Woman Bicyclist Struck and Killed by Train in Houston Metro Train Station
(Houston, Texas – July 22, 2013)
A female college student who rode into Houston’s Main Street Square METRO light rail station aboard a northbound METRO train with her bicycle was killed as she walked her bike to the Walker Street/Main Street intersection, began riding across the double set of railroad tracks, and was struck and possibly cut in half by a METRO train headed southbound and possibly concealed from the victim’s view by the train she had just exited.
Neither the victim’s name nor the college she attended were released by METRO officials after the Monday morning tragedy that occurred about 8:10 A.M., but witnesses said that she was riding westbound in or near the confines of the pedestrian crosswalk, as well as confirming that the train operator was blowing the light rail train’s horn.
“When the train hit her, I heard a ‘thud’,” said METRO passenger Dick Tyson, who was on the station platform checking his backpack when the accident occurred. “I looked toward the sound,” and saw both the woman’s feet sticking up between the platform and the train, while underneath the train he saw her torso. John Evans, another witness who had just off-boarded the same train as the victim, agreed with Tyson’s statement, saying he saw the woman’s feet sticking out from under the rail car.
Another METRO passenger, Patrick Negley, said that the tragedy happened almost right in front of him. He said he started screaming for the victim to get out of the train’s way and then saw the impact. Negley believed that the victim was cut in two by the train’s wheels as she was knocked down and run over.
