Every Tuesday & Friday I have dinner with my family. When I was religiously logging my foods on Myfitnesspal, Tuesdays were always a gamble calorie-wise. As a result, I nicknamed it Trainwreck Tuesdays. Could be a good day, could be a train wreck.
Today Trainwreck Tuesday turned into an actual thing. Yesterday was a late one and I missed 3 trains home so to make up for it I decided to miss 3 trains in to work but I still left on time. The 3:18 train out of Union Station.
Our train hit a pedestrian about 10 minutes outside of Chicago. It was a fatal accident and we spent 3 + hours sitting on the tracks while the Fire Department and police did their thing. The evidence technician had to do his thing; the engineer was relieved and a replacement engineer brought in; the train had to be inspected to ensure it could continue safely.
I didn’t realise at first that it was our train that was involved as all trains were stopped but as other trains started passing us after a while, it was clear we were the ‘incident.’
Thankfully the passengers in our car were reasonable but passengers in other cars were losing it and cussing the conductors. Yeah, we all have somewhere to be but for the love of God, there’s a body under the train.
Yes, we’re hungry, we need to pee *I used the loo….. dear Lord, it was a biohazard zone*, we all have somewhere we need to be. As the one conductor calmly pointed out: we all get to go home. Slower than planned, but we get to go home.
Perspective.
Sitting on the tracks was frustrating initially but the sun eventually set and it was a beautiful sunset. The man under the train never realised yesterday was the last sunset he’d ever have the chance to see. He’ll not see another one.
While people are losing their shit with the conductor, there’s a family somewhere getting a phone call that someone they love won’t be coming home. Someone’s life just got shattered while we sat there counting down until we could move again.
This was the first time I’ve been in a train that hit someone. It wasn’t how I imagined it. There wasn’t an impact and a sudden screeching to a halt. The train just slowed down and stopped. When we did, I knew there’d been an accident because that wasn’t a place we normally stopped. I didn’t know it was us. It’s hard to explain how you feel a life ending without tangible evidence of it; their energy merely departing. Maybe I’m just funny that way. Wouldn’t be the first time.
Tonight was someone’s first death. There are 2 more awaiting him in the distant future.
RIP man on the tracks. It was not your time.
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