NCS #120 hits, kills pedestrian

I was out with a friend on Thursday, 03/29/12, and at the end of the evening she dropped me at the Morton Grove station at about 10:30. When we arrived, we saw quite a few emergency vehicles, and there was a temporary spotlight that was pointing on the tracks, which I instantly knew was not a good sign. Spoke to one or two of the people waiting on the outbound side - one had been there since 8PM. Trains eventually started moving through again at about 11:30PM.

Link to the story, and excerpt:

http://niles.patch.com/articles/train-k ... e-thursday

"A pedestrian was killed by a train about 8 p.m. Thursday evening near the Morton Grove Metra station, according to Metra spokesperson Tom Miller.
Miller had few details and did not know the victim's identity, but Commander Paul Yaras of the Morton Grove Police Department said the victim was a male, and was walking on the tracks south of the station. "

Condolences to the family and for the train personnel.

Gare

I was on NCS #120 last night when that incident happened. We flew past the Morton Grove station and the engineer blasted the horn and seconds later there was this loud thud and the train was stopped. We were later transferred to inbound MDN 2158.

One of the people I spoke to at the station said that as well - the 120 layed on the horn, then eventually rolled through and stopped.

I feel particularly badly for the crew. I can't imagine what that must be like.

Gare

Tangentally realted, I was waiting on the platform at Roselle this morning when 2220 (slowing to a stop) missed a late running commuter by about one second. Saw her running and my first thought was why since there wasn't enough time to make it across safely. I think we were at Bensenille before my heart slowed down.

I was at the same Morton Grove station about a year ago when a commuter ran across the tracks from east to west, right in front of the 2142, which had left Glenview as an express and wasn't due to stop again until Western Avenue. The next train at MG was in just another 7 minutes, but he must have thought he was running late for it or something. I was standing on a platform of people, but my blood was boiling, and I did something I've never done before: I yelled at him across the tracks and told him that he'd almost died for a train that wasn't even his anyway, that it was an express. His response was "Oh.. well.. I didn't know that." I told him that didn't matter.. there is always another train at that time of day. Once I spoke out, one or two others chimed in.

I wasn't trying to make the guy look foolish, but if the upshot is that he'll think twice next time, then as far as I'm concerned, it was worth it. Whatever works.

Gare