THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 9, 1994 TAG: 9409090552
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Norfolk Southern Corp. officials say a 163-mile section of railroad tracks stretching through the Piedmont of North Carolina and South Carolina is the deadliest in the company's 14,600-mile system.
Because the death rate far exceeds that of other areas the railway serves, Norfolk Southern officials have kicked off a safety campaign this week to get people off the rails.
At least 41 pedestrians have died since 1991 on the railroad tracks from Greensboro through Charlotte to Greenville, S.C. The death rate far exceeds that of other areas the railroad serves, and railroad officials cannot fully explain the high number of deaths and 31 injuries since 1991, said company spokesman Danny Gilbert.
``Would you go play on Interstate 85?'' Gilbert said. ``Would you let someone play on an airport runway? The answer is no. So why play on a track?''
Two contributing factors may be the thickly populated Piedmont and the proximity of dozens of mills and villages to the tracks.
``People get on the tracks and they don't realize it's a danger,'' Gilbert said.
But Gilbert said Norfolk Southern tracks pass through similar communities in Virginia and Ohio.
The pedestrians in North Carolina were killed as they walked, sat or lay on the tracks and were struck by trains. Gilbert said many of the deaths are alcohol-related. Some people use the tracks as resting spots.
Train deaths this summer include:
A 20-year-old man in Bessemer City who failed to heed the train's warning horn to get out of the way.
A 33-year-old man in Concord who was struck after the engineer saw him lying on the tracks. The engineer sounded the horn, the man raised up and then laid back down.
A 30-year-old man in Gaffney, S.C. The engineer said the man was lying between the rails and did not move when the train's horn sounded.
This year, 28 pedestrians have died since January in the Norfolk Southern region that includes North Carolina, South Carolina and part of Virginia. In the Georgia region, only one person this year has died on the tracks.
Nineteen people have died since January for the rest of Norfolk Southern's system, which extends from Jacksonville, Fla., to Kansas City to Ontario, Canada. People killed in train wrecks involving cars are not included in the data.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAIN by CNB