Train Sneaks Up On Area Man, Says 'Hello'

Sound absurd? It is.

College student hit by Green Line train

The 21-year-old unidentified student [later identified as Michael Cordo] crossed the tracks a few hundred yards from the Boston College stop. The student was rushed to Brigham & Women’s Hospital with head and leg injuries, but he was apparently conscious and talking when he was taken from the scene.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said when the trolley’s operator saw the pedestrian, he sounded his horn but couldn’t avoid striking him.

“The operator blew his horn, but to no avail,” said Pesaturo, who characterized the pedestrian as “trespassing.”

The accident happened around 9:20 a.m., and riders were bused between the Boston College and Washington Street stops for several hours.

For those of you who don't live in the Boston area, the sound these trains make is similar to either a freight train horn or a bell ringing somewhere inside of your head (depending on if it's an old or a new tram car). This was a new car, thus a horn, which is significantly louder than the bell of the older trains. While the green line is part of the subway, it is street-level after getting out of the central, downtown area. In the area where this fellow failed to see or hear a train hurtling toward him, there is a gap in the fence that separates inbound and outbound tracks where one can cross over to the side of the road on which the BC campus is located. Many people do it and it's not a difficult task for most of them. Just so it's clear what Mr. Cordo failed to see, hear, or feel (the ground vibrates as a train nears), I will post a picture of it.
What the article fails to mention, which offers a reason for why Mr. Cordo didn't hear the train's horn, is that he was wearing headphones at the time. However, this leads me to wonder just how loud his music was! Another flaw has become inherent in the iPod movement. Now, apparently, no longer is it only not acknowledging a friend's hailing (which you fail to hear) that one is to worry about, but also being struck by large, public transit vehicles.

Sullivan's article:

Society is dead, we have retreated into the iWorld