SEPTA's Warminster Train Line Claims Another Pedestrian Victim
By Al Novack and Brad Segall
HATBORO, Pa. (CBS) -- For the second time this week a man has been killed on the railroad tracks on the Warminster Regional Line near the Hatboro train station, and that has SEPTA again sending out a warning to area residents.
The two people who were killed on the tracks this week brings to four the number of people who have been hit by trains in the vicinity of the Hatboro station since June.
SEPTA's Richard Maloney says the transit agency has an outreach program designed to prevent these types of tragedies -- tragedies that he says that not only affect the victim's families but also the SEPTA employees who have to witness the incidents and deal with them.
"We have worked extensively with local communities, trying to educate, particularly, young people, teenagers, school kids on the dangers of being anywhere near our railroads," Maloney tells KYW Newsradio.
On Monday, a 24-year-old man was walking on the tracks in Upper Moreland, near the Pennsylvania Turnpike overpass, while wearing headphones, and apparently didn't hear the train that hit him. Another man in his 20s was killed this morning near the Meadowbrook grade crossing. Both incidents remain under investigation.
A woman was killed at Meadowbrook Avenue along the same line in June (see related story).
Investigators say these accidents are difficult to prevent since signs, fences, safety warnings are often ignored. Police say it is not unusual for people to either walk on the tracks, along the tracks, or cross tracks where they're not supposed to.
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