A man walks across train tracks near the scene of a pedestrian getting struck by an Amtrak train near Maple Street in Centralia on Thursday afternoon.
A Centralia police officer walks across train tracks near the scene where a pedestrian was struck by an Amtrak train near Maple Street in Centralia in April 2015.
A Centralia police officer enters the cab of an Amtrak train that struck a pedestrian near Maple Street in Centralia April 2, 2015.
A worker from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad walks toward an Amtrak train that struck a pedestrian who was walking on the tracks on Thursday afternoon in Centralia.
Centralia police respond after a train struck and killed a pedestrian near downtown Centralia Thursday.
A man walking on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks north of the Centralia Train Depot was struck and killed by a southbound Amtrak train Thursday.
Sgt. Kurt Reichert, of the Centralia Police Department, said the initial call to 911 came in at about 11:30 a.m.
Riverside Fire Authority Capt. Terry Ternan confirmed to The Chronicle that the man, described as middle-aged, died at the scene.
Interviews with crew members aboard the train indicated that the train was going under the track speed limit of 60 miles per hour as it approached the Centralia Train Depot. Reichert said the area of impact is believed to be somewhere between the Sixth Street viaduct and the northern end of Railroad Avenue.
“We’re working on exactly where that point of impact is,” Reichert said.
Reichert said the man was walking on one of the main tracks with his back to the approaching southbound train, and the engineer had blown the train’s horn several times to warn the man before the impact occurred.
Reichert noted the man’s body had been battered by the impact, but not dismembered.
As of 12:30 p.m., all train activity utilizing the BNSF lines through Centralia had been stopped until further notice, according to Centralia police. Reichert anticipated investigative work to take several hours, and at 1 p.m. police were aboard the train interviewing passengers.
Trains resumed through the area a short time later.
