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Caltrain has reported a collision between a train and a person who died while trespassing on the tracks Monday night in Palo Alto, agency officials said.
An alert about the collision involving southbound train No. 192 was posted on Twitter at 10:22 p.m. by Caltrain. The person had trespassed on the tracks near Palo Alto Avenue and Alma Street and died at the scene.
The Palo Alto Avenue grade crossing was closed as a result of the collision, Palo Alto police said in a Nixle alert on Monday night.
The incident will be investigated by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction over the tracks, police said.
The Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office identified the individual as 23-year-old Jacob Aaron Meisel of Stanford.
Help is available
Any person who is feeling depressed, troubled or suicidal can call 800-784-2433 to speak with a crisis counselor. People in Santa Clara County can call 855-278-4204. Spanish speakers can call 888-628-9454.
People can reach trained counselors at Crisis Text Line by texting 741741.
Read more: How to help those in crisis.
Common sense dictates that one not argue with an oncoming train regardless of its approaching speed.
Stop, look, and listen before crossing a RR track.
It’s as simple as that.
In the original version of this article, Palo Alto Avenue was not mentioned. I am certain. I had learned the location from other sources before posting my question, and only did so in order to spur you to correct your omission, which you did. You’re welcome, editor.
As to the incident, thank you for finally tracking down more details. I notice that you included the suicide language that journalists are urged to include in the context of reporting suicides, even though all studies on this matter conclude that only celebrity suicides rather than non-celebrity suicides are associated with “copycat” suicides (despite the appearance of otherwise – math is important). What is odd about the inclusion of the suicide language, however, is the fact that the article does not mention suicide, and there would be no reason to conclude that this death was a suicide without your inclusion of that language. So, editor: please clarify: are you saying that this was a suicide? Many of these train deaths are actually accidents.
To me, for the reasons stated by others above, we in the community deserve to know if this was intentional or accidental. If intentional, this gives further evidence to our City’s clear (yet unfulfilled) need to invest in mental health services and programs — something that City Council continues to ignore and refuses to improve.
If the death was accidental, it gives further evidence to the fact that our City Council needs urgently to do a better job (ANY job) of protecting pedestrians (and pets) at the train. PACC reviewed numerous proposals to move the tracks to tunnels or else raise the tracks to viaducts, as done beautifully in Europe (e.g. Berlin), but City Council rejected every proposal, instead voting to do nothing and delay.
We likely face an imminent spike in both train suicides and accidents – fueled by Palo Alto’s refusal to provide mental health services and its inaction over protecting pedestrians at crossings. These deaths are avoidable.