PayPal exec killed by commuter train in Calif.

[avaistheone1]

Source: AP

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — An executive with the PayPal online payment service has been struck and killed by a commuter train in Northern California.

San Mateo County coroner's investigators on Sunday identified the victim as 39-year-old Eric Salvatierra of Palo Alto.

The San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/yCmeRK ) says Salvatierra was killed by a Caltrain on Friday morning in Menlo Park.

Commuter rail officials say he was standing on the tracks when he was hit by a northbound train. The death is being investigated.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/paypal-exec-killed-commuter-train-calif-142152560.html

[slackmaster]

1. The actual cause of death was probably his brain colliding at high speed with his skull

I wouldn't blame the train for that.

[TheWraith]

2. Sounds like suicide.

If I worked at PayPal, I might feel the same way.

[left on green only]

4. I lived in that local for 35 years

and have only recently departed, so I am very familiar with that intersection. Is is very well developed so as to be totally friendly to pedestrians, cars and trains. That particular Caltrain station reminds me of the perfect model railroad layout where every attention has been paid to detail so as to make it appear as if it is utopia. What I am saying is that it is very unlikely for an accident to have occurred at that place.

The trains on that line run from San Jose, up the peninsula and into San Francisco (approx 65 miles) and not all trains stop at every station. Furthermore, in order to facilitate the return trip, the trains are not turned around upon their arrival at their destinations. What happens is that the engineers move from the engine to the last car in the train where a duplicate set of controls allows them to operate the train for the return trip, sight unseen of anything that may be blocking the track. It may have very well happened that it was not possible for the engineer to have know that there was anybody standing on the track, for the reason that he may have been controlling the train from the last car (not that it would have made any difference anyway being that trains are not known for having the ability to stop on a dime).

[Retrograde]

8. The tracks average a death a month

and have since at least the late 1970s, when I moved here and started keeping tabs. Most are suicides, and the addition of more gates, barriers and flashing lights over the years doesn't seem to have slowed them down. Then there are the people who think the signs reading "Active railroad - do not stop on tracks" don't really mean it, or that those gates with the flashing lights and the clanging bells are some sort of driving challenge they have to navigate around.

There's been some attempts to raise the tracks in places, but the railroad's been there since the 1800s and aside from the expense sometimes there's just not the space to do so without major disruption to a big commuter system.

[lumberjack_jeff]

9. No back-up camera?

No Fry's in Palo Alto?

[Downwinder]

3. If he was a teen it would already have been declared a suicide.

[left on green only]

5. Yes, the irony being that it is usually teens who are known for

not paying attention to their surroundings, or else easily acting on dares based upon their belief of their immortality. It makes me smile when watching the Dirty Harry movie where Eastwood is in the famous standoff where he delivers the faux macho line, "You feeling lucky today, punk?" In real life, if that line had been delivered to a foe who was under the age of 20, Eastwood probably would have had his head blown off.

[Brickbat]

6. Thoughts to the trainmen and engineers on that train.

[FarCenter]

7. About once a year, my train would be delayed by "police activity on the tracks"

Normally a suicide by train, which would halt both directions of travel for a couple of hours while they cleaned up.