As of 1758 EDT, WHDH Channel 7 wrote:Fire officials responded to the scene on Inman Street shortly after 4 p.m.
The MBTA announced that trains leaving North Station will be terminating at Andover for Haverhill passengers. There is busing from Andover north for all stops.
No other information is available at this time.
BandA wrote:This deserves a careful, dispassionate analysis. What are the trends, are trespassing injuries increasing? Is trespassing in general increasing? Are these people new to the country/language barrier/never heard of railroad safety? Should legit crossings be created? Should ped bridges be built? Sensors, remote cameras, double fences w/razor wire? Just patching the fence and vowing enforcement isn't gonna work. Publicly disseminating the results of an accident reconstruction is also necessary and helpful.
millerm277 wrote:Tragic for all involved.BandA wrote:This deserves a careful, dispassionate analysis. What are the trends, are trespassing injuries increasing? Is trespassing in general increasing? Are these people new to the country/language barrier/never heard of railroad safety? Should legit crossings be created? Should ped bridges be built? Sensors, remote cameras, double fences w/razor wire? Just patching the fence and vowing enforcement isn't gonna work. Publicly disseminating the results of an accident reconstruction is also necessary and helpful.
This is much more clear-cut than most incidents in my opinion, assuming that nothing significant has changed in the past two years since the Street View imagery.
Inman Ave indicates that the fence is basically not really there at all, considering the poor condition and multiple sections missing entirely. There also appear to be well-used "paths" on Garfield Street (also visible on the satellite view) where trespassers from the parking lot at the end of Inman Ave would come out on the East side of the tracks.
I note what appears to be a closed/off-limits/unsafe pedestrian bridge two blocks south running from Boyd to Garfield. People in the large residential area on the West side of the tracks have to walk about a mile out of their way to make the walk legally currently as opposed to what illegally crossing or the former bridge allows. Directly on the East side of the tracks is significant retail, as well as the most direct route to walk to the town High School.
I would be amazed if there wasn't a large amount of trespassing, all things considered. I am sure that when it was closed the people who used it didn't throw up their hands and say "oh well, I guess all my trips to the other side will take 15 minutes longer", and that's probably stayed an accepted thing to do in the area. Having things on the other side a short walk away makes it worse as well. The difference between a 5 and 20 minute walk is much larger than between a 45 and 60 minute walk in annoyance.
As for a solution, I think that is obvious: Do what needs to be done to reopen the pedestrian bridge. Patch the fence as well, but I agree that isn't a solution on it's own.
“There were some witnesses, we can't say who they are, it's an active investigation,” Lawrence Police Chief James Fitzpatrick said.
Two freight trains were stopped on the adjacent tracks and the girls would've had to climb in between the cars to get through.
People who live on Inman Street, say people cross the tracks all the time.
“Many people make take the short cut, make this as a short cut,” Vega said.
Lawrence mayor Dan Rivera says he'll look to see if there's anything the city can do to make sure this doesn't happen again.
“I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about how safe or not safe it is, we'll look it, and whatever we need to do to make this a safer place we'll do that,” Rivera said.
millerm277 wrote:I note what appears to be a closed/off-limits/unsafe pedestrian bridge two blocks south running from Boyd to Garfield. People in the large residential area on the West side of the tracks have to walk about a mile out of their way to make the walk legally currently as opposed to what illegally crossing or the former bridge allows. Directly on the East side of the tracks is significant retail, as well as the most direct route to walk to the town High School.
I would be amazed if there wasn't a large amount of trespassing, all things considered. I am sure that when it was closed the people who used it didn't throw up their hands and say "oh well, I guess all my trips to the other side will take 15 minutes longer", and that's probably stayed an accepted thing to do in the area. Having things on the other side a short walk away makes it worse as well. The difference between a 5 and 20 minute walk is much larger than between a 45 and 60 minute walk in annoyance.
As for a solution, I think that is obvious: Do what needs to be done to reopen the pedestrian bridge. Patch the fence as well, but I agree that isn't a solution on it's own.
TomNelligan wrote:That footbridge, which I remember using as a photo platform back in the 1980s when the neighborhood wasn't as rough, has been closed off for at least 20 years, so it's not a new issue.
doublebell wrote:If I remember correctly, that bridge was shut off to keep the bad guys from using it as an escape route.
John, the guy in the white car with the wing on back.
RussNelson wrote:So then you engage in mitigation. Is there a hole in the fence? If it gets fixed, will people cut it open again? What kind of incentive do people have to cross illegally? Is it possible to remove that incentive? Can a few visits from Operation Lifesaver help with matters? Maybe post some signs with pictures of splattered corpses? Maybe a sign that says "The last date someone killed themselves on our tracks was 10/28/2014"? Maybe it's possible to teach the trespassers how to cross safely? Seems like there are a lot of things that railroads could do if they could figure out what is causing fatalities without having to wait for a fatality analysis.
R36 Combine Coach wrote:I believe graphic images of dismembered bodies or body parts would do the trick as part of a "scared straight" program.
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