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Another person dead under an Orange Line train

Transit Police report a man on the inbound tracks at Roxbury Crossing was hit and killed by a train around 6:25 p.m. Police described him as white and apparently in his 30s.

The Boston Fire Department reports the man was on the tracks just before the station and that after the train stopped, firefighters escorted passengers off the train to the platform.

Buses replaced Orange Line service between Forest Hills and Back Bay.

Other recent incidents on the Orange Line (not all fatal):

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Comments

God Rest His Soul.

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I hope the witnesses can find some peace, too.

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God didn't stop the train from hitting the victim.

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A tip of the fedora to you, gentlesir.

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The list is depressing. Sadly, suicide by train is an often unspoken-of method of death in this country.

Many news reports of people being struck and killed by trains is not always some person wandering with their ear buds blasting music so loud they cannot hear the approaching train. Some are people who cannot handle life anymore and simply walk in front of the train. In fact, many such deaths never reach the newspapers or TV as there is an unspoken rule that such tragic deaths are simply not reported to the media, and often the media will skip it as well - not always - but sometimes, and especially if it appears to be a suicide.

Not only is it traumatizing to families, the train operators are often left traumatized and some leave the job soon after, or transfer to a non-operating job. Trains cannot stop like automobiles. A speeding auto at 60 mph needs about 6-10 car lengths to stop. A train traveling at that speed needs just under a mile.

As a child I had a train stop behind my home with the operator banging on the back door to use the phone. There were no radios or cell phones in those days. He was very shaken. He had hit a guy crossing a decent mile up the track. And that was a single car DMU self-propelled coach that took that much space to stop safely.

Many passengers got off and hopped the fence at our yard and caught a bus nearby.

I won't describe the front of the train.

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A friend of mine lost a friend Christmas Day. About twice as many people in Mass die from drug overdoses than all motor vehicle accidents. The vehicular accidents including train accidents make the news, along with shootings and stabbings, while drug deaths don't. Obituaries often just read "died unexpectedly".

With recent events, lets also not forget high levels of suicide by cop. Pulling a gun or knife on a cop is how its usually done.

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my friends friends cat ran away christmas eve. a man is 35% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than a woman is to be diagnosed with breast cancer. industrial accidents such as comstruction accidents and heavy machinery malfunctions get lots of press while auto erotic asphyxiation incidents dont.

with recent events we shouldnt forget the large increase in deaths by smokers. smoking tobacco products for many years is usually how that happens.

wait, this is about a guy getting hit by a train? sorry for just saying stupid random shit and sounding like an asshole.

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does get attention. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/12/train...

I think they ran a more in-depth article than that at the same time as well, but I can't find it.

The San Francisco Bay Area has a signs on most railroad right-of-ways that say "There is help, call (suicide hotline)" http://www.caltrain.com/riderinfo/safety_securitySuicide_Prevention.html

I haven't seen signs like that in any of the other cities I've traveled to, though.

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Many commuter rail stations in Mass have those. They say something like "red line, green line, orange line, purple line, help line" with a phone number.

They're fairly common, we just tend not to notice signs like that because no one actually pays attention to details in their surroundings anymore.

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A terrible tragedy, two questions come to mind why is the police station at Roxbury Crossing never open to the public and does anyone monitor the cameras at the station?

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Being opened that it would of made a difference ? When people are in this frame of mind they will just move on to another station especially knowing that the police station is opened. There are a lot of cameras throughout the system and for someone to physically sit there and monitor that particular station is unheard of. If there is something reported going on in a particular station then with a couple buttons being pushed then the station is on camera in a matter of seconds. I love people that try and think to blame or use as an excuse why the police station isn't opened to the public. What the hell does that have to do with anything other than for your own business ? I suggest you call the T Police and inquire about that rather than put it on here.

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A white guy alone at the Roxbury Crossing Orange Line station is out of the norm enough that it could have drawn some curiosity or concern to any MBTA police there or people watching monitors!

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Have you ever actually been to this station? (Or the coffee shop that's attached to it?)

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...alone at the Roxbury Crossing Orange Line station is out of the norm..."

Wouldn't that be considered "profiling"?

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If it wasn't also incorrect. I used this station a lot when I worked in the medical area. Worth the hike to get a one-seat ride out to Sullivan or Wellington.

When I've been there recently, there was a mix of people using the station.

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Sure, a hike, but I did it regularly when I had to go to the Brigham. And I'm a white guy.

Also, Mission Hill has been "multiethnic" for a while, and before that (back in the 1980s and before) the hill itself was, well, white. Irish, I would go out on a limb and say.

You should visit Boston some day. There's even parking some places.

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That's been my train station for most of the last 10 years. I've never felt out of place there. There's an actual mix of people of different races, ages, etc., that use the station. Maybe that's shocking to you in lily white Arlington, but living in a diverse neighborhood where I can meet people who don't look just like me is one of the selling points of Roxbury.

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That you've never been in Mission Hill or the Roxbury Crossing T station. Mission Hill has been, at least when my family moved there in '59, multi racial. I'm white, Mom's white, her 2nd husband was black, along with my 'multi racial' siblings. The South End and Mission Hill were the only places you could live in relative peace if you were a 'mixed' family. Mission Hill is still racially mixed. I remember in the '60's, we had all races and mixes and still do. Yes, there was a large Irish percentage but we were all mixed up pretty good and we all got along pretty good. So, please, just because you see the word 'ROXBURY' don't make assumptions.

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Your an idiot with too much time on his hands. Someone died and all you call do is make a silly, extremely(probably veiled, cowardly racist)inaccurate comment! But seeing most of your comments this is the norm for you.

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Whenever I've been in the Roxbury Crossing station I've never noticed being "out of the norm". So, does that make me out of the norm?

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you sound like a scared white guy. you should say hello to some people, a lot of them are nice. stop being such a a whiny pussy.

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No, I've not been to that T station. No reason to.

However, years ago a friend and I took a local public transit bus (not tourist bus) in Montego Bay Jamaica, just to see what some of the suburban areas looked like. We were the only white people. The driver was concerned and asked if we knew where we were going or needed help. We drew attention and concern for being out of place.

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Eh, what difference?

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He did apologize, sort of.

My favorite Mission Hill ignorance story is this. I picked up a couple of guys to go to a wake in Charlestown, the last stop being Jamaica Plain. When we hit Mission Hill, the other guy, from West Roxbury, starts freaking out. Here's the rub- his parents grew up and were married on the hill. Some people!

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When the MBTA Security Department puts up signs that video cameras are being monitored and the Security Department has a huge sign and a police office at Roxbury Crossing station riders could reasonably assume that a police officer was actually at the station and someone was watching the cameras.

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are monitored by police at the actual stations? Sorry, but thanks for playing. The sole purpose of the cameras is to gather evidence to be used in and when the perps are caught and brought to trial. Oh, and for posting on the local media and the Internet so the Transit Police can look like they're doing their jobs.

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The person who took his life is a friend of mine from Burlington. It's strange there hasn't been any mention of this incident since it happened. It's almost like it never happened.

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"rules of journalism" - if it's a suicide, you don't report it as such, and you don't do any follow-up reporting on the incident.

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