Curious was-the-train-speeding subplot hinted at at the bottom of the article.

Man, it must be weird for the passengers, knowing you were involved, however indirectly, in the deaths of three people.

Also, this happens a lot because it's really easy to misjudge the speed of an oncoming train, and because of their enormous mass, even a collision with a slow-moving train will most likely be fatal. That's the main lesson from driver's ed. thats stuck with me through the years.

Never take a chance with a train!

Atom Eyes, it brings out the absolute worst in human beings.
Years and years ago my mom convinced me and my husband to take a train to visit them for the holidays. Well, on the way home, just on the far side of Rochester, NY our train had to stop for several hours. We had no idea why, but a girl who was getting off at the next stop actually got a call from her mom- turns out a freight train ahead of us hit and killed three men who had been drinking at a bar near the tracks and ejected for fighting. They kept on going and either the fight was so bad they didn't hear the train, or they were just that drunk.

But, once everyone found out, people really got nasty. "just scrape them up" and "they're dead, making me late won't bring them back!"
I''ll never take amtrack again. So awful.

I was once on a Tube train a few years ago and, as it pulled into Plaistow station, some kids on the platform grabbed the side of the train and 'surfed' it. I was in the front carriage and I saw this boy grab the train and then disappear underneath.

The train stopped short of the end of the platform and everyone had to disembark, the passengers further down the train having to walk through the carriages and connecting doors.

I'll never forget how people crowded to the platform edge to see the dead boy on the tracks. I couldn't get out of the station quick enough.

He was 10. What a waste.

Darwin moves in mysterious ways.

Trains, however, move in a very predictable linear fashion.

My grandmother-and namesake on Metafilter-lost one of her husbands to a train. Apparently he fell asleep on the tracks and was decapitated. (I surmise he'd either been drinking or that somehow it was murder. Long story.) Mom still has the newspaper clipping.

Also, weird that the article I linked above didn't even mention this, which also happened in Houston.

cortex, that's just standard. My brother is an engineer and has had so many close calls; his co-workers, not all are so lucky. One guy took a week off and considered quitting after a family of three was whacked in their minivan. There is barely anything you can do but pull the horn.

I remember after the Fox River Grove accident near Chicago, there was a letter to the editor in the Tribune that read, "the engineer was hell-bent for leather", as if it's unusual for a train (especially a commuter train) to speed up to the rated limit for the track that it's on. They have, you know, schedules. And they can't exactly brake the way cars do.

I don't get people that are hit by trains. As Triode points out: Trains, however, move in a very predictable linear fashion. They're not exactly careening around all willy-nilly like, showing up where you don't expect them to be. They move on a frickin' track for goodness sakes!

I used to live on one of the favourite train lines to suicide on. It's a horrible feeling to be held up knowing it's because someone has jumped.

Suicide by train is still very popular in Japan. All new stations are built with an extra barrier and gates between the train line and the platform. These gates open a moment after the train stops and the doors themselves open.

On several stations they have also put a mirror on the end of the platform. It is believed that if people see themselves then it gives them pause to think about what they are going to do.

There are also heavy fines for the families of those who jump. While this may seem cruel - it's supposed to be another deterrant. Each train line is also rated differently - the JR Yamanote line is very expensive, while another may be cheaper.

Also you realize just how important trains and their strict timetables are here. One suicide can affect thousands of people. Perhaps some of the attraction lies in that. For example an incident on one of the lines from Yokohoma to Tokyo may affect up to 4 or 5 different lines - which will then all run late.

I don't get people that are hit by trains.

I know, I just never hang out with those people...