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SMART Train vs. Dumb Motorcycle
Author: Railfan Jihadi
Date: 11-13-2019 - 17:47
From:
[www.pressdemocrat.com]
A motorcyclist was killed in collision with a southbound SMART train Wednesday afternoon at the Guerneville Road crossing near Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa.
The collision was reported to county dispatchers just before 4 p.m. at the Guerneville Road crossing near Coffey Lane, Redcom said.
Initial dispatch radio suggested both the motorcycle and SMART train were on fire after the crash. Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit’s North Santa Rosa Station is just to the south of the crossing, and a southbound train was scheduled to arrive at 3:56 p.m.
Crime scene tape closed the area to traffic Wednesday evening as authorities investigated the crash. A train was stopped on the tracks in front of the train platform.
Elizabeth Wilcox, a resident at a nearby apartment complex, said a loud boom drew her to the train tracks, where she found a group of people attempting to pull a man from his downed motorcycle. The motorcycle was consumed in flames, Wilcox said, and the lower half of the motorcyclist’s body had been badly burned.
Messages left for operations staff with SMART went unreturned following the collision.
“It just makes my heart sink every time I hear about these (deaths),” Supervisor Shirlee Zane, who is a member of the SMART board, said of hearing initial reports of the incident.
The motorcyclist’s death marks the seventh fatality involving a SMART train this year, and 11th since the commuter rail agency launched service in August 2017. There have also been two train collisions — both in Santa Rosa — that led to injury, but none at the location near Guerneville Road.
The roadway was closed in both directions of traffic near the collision and people were asked to avoid the area, the Santa Rosa Police Department said in a Nixle alert. SMART followed with a Nixle alert noting service delays due to a traffic collision, but service will continue to all stations.
All remaining trains will be delayed 20 minutes, according to SMART.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
[www.pressdemocrat.com]
A motorcyclist was killed in collision with a southbound SMART train Wednesday afternoon at the Guerneville Road crossing near Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa.
The collision was reported to county dispatchers just before 4 p.m. at the Guerneville Road crossing near Coffey Lane, Redcom said.
Initial dispatch radio suggested both the motorcycle and SMART train were on fire after the crash. Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit’s North Santa Rosa Station is just to the south of the crossing, and a southbound train was scheduled to arrive at 3:56 p.m.
Crime scene tape closed the area to traffic Wednesday evening as authorities investigated the crash. A train was stopped on the tracks in front of the train platform.
Elizabeth Wilcox, a resident at a nearby apartment complex, said a loud boom drew her to the train tracks, where she found a group of people attempting to pull a man from his downed motorcycle. The motorcycle was consumed in flames, Wilcox said, and the lower half of the motorcyclist’s body had been badly burned.
Messages left for operations staff with SMART went unreturned following the collision.
“It just makes my heart sink every time I hear about these (deaths),” Supervisor Shirlee Zane, who is a member of the SMART board, said of hearing initial reports of the incident.
The motorcyclist’s death marks the seventh fatality involving a SMART train this year, and 11th since the commuter rail agency launched service in August 2017. There have also been two train collisions — both in Santa Rosa — that led to injury, but none at the location near Guerneville Road.
The roadway was closed in both directions of traffic near the collision and people were asked to avoid the area, the Santa Rosa Police Department said in a Nixle alert. SMART followed with a Nixle alert noting service delays due to a traffic collision, but service will continue to all stations.
All remaining trains will be delayed 20 minutes, according to SMART.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
SMART Train vs. Dumb Motorcycle