‘Urgent, complex challenge’: Pedestrian deaths on train tracks are escalating – Daily Herald

A disturbing rise in fatal crashes involving trains and pedestrians on railway tracks has opened another front in the battle to save lives.

In 2023, 715 people trespassing on railway property died in train collisions across the U.S., officials reported Thursday at the DuPage Railroad Safety Council’s “Prevent Tragedy on the Tracks” forum.

That’s a spike compared to the 10-year average of 533 deaths. There were 494 in 1995, a year after the council was formed.

“Pedestrians account for an overwhelming amount of fatalities on U.S. railroads,” U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia of Chicago, a House Transportation Committee member, told forum participants.

“We’ve got an urgent, complex challenge ahead of us.”

Meanwhile, fatal collisions between trains and cars or trucks at railway crossings have declined, with 247 deaths nationwide in 2023 compared to 579 in 1995 and 917 in 1975. The 10-year average is nearly 252 fatalities.

The DuPage Railroad Safety Council, whose work extends beyond DuPage, has focused on crossing safety.

But “today about 82% of deaths on railroad property happen to pedestrians — so that paradigm shift from just thinking that it’s all about the railroad crossings is immense,” DRSC Chair Lanny Wilson said.

“We don’t want to forget about the crossings (but) the crossing incidents have leveled off over the over last 12 years.”

Who’s engaging in this risky behavior? People crossing the tracks include local residents taking shortcuts, thrill seekers, thieves who want to steal rail equipment or cargo, people who are homeless, and those under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Another category is people who may have been trying to commit suicide, experts said.

How to decrease these tragedies? There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and the key question is “why?” noted engineering psychologist Scott Gabree with the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center.

“The ‘why’ is what’s going to drive the decisions that we make … to bring these numbers back down.”

Gabree cited the example of a Florida neighborhood with a cluster of people trespassing on the railway. The obvious fix might have been to erect a fence, blocking the shortcut, but officials reached out to the trespassers.

One person explained she walked along the tracks en route to her train station to avoid a group of men that gathered at the nearest legal crossing and harassed women, Gabree said.

“It shows how important it is to understand this context. You don’t just throw things at a problem that might not be the thing that actually solves it.”

Here are some other takeaways from the forum:

• A total of 205 people died in rail-related suicides in 2023, federal data shows, but that number is underreported.

One new prevention tool is 988 Lifeline, previously the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, which provides counseling for anyone in crisis or who wants to help someone in distress.

Text or call 988 and “that line is answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” explained DuPage County Health Department Deputy Director of Behavioral Health Lori Carnahan.

• Is there a correlation between railway-related deaths and Quiet Zones? Federal Railroad Administration officials said they check up with Quiet Zones communities after crashes to see if they’re in compliance and will be reviewing the data.

• “Does Chicago have red-light cameras?” asked Briteline Trains Safety Director Joe Meade, eliciting chortles from the audience. The new Florida railroad set up cameras at six problematic crossings and detected 2,400 instances of people circumventing lowered gates in less than four months.

Then, Briteline sent notices to people telling them they violated the law. One woman later called Meade to thank him after figuring out her son had driven around a gate. “They took the son’s car away,” he noted.

• A number of rail safety federal grants are available for local jurisdictions with application periods opening in 2025. For information, go to railroads.dot.gov/grants.

Got a comment on rail safety? Drop an email to mpyke@dailyherald.com.