SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 24, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A man is in serious to critical condition after being hit by a northbound FrontRunner train in Salt Lake City Thursday morning.
Utah Transit Authority spokesman Carl Arky told Gephardt Daily that the man and a female companion were trespassing on the tracks in the area of 800 S. 600 West at approximately 10:20 a.m. when he was hit by a train heading to the Salt Lake Central Station.
The man was transported by ground ambulance to an area hospital in serious to critical condition, Arky said. The woman was not injured.
Arky said it’s not known why the two were trespassing on the tracks.
It’s unknown at this time exactly how fast the train was going, but Arky said it was probably not traveling at its top speed as it was only six blocks from Salt Lake Central and it would have started to decelerate.
Arky added the train did have a handful of people on board, but it would not have been full since it wasn’t during peak travel time.
A bus bridge was set up to transport the affected FrontRunner passengers to their destinations, but although investigators are still on scene as of 2 p.m., trains are running normally.
Arky said the incident stands as an important reminder that it can be easy to underestimate the speed trains are traveling at and also to overestimate their ability to rapidly stop.
