Man Sitting on Tracks Killed By CSX Freight Train

August 2nd, 2010 |

KINGSTON, NY – A man who was sitting on the tracks was run over and killed by a southbound CSX freight train at about 1:35 a.m. Thursday morning, July 29, 2010. The train operator applied the brakes but could not stop the train in time.

CSX locomotive.

Kingston is in Ulster County, New York in the southeastern part of the state, about 99 miles north of New York City, about 20 miles north of Poughkeepsie, about 56 miles southwest of Albany, about 196 miles southeast of Syracuse, about 263 miles southeast of Rochester and about 329 miles southeast of Buffalo.

The victim was later identified as 26 year-old Daniel M. Kelliher, from Kingston, New York.

The incident happened at the Foxhall Avenue railroad crossing, just south of the Flatbush Avenue railway crossing. The train engineer spotted the man on the tracks after passing the Flatbush Avenue crossing did everything he could to avoid running into him, but was unable to.

According to an article at the Daily Freeman website, Kingston Police Chief Gerald Keller said that right after the train cleared the Flatbush Avenue railroad crossing, an unidentified white male was seen sitting in the middle of the tracks at Foxhall Avenue. Keller said, “The man’s arms were crossed at his waist and he was looking at the train.”

Location of the Foxhall Avenue railroad crossing in Kingston, NY where a man was struck and killed by a train on July 29, 2010.

Police Chief Keller said that on the Saturday before, a CSX train engineer reported seeing a man on the tracks at about 1:35 a.m. near the Smith Avenue crossing in Kingston. The Smith Avenue crossing is a little over a quarter mile south of the Foxhall Ave. crossing where the fatal incident occurred.

In the Daily Freeman article, Keller described that as “an eerie coincidence.” The man at that time was described as “white, wearing a dark sweatshirt and holding a beer can.” Police responded in that instance and found a beer can but no evidence of anyone being struck by a train.

A spokesman from CSX said that the train in Thursday’s incident had two locomotives and 142 crate cars and was heading from Selkirk, NY to Hamlet, NC at the time.

The train stopped after the incident, blocking the two railway crossings at Foxhall Ave. and Flatbush Ave. At about 10 a.m. the train began moving again.

Published by FELA lawyer Gordon, Elias & Seely, LLP