Mystery of woman's death in Westport solved - hit by train

[Westporter]

From Westportnow.com:
"Westport Police said tonight that the dead woman found floating in the Saugatuck River Friday morning had been struck by a westbound train the day before while walking across the trestle on the opposite side of the pedestrian walkway, ending up in the river."

http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v ... nts/46653/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

police statement:
http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v ... nts/46652/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Westporter]

Update from Westportnow.com: "Metro-North officials said today a train crew reported striking something on the tracks of the Saugatuck River Bridge where Westport police said Annette White was hit by a train Thursday. But they did not notify anyone because they did not find any evidence it was a person."

http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v ... nts/46664/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Clean Cab]

The crew did what they are required to do. They stopped, contacted the train dispatcher and searched for 20 minutes. They found no evidence of a person being hit by their train and were given permission to resume their trip.

[runningwithscalpels]

$20 says this would be a non-issue if it were any other year than 2013.

[DutchRailnut]

Who says , she did not want to be killed ??? lets investigate that.

[Clean Cab]

Who says , she did not want to be killed ??? lets investigate that.

Great question. Why did she cross 4 tracks to cross the bridge in the side without the protected and well lit walkway?

[Clean Cab]

$20 says this would be a non-issue if it were any other year than 2013.

So very true.

[Travelsonic]

Who says , she did not want to be killed ??? lets investigate that.

Great question. Why did she cross 4 tracks to cross the bridge in the side without the protected and well lit walkway?

Impatience? Laziness?

Over the summer I witnessed at Mamaroneck a guy walk up onto the Stamford bound platform. Nothing unusual... until he climbs down onto the tracks, and runs across the 4-track ROW, then jumps up, and climbs onto the GCT-bound platform. I was ****in speechless to say the least not just because of the danger and illegality of the stunt, not just because right next to the ramp up onto the Stamford bound platform there was a staircase that took people under the tracks to the other side *SAFELY*, but especially since an Amtrak regional was already on the hill between Larchmont and Mamaroneck heading towards Mamaroneck - had he fallen on track 2, where the train would pass - and broken anything (or even something minor like just hitting that sweet spot on your knee where you hit it and it hurts like hitting your funnybone/you have to stop for a sec while that numbness goes away), well, it could have ended up a lot worse. Ever since then I have had the MTA police's number programmed into my phone in case I saw anything like that again, something IMO trainspotters who are on the railroad - taking pictures and videos on trains and at stations - should have programmed in their phones in case they themselves see anything unusual.

[Actually witnessed in New Rochelle an attempted suicide where the guy tried to jump onto I-95 from above on North Avenue - guy missed the cars, and hit the divider + survived, if I recall correctly, was like 4 or so years ago and after a day at the New Roc video game arcade I was heading back to the station and about to cross North Ave by the station when I saw it unfold.]

[Trainer]

But it was 2013, and Connecticut politicians are known for exploiting tragedies to enact political change and get themselves in the news.

This is why we do railfan trips, open houses, etc. and make sure to invite all the press to them. Then these stories end up on page 16 instead of page 1.

Blumenthal asks Metro-North to report all train vs. object collisions

"This tragic incident demonstrates dramatically a continued failure in safety policies and culture. Basic common sense and professional protocols should require immediate notification of MTA police, local authorities and possibly emergency responders. There currently appears to be no such requirement."

http://blog.ctnews.com/traffic/2014/01/ ... ollisions/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DutchRailnut]

public demanded Blumenthal's Vietnam records he failed to produce too, he can ask all he wants....

[ThirdRail7]

Give the Senator what he requests. If he wants a report to first responders every time a train hits an "object," lay it on them and make sure the trains are held as the investigation continues. It won't take long for the first responders to run out of fuel and for the entire railroad to be paralyzed.

Give him what he wants. It definitely won't last for a long period of time.

[Clean Cab]

You think trains are late now? Just wait until every train that strikes something will need to wait for the cops to show up and do a thorough search!!!

[Ridgefielder]

You think trains are late now? Just wait until every train that strikes something will need to wait for the cops to show up and do a thorough search!!!

Not to sound callous but-- what good would it have done for the cops to show up immediately anyway? The woman was hit with enough force to throw her the 40-odd feet off the bridge and into the Saugatuck.

Blumenthal seems to be taking a page out of Schumer's playbook. He makes it sound like MNR is the "Consolidated" of the Morgan/Mellen era a hundred years ago.

[ExCon90]

Quite a few years ago a governor of North Carolina said that the best way to get rid of a stupid law or regulation is to enforce it to the letter. It's still true--I'll bet it would work on MN.

[RearOfSignal]

I have been following this one and a number of things simply do not compute such as conveniently finding the phone and earring immediately under where the train stopped. Even if already slowing for the Westport station the train would not have stopped at precisely the point of impact.

While I have ridden over that bridge some hundreds of times going all the way back to green EP3s and DL109s, and now on an Acela, I am not that familiar with the day-to-day operation, I have a few questions which I hope one or more of you can answer.

1. Was the train which stopped on the bridge scheduled to stop at Westport?
2. If not, which track was it on?
3. What are the speed limits, restrictions etc over the bridge?
4. Is that walkway public or is it just for the bridge tender?

Thank you

GME

If you are a lawyer why not go fact finding for yourself? If my lawyer got information off this site I'd fire him for being lazy and not getting the information from local authorities and MNR itself. If you file a lawsuit against the railroad for wrongful death you would have access to all this information anyway. Either way the truth will come out, this is not the place for it.

We've had people come on here before asking similar things and then it ends up in Newsday or other news media. I would implore all members here not to supply any information to this guy about this matter. The railroad and investigators will do real research and give official findings not what railbuffs think. If we can't give answers to fare questions or complaints about service why should the mods and admins allow something of this nature to be discussed on here, especially given the history of things said on these boards ending up in the media?