FORT KENT, Maine — The local police chief is urging pedestrians to stay off railroad tracks after representatives of the Central Maine and Quebec Railway informed him of children and adults trespassing.
Railroad employees reported pedestrians crawling under trains parked on railroad tracks located behind John’s Shurfine supermarket on Market Street, Chief Tom Pelletier of the Fort Kent Police Department said recently. The employees also have seen some children pushing their bikes underneath the trains and then crawling under to get to the other side of the tracks.
“Our main concern is that there have been some close calls with people jeopardizing their safety by crawling under a train or through a train,” Pelletier said.
He added that people may be unaware of how quickly a train can begin moving and they cannot rely on hearing the train’s engine start as a warning the train will begin moving.
“The engine could be at NAPA hooked up to that train,” he said, referring to a distance of nearly a mile. “The engine could be very far away from where pedestrians are, and all of a sudden the cars start moving and there will be no more warning.”
Lorrie Johnston, a safety security and community relations official with New Brunswick and Maine Railways, which also operates in the area, confirmed Pelletier’s concerns. Johnston also works with Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit organization with a mission to educate the public about railway safety, in the United States and Canada.
Johnston pointed out that the caboose of a train could be up to a mile behind the engine at any given time.
“Don’t ever go between the cars — it’s very, very dangerous. [Conductors] won’t even see you because they’re so far ahead,” she said.
“About every three hours, a person or vehicle is hit by a train” in the United States, according to Operation Lifesaver.
“One of the things that people don’t know, aside from it being really, really dangerous, it’s also illegal,” Johnston said.
She pointed out a growing movement of people posing for “selfie” photos and even professional wedding and graduation photos on train tracks as evidence that people are unaware of the illegality and danger of trespassing on train tracks.
Pelletier said the Fort Kent Police Department intends to be more vigilant in enforcing laws prohibiting pedestrians from walking on or crossing railroad tracks in town.
“Train tracks are private property,” he said. “That particular place [behind John’s] is posted, and people are trespassing by doing this.”
He added that more than 450 pedestrians died last year on U.S. train tracks.
“We certainly don’t want that to happen here in Fort Kent,” he said.
To learn more about railway safety visit the Operation Lifesaver website at oli.org.