North Carolina Pedestrian Crossing Tracks Ran Down by Amtrak Train
(Thomasville, North Carolina – July 17, 2012)
A local resident who was using a railroad route to get across an Interstate Highway was overtaken, hit and killed by an Amtrak passenger train at a point where Bassett Drive dead-ends into Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks early Tuesday afternoon in Thomasville, NC.
Larry Edward Barnes, 65, was walking along the double-track main line beneath Business Interstate 85, and crossed to the wrong side of the right-of-way when the oncoming train evidently surprised him. The train was travelling so fast that when it came to a stop a mile down the tracks, it was in the neighboring city of High Point, NC.
“Amtrak trains reach speeds in excess of 70 mph and are difficult to hear when coming up from behind someone,” attested Thomasville Police Dept. Captain Mark Kattner.
Kattner also said that due to the extent of his injuries, it was difficult to identify the victim’s body.
