excerpt:
"Moses Shumow was riding his bicycle on a pedestrian "cut-through" lane at Beverly Depot station in Massachusetts Tuesday morning when he was struck by a train. Shumow, an associate professor, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died of his injuries"
For years, I lived in a place with a "light rail" system that had plenty of these cut-through lanes at the stations. They definitely required sensible riding and awareness of all inbound and outbound trains. Nature of the beast.
My own guideline when crossing such things: , assuming that
tracks = oncoming train, unless visually confirmed otherwise. Might usually be the case that there's not one there, not one coming. But the risk of betting incorrectly on that one can be deadly. It is what it is.
IF there's a clear and unobstructed view, then I can visually and aurally confirm whether there's another train on the other side of the first one. Else, I'll assume there's one there, barreling along, and capable of striking me the moment I dip a toe onto those other tracks.
Same as on a city street, with cars.
No telling exactly what this guy's particular circumstances and thought processes were, but it looks like he wasn't cautious enough by half.