Results tagged “train”

After four students at Gunn High School committed suicide "at or near the same Caltrain crossing in Palo Alto," a group of area parents have asked Caltrain to reduce the speed of trains to a staggeringly slow 5 miles per hour.

The area just south of the East Meadow Drive crossing in Palo Alto has turned into something of a destination spot for depressed teenagers looking to end it all. Since May of this year, there have been three teen suicides at the spot. Last night, at around 10:50 pm, it played host to its fourth.

SFMTA director Nathaniel Ford expressed deep sadness and frustration over yesterday's Muni crash, which injured 6 people, saying in a statement, "This accident was intolerable and deeply frustrating, I know that the riding public is concerned about Muni safety, and so am I. Our ongoing work to improve Muni safety is clearly more urgent than ever."

Following on the heels of this week's Caltrain suicides, "a pedestrian was struck and killed by an Amtrak train in Berkeley Thursday morning, the third person to be struck by a train in the Bay Area in a 24-hour period.," according to CBS 5. Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said that the unidentified male intentionally jumped out in front of the southbound train heading to Oakland near the Grayson Street crossing. On Wednesday night, just a few hours prior to the Amtrak death, a man hurled himself "into the side of a moving Caltrain at the Menlo Park station." He is expected to live. The Amtrak victim, however, died at the scene.

Proving that this newfangled locomotive technology will do society more harm than good, Catrain confirmed this morning that a woman was struck and killed by a train at a Palo Alto railroad crossing yesterday. According to reports, "[a] northbound train struck the victim who had apparently made her way on to the tracks near a crossing at East Meadow Drive at around 9:55 p.m." This makes the fourth train-related fatality of 2009.

Caltrain has claimed the life of another pedestrian in two weeks. This morning, a man was struck at the San Mateo station. According to reports, "he collision happened at 6:43 a.m. when southbound train No. 206 struck the man who Caltrain characterized as a trespasser on the tracks near 25th Avenue." It is not yet know whether or not this most recent fatality was an accident or suicide. Northbound and southbound trains are operating at normal speed, but you can "expect delays of 45-60 minutes" today. If you recall, a man and a woman, in separate incidents, sat down on the tracks at the San Antonio station earlier this month.

A day after a woman sat down on the tracks near the San Antonio station for a final nap, a second person died at the unforgiving hands of Caltrain. A male pedestrian, according to reports, was hit and killed by a northbound train in Palo Alto early this morning. Happening at around 8:30 a.m. near East Meadow Drive, the unidentified man was killed while the gates, lights and bells were reportedly going at the time of the crash. This most recent death makes Caltrain's second fatality of 2009.

After an eastbound train rammed into "an object" in the Transbay Tube this afternoon, riders can expect delays of "at least 35 minutes." Trains are running on a single track through the tube, so, you know, plan accordingly.

Either you .

News is coming in that there was a fatality at Hayward Park this morning at around 7:30 a.m. According to CalTrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn an unidentified person was struck and killed by southbound train No. 210 just south of the Hayward Park. Caltrain also says that its trains are running about 30 minutes behind schedule due to the train-related death.

Due to a "system-wide signal interruption," according to a Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dun, service has come to a standstill. It has something or other to do with a "computer malfunction in the main signal operating system in the San Jose yard." SFist readers have also told us that they're stuck at Bayshore. It is not yet known just when service will be fully restored. In related news, there was a "stage 3 at central," whatever that means, on Bart that resulted in a train getting stuck under the bay. Bart service, though, seems to be running as usual now.

Seems like we've had one person a day getting smacked by a Caltrain. Or something like that. Like, are they really that fast and/or sneaky? Scary. Anyway, an unidentified man was put in the hospital this morning after being hit by a Caltrain train in Mountain View while he was crossing the tracks. He is listed in critical condition. This comes on the heels of another train collision on Thursday morning when a car tried crossing the Caltrain tracks in San Jose. The driver of the latter accident is also in the hospital, listed in critical condition. (CBS 5)

Bobster1985 posted this AWESOME video from 1968 about the construction of BART. We had no idea that the conditions underground were so challenging -- apparently the air pressure was so different that the workers needed to hang out in a pressurized chamber before moving between the surface and tunnel. Neato.

