[1]An Amtrak passenger train idles as detectives investigate the the death of a pedestrian a few blocks north of the depot.
Updated at 4:27 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CENTRALIA – A passenger train hit and killed a man walking on the tracks this morning in Centralia.
It happened just before 11:30 a.m. a few blocks north of the Centralia Train Depot.
The southbound Amtrak was heading into the station, and presumably slowing to make its stop, according to the Centralia Police Department.
Firefighters responded but he was declared dead at the scene.
Police Sgt. Kurt Reichert said he understood the man was on foot heading south, with his back to the engine.
“They saw the guy, they were trying to slow, hitting the horn,” Reichert said. “He didn’t get out of the way, for whatever reason.”
Detectives were on the scene, taking measurements and gathering evidence. Both sets of tracks were shut down.
Such investigations usually take two to three hours, Reichert said.
Centralia police cars were gathered just beyond the north end of Railroad Avenue off East Hanson Street, at the edge of the BNSF rail switching yard. The Amtrak was idled there.
It was not a railroad employee, Reichert said.
He described the victim as a middle-aged man, in his 40s or 50s.
“He appears to be someone we know,” he said.
Reichert said the point of impact was in between the Sixth Street viaduct and where the patrol cars were parked.
There are no public crossings of the tracks in that area, Reichert said, although there is a private crossing for BNSF just below the viaduct.
On average, 50 trains pass through the area each day, according to a BNSF spokesperson. Rail traffic was restored about 1 p.m.
This is the seventh death this year in Washington of a trespasser on BNSF rail lines, spokesperson Gus Melonas said.