As students headed to their cars parked near Southern avenue, their leisurely walk quickly turned into a mad sprint when the echo of a locomotive’s air horn boomed across the University of Memphis main campus.
Dozens of students rushed to get on the other side of the tracks before the 80-car train blocked their way, Wednesday.
Seeing the throng of back pack wearing students hastily maneuver over the white granite stones, just around the iron rail, caused locomotive engineer Tim Wagnon to shake his head.
“Use the cross walks,” he shouted, but few took notice. None of this surprises him.
“I’ve seen this nearly every day during my 35 years as a train conductor,” Wagnon said. “I pass this stretch of track often and students always put being on time for class above their own lives.”
Wagnon was just one of nearly twenty volunteers from Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit which hopes to prevent train fatalities. Although the pamphlets they handed out were directed toward drivers, Wagnon said more pedestrians are killed by trains then motorist. Just this July, a Germantown man was killed by a when, while jogging on tracks with ear buds in, he was struck from behind by a train.
“It takes a train, moving at 55 miles an hour, a full mile to come to a complete stop if the conductor puts on the emergency brakes,” Wagnon said. “By the time a conductor sees a person, it is probably too late.”
Although this train only obstructed the path for five minutes, many students say it can sometimes stall forcing them to wait much longer.
Freshman Erica Henderson said the train has made her late on only one occasion.
“The train takes about seven or eight minutes, but it feels like forever,” Henderson said. “I’ve seen the train come to a complete stop. It sucks.”
While only five train passengers died as a result of accidents in 2011 to 2012, more than 500 non-passengers were killed while trying to cross the tracks. The immediate area around rail is private property belonging to the train company, Wagnon said.
“People don’t realize that trains legally have the right of way,” He said. “Maybe someday they will build a way for students to go over the tracks.”
Plans are underway to build a 24-foot-tall 206-foot-long bridge over the tracks. The project is expected to cost nearly $18 million and has already raised student fees by more than $300.
Some are skeptical of the plan pointing to defunct plans to build a tunnel under the tracks. That proposal received $250,000 from the state but did not come to fruition.
As students headed to the parking lot near Southern Avenue, their leisurely walk quickly turned into a mad sprint when the echo of a locomotive horn boomed across the University of Memphis main campus. (Photo by Jonathan A Capriel)
