Texas A&M Student Hit by Union Pacific Train Along Campus Rail Corridor
(College Station, Texas – December 17, 2014)
A 19-year-old student at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX was in critical condition at St. Joseph Hospital in Bryan, TX after he unsuccessfully attempted to walk his bicycle across Union Pacific Railroad tracks last Wednesday night and was struck by a 102-car UPRR freight train on a rail corridor which cuts through the college campus and accommodates two dozen trains daily at a top allowable speed of 60 MPH.
The identity of the victim, who was riding his bike south on Wellborn Road, which parallels the former Southern Pacific railroad tracks, and for which the city of “College Station” was named, a little before 11:00 P.M., was not released by College Station Police.
He had stopped and walked his bicycle west across the tracks near University Avenue, but then walked back east over the tracks only to be struck and run over by the train, which UPRR Media Director Jeff DeGraff said was carrying “various consumer goods” from North Little Rock, AR and was bound for Baytown, TX. The victim, who was still conscious and breathing, was found pinned beneath the train.
UP’s DeGraff refused to reveal to Bryan Eagle Reporter Andrea Salazar the specificity of any of the general nature of the train’s cargo – except to assure her that no hazardous materials were in the train’s consist – citing “customer privacy and public safety” reasons, but giving no explanation as to how such information could be dangerous to the general public.
