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A pedestrian was fatally struck by a northbound Caltrain on Friday morning, March 18, at around 10:36 a.m., according to a statement from the transit agency.
The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as 70-year-old Kathleen Terry of Menlo Park.
No further information could be provided, the coroner’s office said.
The incident occurred on the tracks between Watkins and Encinal avenues in Menlo Park. Caltrain later released an update stating that the person was killed.
About 68 passengers were on board train #113 and there were no reported injuries onboard, according to Caltrain spokesperson Dan Lieberman. Tracks in both directions were closed following the incident, with the southbound tracks reopened at reduced speeds about an hour later, around 11:30 a.m. Both tracks fully reopened at regular speeds shortly before 1:30 p.m.
No further details on the pedestrian were released.
According to the transit agency, this is Caltrain’s fourth fatality in 2022. They include accidents in Mountain View, San Mateo and San Bruno, Lieberman said.
As of noon, the northbound track was still closed and all trains were being single-tracked through the southbound platform of the Menlo Park station, with delays expected.
Menlo Park Police Department advises drivers to avoid Encinal Avenue and use Glenwood Avenue or Ravenswood Avenue as a detour.
The pedestrian was struck by a northbound train near the tracks between Encinal Avenue and Watkins Avenue. Map by Lloyd Lee.
A key question (That the Almanac reporter should have asked) is:
“Was the person hit at/near the road/railroad crossing or in the middle of the track between the two roads?”
That is, was the pedestrian trying to beat the train across the intersection, or waiting for it to get within a distance to use it for suicide?
CyberVoter:
since they reported it as being “between Encinal and Watkins, it’s unlikely it was someone trying to beat the train at one of the crossings as it would have been reported as occurring at one of the roads, not between.
CyberVoter: Caltrain has long had forward-facing video camera recorders on its trains. Before that, they used to often get sued by families (sometimes at the urging or help of ambulance-chasing attorneys working on contingency) of the deceased alleging negligence or some sort of safety-related liability.
As far as I know, once the cameras went in the lawsuits stopped because it became clear that nearly every pedestrian fatality — whether at crossings or stations or somewhere in between — were intentional acts and had nothing whatsoever to do with safety or anyone’s negligence.
And this makes sense, too. For anyone past childhood, and since they are well-lit, relatively noisy and follow a completely predictable and narrow path: it’s actually not that easy to for a pedestrian to accidentally get themselves run over by the hard-to-miss, well-lit, and horn-equipped trains around here (unless suffering some sort of cognitive impairment, such as being drunk or drugged).
A silent prayer for the train engineer who was an unwilling witness to this tragedy and a somber thank you to the firefighters who had to deal with the aftermath.
Let’s not forget the law enforcement personnel who had to deal
with this incident.