A person or car on the tracks? 'There's nothing you can do'

As his train hurtled toward the object lying on the tracks, Union Pacific engineer Jason Burger couldn't tell who or what it was until the last second.

"I didn't know it was a person until he looked up at me, then put his head down," Burger recounted.

His training took over in that moment of horror. "I stopped and called 911. I didn't know if I hit him."

Fortunately, when the train stopped there was no victim to be found. Whoever pulled the stunt took off before authorities could find him.

Burger now counts it among the life and death experiences he's faced in his six years as a UP engineer operating Metra trains. "You can't dwell on it," he said, because from the perspective of an engineer in the cab witnessing someone making a fatal mistake, "there's nothing you can do to prevent it."

It takes 1 mile for an average size train traveling at 55 mph to stop. While train crews can do little beyond hit the brakes and sound the horn, UP and Operation Lifesaver this week launched an education campaign aimed at reducing accidents and fatalities at the state's more than 16,000 rail crossings. They urged pedestrians and drivers to respect lowered gates and warning bells and not to underestimate a train's speed.

"People think they're going to beat the train. They don't think it's going to happen to them," said Chip Pew, who is state coordinator for Operation Lifesaver, an organization aimed at improving railroad safety.

In 2009, there were 71 cases of people trespassing on railroad property statewide with 31 injuries and 40 deaths. That's a decline from 2008 when the total was 84.

With so many rail crossings in Illinois, the state accounts for 6 percent of all train-vehicle and train-pedestrian crashes. From 2005 through 2009, there were 768 collisions at crossings that led to 339 injuries and 126 fatalities, Operation Lifesaver reported.

However, suicides are spiking upward. In an average year, rail suicides number 12 in Illinois but so far there's been 16 to 17 to date, Pew said, adding the number fluctuates as officials determine the exact cause of death.

One of the year's most notable suicides was that of former Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano who died May 7 in Crystal Lake after walking in front of a train in the midst of a misconduct probe. Pagano had long been an advocate for using caution around trains and supported a Metra safety poster contest for schoolchildren.

The faulty economy could be linked to the upswing in suicides, Pew said, adding it's unclear if Pagano's well-publicized death is also a contributing factor.

Experts stressed that many pedestrian and vehicle train accidents are entirely preventable - it's a matter of using common sense and switching priorities.

"Why people chose to ignore the bells ringing and the gates down - it's hard to explain," UP Superintendent of Commuter Operations Arnold Robinson said. "I guess they get so focused and think the most important thing is to catch the train. It's not worth it."

In the six-county region, there were 27 collisions with trains with seven deaths in 2009. This year, the suburbs have experienced a rash of railway accidents including the death Tuesday of a renowned bird tracker killed by a freight train in a DuPage County Forest Preserve near Bartlett. On Aug. 18, a Barrington High School student committed suicide after being struck by a Metra train. And, on Aug. 11 a Hanover Park man was hospitalized after a freight train hit him in Wheaton.

For railway crews, these incidents leave such an impression "the engineer lives with it" for years after, said Mike Pawluk, UP director of road operations.

Burger, who lives in St. Charles with his family, loves his job despite living through close calls and fatalities in his six years as an engineer.

"You can't dwell on it," he said. "You have to be able to function. You have to stay focused."

But he asks drivers circumventing gates or commuters ignoring warning bells, "is saving 30 seconds or a minute really worth risking your life?"