FORT WORTH, Texas — The train was headed south from Kansas City to Mesquite on Tuesday when it passed through Pilot Point, a small community northeast of Denton. The rail crossing doesn’t have crossing arms or flashing lights, but there is a stop sign, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The driver of a Honda Accord apparently didn’t see the train, police said. The collision killed the 35-year-old mother and injured her three children. But they weren’t the only victims. The rail crew suffered, too.
“It’s that same sinking feeling as when you’re backing up out of your driveway and you strike a toddler on a tricycle,” said Mark Davis, a Union Pacific spokesman. “Nine times out of 10 the train crew can see the expressions of the people’s faces. That’s what sinks in.”
Railroad track fatalities were once considered a part of the business. Crews finished their run. Today, coun- seling and peer support are provided and relief crews are available to complete the trip, which is what happened Tuesday.
The laws of physics prevent trains from stopping quickly, according to Operation Lifesaver, a national nonprofit rail-safety education and awareness program. A 100-car freight train traveling 55 mph will need more than a mile to stop once the train is set into emergency braking.
In 2001, the Federal Railroad Administration recorded 419 highway-rail crossing fatalities, with Texas ranked second in the nation with 39 fatalities. California ranked first with 53 deaths.
Rail crossing fatalities are attributed to a number of circumstances, such as motorists trying to beat an oncoming train, pedestrians sleeping along railroad tracks, suicide via train or a malfunction in rail crossing signals.
For the past 10 years, George Appleby has volunteered as a Burlington Northern Santa Fe peer responder. He’s on call to meet with crews after they’ve been involved in rail crossing fatalities.
“Some people are angry; some are just devastated and at the end of their rope,” Appleby said. “Some of them are numb.”
Appleby was a conductor’s assistant on a train that struck and killed a young pickup driver about 30 years ago.
“When the trip was over, everything was a blur,” Appleby, now 52, said. “All I could think of was what happened. It went on for weeks and weeks.”
Crews often feel helpless, rail officials said.
“They see it replaying over in their mind like a movie,” said Amy Pool, BNSF employee assistance manager. “They know they did everything they could, but emotionally it doesn’t feel any better. They refer to it as, ‘I killed someone,’ because that’s the way they feel.”
Twenty-five years ago, Phillip Foster was a crew member on a train that struck and killed a 3-year-old girl. Foster first saw her sitting next to the train tracks. He yelled at her from the window, but there was nothing he could do, Foster said. The impact knocked her several feet.
Foster made the 15-minute hike back to the impact site, knowing what he would find.
“I had to go back,” said Foster, 44, now a BNSF conductor. “I remember kneeling down next to her and putting my hand on her back to see if she was still breathing. She was already cold.
“I don’t think you could ever prepare yourself for something like that,” he said.
As regional manager of BNSF’s grade-crossing safety program, Foster travels throughout Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma training groups ranging from truck drivers to parents about railroad safety. Prevention is everything, he said.
“Even if it just makes a difference in one person, it makes a difference,” Foster said. “By the time we see a problem, there’s really nothing we can do about it.”