(The following story by Audrey Levine appeared on the Manville News website on August 21.)
MANVILLE, N.J. — Since October, Manville police have recorded about 22 incidents of loitering, trespassing or reports of suspicious people on local railroad tracks, with about six resulting in actual arrests — including four during last month’s visit by railroad police.
Four of those arrests were juveniles, with the cases currently under investigation by the Somerset County prosecutor’s office, according to Lt. Thomas Herbst of the Manville Police Department.
These recorded incidents, Lt. Herbst said, do not necessarily take into account situations where someone is found at the tracks, but is arrested on a drug, alcohol, or other charge.
An increase in trespassers on the railroad tracks has prompted officials to focus more attention on keeping people away, including police officers from the Norfolk-Southern railroad line check in July in Manville to monitor trespassers on the tracks.
”They came to the town because they had information about people being struck by trains in a three- to four-mile range,” Lt. Herbst said. “Unfortunately, that happened to be in Manville.”
Lt. Herbst said that he believes this is the first time officers from Norfolk-Southern have come to the town for this purpose, but that Manville police have been given the authority by the railroad company to issue complaints and warnings to trespassers.
”The tracks are private property and Norfolk-Southern handles incidents,” he said. “We could work in conjunction with them.”
According to Lt. Herbst, Manville police have issued many warnings to people crossing the tracks, but have never had to file a complaint themselves. He said that although it seems some residents have a “can’t happen to me” mentality, most take the initial warning seriously.
”It is never an issue that residents don’t understand the warnings,” he said. “We never had to get to a next level (with issuing complaints) because the residents seem to heed our advice.”
During the July check, however, according to railroad spokesman Rudy Husband, four people were charged by railroad police with trespassing in two days. Mr. Husband said the railroad’s police department routinely performs checks throughout the rail line and had noticed an increase in trespassing particularly in Manville.
This check with the railroad company comes on the heels of heightened awareness of the dangers of crossing the railroad tracks following the May 8 death of Manville High School senior 19-year-old Kevin Seit on the Conrail tracks near Huff Avenue. This incident was the second fatality on the railroad tracks in 12 months, including the October death of 19-year-old Cassandra Brown.
”The purpose of the check was awareness, and to bring attention (to the problem),” Lt. Herbst said. “That was the railroad’s theory.”
Mr. Husband said the railroad company is currently providing information about rail safety to business owners.
Oscar Gonzalez, co-owner of Discount Mattress and Furniture and member of the board of directors of the Manville Business Professional Association, has said that the business owners wanted to team with Norfolk-Southern to pass information on to their customers about the dangers of being near the railroad tracks.
”The focus right now is on Manville,” Mr. Husband said.