Minnesota Child Killed by Short Line Railroad Train on BNSF Tracks
(St. Paul, Minnesota – September 24, 2018)
A 14-year-old St. Paul, MN youth who suffered from autism died early Friday morning at about 5:30 A.M., CDT when he wandered onto double BNSF Railway tracks near Como and Western Avenues near downtown St. Paul. The child was then struck by a Twin Cities & Western RR freight train.
Abdiarahman Hassan evidently easily entered the railroad right-of-way, as there was no fencing or other preventative barriers to prevent pedestrians from entering the right-of-way where the fatality occurred.
As many as 74 BNSF and other railroad trains, like the regional, 229-mile long regional TC&W Railroad, pass through the rail corridor at maximum allowable speeds of 30 mph. The train that hit the victim was said to be travelling at 16 mph.
The victim, who had left his east side home several times in the past, was discovered missing by his parents, who had St. Paul police and firefighters on the hunt for the young teen.
