Recent Bride Killed by CSX Train While Crossing Tracks to Eat with a Friend
(Biloxi, Mississippi – January 17, 2014)
A recently-married bride from Petal, MS was killed when she was struck by a CSX freight train Friday evening at about 7:00 P.M. as she and a friend crossed the double railroad tracks in the Greater Avenue neighborhood to get to a popular eating place in the Gulf beach area of Biloxi, MS.
Alishia Michelle Newman, 22, was in Biloxi visiting friends, and she and one of them were crossing CSX tracks from the north to access an area which, due to past grade crossing closures, has only a single street, Iris Avenue, leading into it from the north. A large number of restaurants are located south of Greater Avenue.
Harrison County Deputy Coroner Charles Wise pronounced the victim dead at the scene. Biloxi Police Dept. Sgt. Jackie Rhodes confirmed that the victim’s companion, who was not named, was not hurt.
According to the Federal Railroad Administration, a daily average of 15 CSX freights and Amtrak passenger trains travel through the corridor along Greater Avenue at top allowable speeds of 50 mph.
