OT: I ran over a man on Friday., In a train, that is. Options

[Rick_Eberle]

Well, I guess this qualifies as a bad day at the office.

Friday morning at 8:35, a beautiful day, driving a train at 80 kph with maybe 1400 commuters on board. I see a guy sitting beside the track, say 50m away. He stands up, and starts to walk across the track. He stops in the middle of the track, turns to face me and waits for it.

I blew the horn and slapped the brakes into emergency, but was probably still doing 70 when I hit him. Trains don't stop like cars, so it took about 300m to stop. I called control to let them know, then jumped out and ran back, and found him under the fourth carriage, folded in half, unconscious but still alive. There was nothing I could do to help him, and in the state he was in I probably would have caused more damage if I had tried to move him, so I headed back to the front of the train to update the train controllers, and make some PA announcements, and wait for my relief.

So I'm off work for a week or two. Maybe I'll get some work done on the 914! The turbo tie rods I got from the club store are waiting to be installed!