California Farm Employee Killed by Amtrak Train at Unguarded Union Pacific Crossing
(Salinas, California – September 10, 2018)
A 36-year-old agricultural employee of Triangle Farms, Inc., was tragically killed Monday evening about 7:00 P.M., PDT. His TCI-owned 2011 Ford F-150 pickup truck collided with a Sacramento-bound Amtrak train at a private dirt road crossing just west of U.S. Highway 101 and Esperanza Road in Salinas, CA.
The California Highway Patrol’s investigatory statement that “the intersection with the railroad tracks is controlled by a stop sign,” it is doubtful that the victim, Jose Emmanuel Chavarin Ruiz of Salinas, ever was aware of the oncoming train. It is unclear, but doubtful that there were any low cost warning devices or manual gates to provide motorists warning of the oncoming train. A daily average of four Union Pacific and Amtrak trains daily at a maximum allowable speed of 79 mph.