Pesky environmentalists gave the thumbs up to the Pacheco Pass route for the high-speed train that will whisk Californians from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in, like, five minutes. Or something like that. Wonderful news. An according to the California High Speed Rail Authority's recently released press release:

Jorge Liderman, 50, music theory and composition professor at UC Berkeley, died on Sunday after being hit by a BART car at El Cerrito Plaza. At around 9:30 a.m., it seems, the BART train operator claims that as the car was about four or five feet from the station, Liderman hurled himself in front of it, killing him instantly. And although the word "suicide" is being tossed about, his cause of death is still under investigation.

Apparently 511 just installed new arrival-time screens at a kiosk somewhere around Embarcadero, but we're skeptical. (Surprise!) Muni has scrolling LEDs in all the subway stations, but most of the time they're just reminding you about Proof of Purchase. And BART has the same problem: info screens so cluttered with reminders about tickets and pickpockets that they almost never show arrival estimates, or even the current time.

The South Bay gets it.

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Hey, look, it's back! It's "Ask a Muni Driver!" But we need help from you-- we need questions. So, if you got any, let us know at jon@sfist.com.

Similar to the fatal accident that happened in November, another pedestrian -- engrossed in a phone call, ignorant as to what was happening around him -- was stuck and killed by a train in San Leandro. According to the Chronicle, it seems that: The victim, a man who was not immediately identified, was struck at 12:30 p.m. by a northbound Capitol Corridor train at the Alvarado Street crossing, about 8 miles south of the...

The recently-released website post-consumer.com is addressed to “anyone who has played or attended an indie rock show in Santa Cruz between 1999-2004.” We did! We were there! We remember the tall, handsome fellow with incongruous Ugg boots and a microphone on a stick who recorded shows in every bar, basement, living room and attic during the golden years of Santa Cruz indie rock!

While preoccupied with his cell, Scott Slaughter, 31, was hit and killed by an Amtrak train Thursday morning. According to witnesses "Slaughter waited for one train to pass on a first set of tracks, then crossed onto the second set of tracks and was hit by a second train."

No, there was no collision involving a train. However, a garbage truck apparently struck a bridge in San Mateo, holding up all southbound traffic for about 20 minutes. At first, our weary-sounding conductor said that we would have to wait for a track inspection to determine when we could depart from San Francisco -- "if at all," he added ominously.

Three weeks ago, a Caltrain conductor told the San Jose Mercury News that "Trains stay on tracks and if you stay off the tracks, it's very easy not to get hit by a train" ("Family of Man Killed in Caltrain Accident Files Suit").

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.

Why? Because a body has been found under one of the BART trains. How the body ended up there or its current condition is unknown at this time. But a medical examiner has been called onto the scene, so...sounds like a not-alive body to us. Sadly.

Don't do this. Ever. Seriously.

We were at work, surfing the Web when we noticed that Wonkette just posted some crazy story that Sean Penn is offering Matt Gonzalez $5 million dollars to run against the Gavster. Apparently, Sean would give Matt the money if Matty G. switched to the Democratic Party. What, Sean doesn't think a naked guy and a man named Grasshopper are good enough candidates?

Hey, remember angry Sarah Nome, the lady who refused to move out of the Kaiser hospital in Marin for over a year, and ran up a $1.4 million bill? Well, Kaiser's 1) gotten ownership of her house in San Anselmo and 2) will be auctioning it off to pay off her tab. Kaiser was awarded the house after Nome was put in the care of the state (after her daughter refused to take her in), and has been paying the mortgage while their case against Nome was pending -- even though they haven't actually been given access to the place. The house isn't in the best of shape -- it's apparently been hit by falling trees and Nome was in a fight with her insurance to get them to pay for it -- but given the real estate market in Marin, we're guessing it'll probably move fairly quickly.