A pedestrian was fatally struck by an Amtrak train in Durham, leading to the closure of two intersections during Tuesday evening’s commute, as reported by CBS17. The Durham Police Department confirmed that the crash occurred just before 5:40 p.m. near the intersection of Ninth Street and Pettigrew Street, after the male pedestrian ignored the train’s warning horn and remained on the tracks.
Both Ninth Street at West Main Street and Swift Avenue at West Pettigrew Street were closed, according to law enforcement, and these closures impacted the flow of traffic significantly prompting guidance to seek alternate routes, the need to manage city traffic during peak hours adds to the already complex urban transit dynamics. WRAL adds context to this incident, noting the pedestrian was wearing headphones at the time of the collision, drawing a parallel to a similar fatal accident in August in Clayton where a UNC Wilmington student wearing headphones was killed by a train.
This tragedy marks the fourth train-related incident in Durham this year, with previous occurrences involving both pedestrians and vehicles, this ongoing trend raises questions about the safety measures in place at the city’s train crossings. In January, a pedestrian was hospitalized with serious injuries, followed by vehicle-train collisions in March and May, as highlighted by WRAL…