A nine-year-old boy lost his leg while playing near a passing train, local news station WFAA-8 reported recently. The boy and his two brothers were playing on the train tracks behind their Garland home when the boy decided to try grabbing onto the side of a passing train. He slipped, and his leg fell underneath the train’s wheels. His brothers pulled him out and carried him home.
The boy’s parents, while admitting their sons should not be playing on the train tracks, continue to wonder why the tracks are so accessible. A sidewalk in the neighborhood runs directly to the tracks, and a large hole in the fence at the tracks’ edge makes it easy for neighborhood children to get into the railroad right-of-way. Many neighborhood children are often seen playing on the train tracks.
The city is investigating whether it has a responsibility to block access to the tracks, since the sidewalk that leads to them appears to be city property.
Only three other Texas children since 2007 have survived being hit by a train. According to the Federal Railroad Association, since 2001, Texas has seen 110 railroad accidents resulting in death and 884 non-fatal railroad accidents, including accidents involving railroad employees. Since 2007, there have been 18 fatal train accidents in Texas involving trespassers on the railroad right-of-way. Despite careful precautions, trains remain dangerous, especially to people who wander into a train’s path, and train accidents continue to occur.
