train-strikes-and-kills-two-people-in-berkeley

Here's the follow up: https://www.berkeleyside.com/2019/09/13/witness-to-berkeley-train-fatalities-i-looked-around-and-they-were-gone
 



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/19 15:39 by walstib.

Don’t stand in the gauge.

When we were running the Pacific Wilderness operation on Vancouver Island we ran through an Indian reservation where almost always we would encounter tresspassers on the track usually drunk or drugged up or both. We did our best to use the whistle loudly and slow down to a walk but despite our best efforts we'd nail one of them. It was so common place that law enforcement would take their sweet time responding and that cost us dearly in delayed trains.

   When I asked the local officials why they allowed the Indians to use their welfare checks to buy booze they said it was " their civil right" to do so.

   The reservation was a pig stie with trash everywhere, junk autos everywhere and unemployment at 65%.

    Sad but true. Ross Rowland

walstib Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The deceased were known as Jupiter and Fixie....

Thanks, Walstib. It is a sad tale but one that reflects the disregard that these two had for their own safety.

walstib Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The deceased were known as Jupiter and Fixie.
>
> 
> Here's the link:
>  https://www.berkeleyside.com/2019/09/12/train-st
> rikes-and-kills-two-people-in-berkeley
>
> Here's the follow
> up: https://www.berkeleyside.com/2019/09/13/witne
> ss-to-berkeley-train-fatalities-i-looked-around-an
> d-they-were-gone
>  







Thank you for the update, including the links.  A senseless loss. 


Nickatnight 

walstib Wrote:
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> The deceased were known as Jupiter and Fixie.

Thanks for the links. Here's an excerpt, and let's hope many people are reading this for their own survival:

"They didn’t hear the train that struck Jupiter and Fixie, possibly because they were so used to the noise."

“It’s like white noise to us,” he said. “You hear the train all the time so your sensories don’t go off.”

There was a similar fatality back in 2007, where a man on a cellphone waited for one train to clear, started to cross the tracks, and got struck by another train (Amtrak #6) running on the other main (Scott Slaughter). There's a poster at the Berkeley station reminding people of this.

Due to the University Ave. overpass, it can get very noisy in the area with the sound of the train bouncing around. Sound of the horn can be faint when a freight train is passing by. Not a good place to be distracted (Mr. Slaughter) or go under the crossing to stand in the gauge (Jupiter and Fixie) when one of your senses (hearing) might be impaired.

Another factor to consider is that while Capitol Corridor stops at Berkeley, San Joaquin and California Zephyr don't. So those trains will approach much quicker than expected for people who are complacent and think every passenger train makes a stop there.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/19 23:18 by cchan006.

Natural Selection. My sympathy to the crew that had to deal with this.

Posted from iPhone

steamloco Wrote:
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> Don’t stand in the gauge.

Per the FRA, distance between rails is spelled GAGE, the tool that measures or builds it is spelled Gauge.
Advice is still the same, Don't ever stand in the gage. 

Ivar Wrote:
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> Natural Selection. My sympathy to the crew that
> had to deal with this.

It's so comforting to know that you, who are better than other people and who never makes a mistake, are still with us.

PlyWoody Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> steamloco Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Don’t stand in the gauge.
>
> Per the FRA, distance between rails is spelled
> GAGE, the tool that measures or builds it is
> spelled Gauge.
> Advice is still the same, Don't ever stand in the
> gage. 

         Actually if you check it in Webster the word gage was from the 15th century before english was standardized then making it (gauge). But also just because the FRA spelled it that way doesnt make them correct because they are a gov. agency. I call it gauge, you call it gage! Whatever works for you. ;-).........

Actual names of the deceased (as opposed to "street handles"):  Jupiter Ganymede Marley, 31;  Jason Clary, 37.

Thank you.