Man crtitical after being hit by train

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

GALLUP — A freight train struck yet another pedestrian Saturday, this time while the man was walking across the Third Street crossing, according to Gallup Police Lt. Rick White.

White said Kelvin Shirley, who lives south of Gallup, had been walking north, attempting to traverse the tracks at about 4 p.m., when a westbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad train traveling 35 mph struck and injured him.

Shirley was transported immediately to Gallup Indian Medical Center, where he is currently listed in critical/stable condition. Shirley is the seventh Gallup-area casualty of a train vs. pedestrian since July.

Whether alcohol played a role is still under investigation, White said, adding that witnesses said they heard the warning blasts from the train’s air-horn.

Saturday’s incident occurred less than a week after 41-year-old Justice Coonsis was struck and killed by an eastbound BNSF freight train while she was jogging with headphones. Shirley is the seventh Gallup-area victim of a train vs. pedestrian since July.

An average coal train, which consists of about 105 cars freighted to about 115 tons each, weighs in at about 10,000 tons and requires at least one mile to come to a complete stop — usually more — according to BNSF spokesman Joe Faust.

“It’s not like putting on the brakes of an automobile,” Faust said Monday. “Even in an emergency, it takes time to stop. We can’t control that. It’s physics.”

Faust said BNSF receives many complaints from the Gallup area regarding the high volume and frequency of warning sounds emanating from the trains’ air-horns. But, he said, the warnings are standard operating procedure prior to approaching any crossing, following a pattern of two long sounds, one short sound and a final long sound.