Amtrak and Berkeley police are investigating the second fatality involving an Amtrak train in Berkeley this month.
A southbound train headed to San Jose from Auburn struck the person, who was “trespassing on the track,” around 9:15 a.m., Kelly Just, a regional spokesperson for Amtrak, said in an email.
Information on the precise location of the strike or the identity of the person killed was not immediately available.
None of the 77 people on the train reported any injuries, Just said.
The death Tuesday comes just 20 days after another Amtrak train struck and killed 56-year-old Selana Eileen “Sissy” Williams while walking on the tracks near Harrison Street. The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office’s Coroner’s Bureau determined her death to be accidental.
Trespassing in railroad rights-of-way “is the leading cause of rail-related deaths in America,” Just said, citing the Federal Railroad Administration. Incidents at railroad-highway grade crossings, or where highways cross rails at rail height, came in second, she said.
“These incidents can affect everyone involved — those who are injured or die and their families, our train crews and our passengers,” Just said.
