Joy Ride on CSX Ends in Arrests 60 Miles Later

CSX gave two Ohio men a 60-mile ride on Tuesday that ended with their arrest for trespassing.

Police said Christian Hale, 20, and Keven Slone, 24, both of Willard, got onto a moving CSX train in Willard at about 4 a.m. Tuesday and rode it for several miles before Hale called 911 for help.

The pair had thought the train would stop in Willard but it kept going. They clung to the outside of two rail cars as the eastbound train reached speeds of 45 to 50 miles per hour.

As the train neared Doylestown on the New Castle Subdivision, Hale called 911 and told a police dispatcher what was happening.

“I’m on a train!” he said.

“You’re on a train?” the dispatcher responded.

“Yeah, and it’s going really fast and I don’t know where it’s going. It’s scaring the s*** out of us.”

The police dispatcher notified CSX and the train stopped at Whitman Road in Chippewa Township.

Hale and Christian took off but were found a mile away. The pair were charged with trespassing and may face additional charges being lodged by CSX police.

When asked why he had gotten on the train, Hale replied, “It’s better than walking.”

Wayne County Captain Doug Hunter said getting a 911 call from someone hanging onto the side of train is very unusual

Hale told a deputy he only planed to ride the train through Willard.

“I thought it was going to stop in Willard and it didn’t, and I should have never got on the train,” Hale said. “I know it was a stupid idea and I never should have did it. I wasn’t going to and I never will again.”

OLI Says Grade Crossing Fatalities Rose in 2017

Deaths caused by trespassing on railroad property and at grade crossings rose in 2017, Operation Lifesaver said this week.

Trespassing fatalities jumped by 22.3 percent while those at grade crossings increased by 7.4 percent last year when compared with 2016 figures.

The data came from the Federal Railroad Administration, which said 575 died and 505 were were injured after trespassing on railroad property in 2017.

At grade crossings, 274 were killed and 807 were injured last year.

When comparing 2017 to 2016, total casualties, which includes deaths and injuries, rose 13.3 percent in trespassing incidents while the number of collisions at grade crossings increased 3.1 percent to 2,105 from 2,041 in 2016.

“We are very concerned about the increase in crossing incidents and deaths, and alarmed by the sharp rise in trespass deaths,” said OLI Interim President Wende Corcoran in a statement.
OLI said that the 2017 railroad trespassing casualty rate — deaths and injuries per million train miles — was 1.55, the highest level in the past decade.

The highway-rail incident rate — incidents per million train miles — was 3.01, an increase from 2016.

States with the most crossing collisions in 2017 were Texas, California, Illinois, Florida and Georgia. States with the most trespasser casualties — deaths and injuries combined — in 2017 were California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

FRA Pilot Program Tackles Trespassing

A pilot program to reduce trespassing on railroad property was announced this week by the Federal Railroad Administration.

In a notice published Thursday in the Federal Register, the FRA said the program seeks to help local law enforcement agencies evaluate local efforts to reduce trespassing on railroad rights-of-way. The total grant funds available are $150,000.

The FRA notice said that trespasser deaths average 500 per year, which exceeds the number of fatalities in automobiles at grade crossings.

The grant program stems from a trespassing prevention workshop the FRA conducted in August 2015.

Those receiving the grants would be expected to finish their projects in six months.