Emerson Professor struck by train while on bike
Originally Posted by
rumrunn6
heard about this, this morning. watching the video on TV this morning
it looked like one train can be stopped blocking your view of another oncoming train.
I wonder if that's what happened &
if maybe there should be a crossing gate that closes when a train is approaching like they have for cars
Originally Posted by
SactoDoug
That sucks.
In my town, if there is already a light rail train in a station, an arriving train will wait until it departs so that there is only one train at a time in the station.
Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
Tragic but ... rare? I'm thinking yes. I'm guessing there aren't significant (any?) numbers of commuters being hit by trains in stations in this city. So I wouldn't even speculate as to a 'fix'.
None is indicated. None is warranted…
Originally Posted by
livedarklions
I knew someone who got killed in California while she was crossing tracks on foot at a similar place.
It's really the same situation as a vehicle in one lane screening the second lane from view of the pedestrian at a crosswalk, and that's a major cause of pedestrian fatalities.
Thanks for this post, @
rumrunn6. I’m a fellow Metro Bostonian with him.
My routine cycle commute parallels a Commuter Rail line, even with a convenient station within a few 100 yards of my workplace. It does have those pedestrian crosswalks across the tracks of the two parallel in- and outbound routes. When the two trains are in the station, the later train always stops short, as described by @
SactoDoug.
The trains discharging passengers always wait until the conductor has observer all the riders crossing the path from the right-sided exits of the train. I presume the engineer has a view of anyone crossing from the other side.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
So often on these threads about calamities or near misses, I post about my mindset that I believe gives me that extra edge...
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
I try to keep safe with certain aphorisms in my head that come to mind to alert me when I encounter a situation where unseen dangers may lurk, such as “Like a weapon, assume every stopped car is loaded, with an occupant ready to exit from either side.” or“Don’t ride over an area (such as puddles or leaves) when you can’t see the road surface."...
Over the past few months I have come to realize that my safety aphorisms (link), collected over the years by personal or vicarious experience, are my way of actively aligning the stars in my favor, to anticipate those unseen and otherwise unanticipated dangers.
FWIW, for my own information at least, my other aphorisms:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
1..3
4. You don’t have the right-of-way until the other yields it to you (learned from my teacher in
driver’s ed)
5…9…
Those are all I remember for now, and they all pop-up in my mind as I encounter the situation.
Since the station is so close and I don't want to wait outside, I may cut it close to get there. Occasionally when I'm rushing to catch my outbound train home as it is in, or approaching the station, I have to carefully consider crossing the tracks, especially if the train should start traveling again.
In my case, and in the incident of the OP, I think #4 best applies, "You don’t have the right-of-way until the other yields it to you," particularly when your view of intersecting traffic is obstructed, and the oncoming vehicle is a locomotive. 
I am always attentive to the street crossings in these well-populated suburbs, and wait for the crossing gate to lift. Once though, a couple decades ago while riding in Detroit, myself and a line of cars was stopped at a RR crossing. After the train was well-passed and out of sight, the gate still did not lift. Since I was at the head of the line, I manually pushed the gate up, opening the road ahead; my only violation of a RR crossing.