Update: Person hit, killed by Acela near Mansfield, Mass.
6:15 PM Fri, Nov 07, 2008 | Permalink
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An Amtrak Acela train struck and killed a person on tracks near the Mansfield, Mass., station this afternoon, temporarily shutting down all train traffic on the line. The person was described by an Amtrak spokeswoman as a "trespasser." She did not know if the victim was male or female. The train, No. 2171 from Boston to Washington, D.C., was still stopped on the tracks, with 264 passengers on board, as of 5:15 p.m., spokeswoman Karina Romero said. The incident occurred at 3:21 p.m, she said. The railroad was shut down completely between 3:41 p.m. to 4:54 p.m., but one track is open now. An investigation is under way, she said. All commuter trains that use the Providence-Stoughton line were being diverted, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said in an alert just before 4 p.m. Romero did not know about the impact on other Amtrak trains, but said some delays could be expected. Schedule updates should be posted on Amtrak Web site, she said. Donald Breed was returning to Rhode Island from seeing the Boston Symphony Orchestra when he and the rest of those on a southbound commuter train were told to exit at the Sharon, Mass., station. Breed, a former 30-year employee of The Providence Journal, said by phone that people were told at the station that buses would pick them up but that there was also a car accident in the Route 95 south-Route 495 area that may mean slow going for those who take the buses. Some opted to wait for another train. Breed said later this evening that he and others are on a commuter train that arrived at 6 p.m. in Sharon and is headed to Providence. 
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I am on a comunter rail train that left South Station at 4:35. It is now 6:16 and we are a few minutes outside of Mansfield. Tough night to be a rail rider.
We are traveling very slow but at least we are moving! We are being told one track is open through the accident area and spead limit through there is 5 miles an hour.
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I also was on the 4:40PM (from Back Bay) train. I want to say that the conductor was very nice about keeping us up-to-date on our [albeit] slow progress. I was home 80 minutes later than usual. The Mansfield station still had yellow tape, fire trucks and police cars when we pulled in. We were directed where to walk by the police.
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I was on the Amtrak train that was 5" behind the Acela. Throughout the nearly 3 1/2 hour delay we were given very sparse information about what was going on. All we were told was that there was a "police action" and that there was no other information.
Meanwhile, people on the train were obtaining more information about the event than Amtrak was providing by using their blackberries to download reports from the internet. If the Amtrak folks think they were helping us by keeping us in the dark, this was an error in judgment. Horrific as the cause of the delay was, it was better to know that there was a justifiable cause for the delay, than to have to sit there in ignorance, wondering what kind of a "police action" could warrant such a long delay.
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my son was the one who was struck by the acela train on january 14, 2007. Just to let people know that he was not crossing the train tracks. He was sucked in by the train as he was standing on the ramp. He was a good, smart and loving young man. If you do not know what happened then just leave your opinions to yourself
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