A CSX locomotive pulls freight cars Wednesday morning at Shenandoah Junction, W.Va. A pedestrian walking on the rail bed was struck and killed here by an eastbound train. (By Kevin G. Gilbert/Staff Photographer) |
SHENANDOAH JUNCTION, W.Va.—
John Kinner, a 51-year-old Shenandoah Junction man killed by a CSX freight train Wednesday morning, was walking along a set of tracks where trains often run westbound, allowing him to see them approaching, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department.But during Wednesday’s accident, the train was running eastbound, striking Kinner from behind, Sgt. Shan Sell of the sheriff’s department said Wednesday night.
Kinner was struck about 100 yards east of Ridge Road and Potomac Avenue and pronounced dead at about 6:15 a.m., Sell said.
Sell did not know why Kinner apparently did not hear the train. The train blew its horn several times, and Kinner was not using an electronic device that would have impaired his hearing such as an iPod, he said.
Not only was there the sound from the engine, the ground shakes when a train approaches, Sell said.
Sell said he watched a video of the incident that was recorded from within the engine. Kinner can be seen in the video walking down the middle of the track when the train hit him, but he never turned around, according to Sell.
The train, which consisted of four engines, tried to stop but was unable to do so in time.
“That’s just not going to happen with that size and weight,” Sell said.
Kinner was struck in a slight bend in the tracks by the train, which was traveling at normal speed, he said.
Kinner walked the tracks every morning to Duffields station, and, from there, took a train into Maryland to go to work, Sell said.
CSX officials told Sell that the direction of trains can be switched on the track where Kinner was walking. Walking on the tracks is considered trespassing, and CSX is trying to discourage people from doing it, Sell said.
MARC trains scheduled to leave Martinsburg, W.Va., at 5:25 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Wednesday were suspended, according to the Maryland Transit Authority.
Commuters using those trains were advised to drive to the Brunswick, Md., or Point of Rocks, Md., MARC stations or to use the No. 991 bus from Hagerstown.
