My dad said that he had to walk up hill both ways through three feet of snow to get to school. Why can't kids do that now days?

@Big Mike - My dad didn't even have SHOES!!

Seriously, though, why can't they just stop parking the train in their path? What else can they do, put a crossing guard there?

@Big Mike - My dad didn't even have legs, because the train lopped them off.

@Big Mike - My dad was a hobo who found a boot containing a leg and made a delicious stew from it.

@Big Mike - i just wasted 30 seconds of my life reading this story... ugh!

@Big Mike - And an addition 20 secs Combo-breaking the dad stories.


So good job.

@Big Mike - "Think about the long-term effects, take an extra five minutes or so, and just wait and you'll be safer in the long run," Lange said"
That is not true. Anyone who has lived on the west side knows that the "5" minutes is more like 40 minutes.

@Big Mike - So they jumped a train, big deal. Our country was built by people riding freight trains. Everyone has to die sometime, hopefully these kids are smart enough not to get smushed climbing around.

@Big Mike - Big Mike,

Your dad is a wimp. Back in my day we didn't even have schools.

Serves these children right for being stupid. Nothing says "don't cross the tracks" like a broken back. Or three limbs.

- Grandma

@Big Mike - From a former North Yard Switchman . . . . . .

This location is where I worked for many years, watching this very thing go on.

These kids are more likely to lose limbs or just get cut in half rather than simple broken bones. Yes it is quite often more than 5 minutes that the train is sitting there.

Union Pacific will tell you all kinds of things to get you off their back. The managers are politicians each and every one, just so they don't take the responsibility.

We would watch for people crossing though and not move until we saw them come out the other side. I was working a train up where the Gateway is now, (the South Yard at that time) and parents were passing their kids through a moving train so they wouldn't be late for Jazz games. I don't usually use this term, but I must say these people are IDIOTS.

Sk8boy

@Big Mike - Why can't they? Global warming. It's November and still 75 degrees! NO WAY they will ever learn to walk through 3-feet of snow both ways uphill.

@Big Mike - Ya like some young wipper-snapper can't get out of the way of a stalled train...the racket generated by the slack getting pulled from between every hitch alone, can be heard for half a mile.....

train 0-5 mph..maybe 2 minuets?....
and 'stalled train" i only thought cars stalled, on train tracks...locomotives shut their engines off about...the time they need a new engine.....

@Big Mike - Maybe those kids from Eisenhower should have built these kids a bridge out of post-it notes instead of whatever the hell they were trying to do.

Then we could line this "post-it note" bridge with nerf and bubble-wrap so as to ensure no kid could possibly be hurt when using the bridge. Wouldn't want for any of those kids to get a paper cut!

@Big Mike - There's been a problem there since I went to West High too... I had to walk that way to get to school, there is a bridge to the south of it, but there's bums at there too, and being a girl... no no way not on N. Temple am I going there.

The trains seem to go there at the same time every morning... stop, go forward, back up, stop, over and over until it either backs up enough for us to cross, or passes all together. We'd be in trouble for being late, a machine calling your house to tell your parents you were either tardy or absent.

We could go to the office say it was due to the train, but everyday... they'd tell you go another way, come earlier. Yet you could never really time when the train would get there, sometimes you get there minutes earlier than the train.... sometimes you get to the trax right as the train is honking, and kids will run across anyway, just to pass it. It's scary.

I think no matter how much you warn the students about the dangers they will still hop the train. Smart or stupid. I don't know if they could schedule the trains to pass at a different time, 20 min. before, or after kids are walking to school?

Oh and it's like that on the way home from school too, although no one's really in a hurry, so they wait, or it's light enough outside to take an alternate route home.

@Big Mike - Up Up and away that only took you 30 seconds to read? It took me at least a min, but then again i'm the type that would walk across that train and not think twice.. honestly the only real danger I see any of those kids in is ice being on the train cars in the winter time!

@Big Mike - I am not condoning something as potentially dangerous as crossing trains because quite frankly, I am scared to death of the mohammoth machinery but to hear Union Pacific say that at the most, the trains will be there for 5 minutes, 15 minutes or 20 minutes. We should all be so lucky if the train only sat idly there for 20 minutes. That is such a lie and also more of what I am upset about.

And to pound into these kids...go to school, be on time and yet get on them for trying to do so by crossing trains is a defeating the purpose.

I wonder now that this situation has seen any light, if any parent, school administrator or public safety will act to get Union Pacific to resolve the problem.

I doubt it so kids, plan on getting some tardies this year and every year until this problem goes away.

At least these aren't the electric trains that have to be dealt with in other countries. You step on the third rail and you're toast. Seriously, have fast do trains accelerate? It's not as if you would die if it started to move while you were in it. Maybe the railroad should put in an elevated walkway if they are always leaving their trains where they block pedestrian access, but I think the danger is being overstated.

@Mike D. - It's a non-issue. Before the car starts moving you hear "clack!clack!clack!clack! coming up the line then your car finally starts moving. Absolutely silly thing to worry about, unless these are toddlers up on the tracks.

@Mike D. - have you ever been on a train? they take off faster than they look.

@Mike D. - Over-reacting story.

Rust Leaf - how many freight trains have you been on lately? Were they fully loaded? I just ask because all of the trains that block my drive or that I have seen stalled move at a snails pace until they have moved at least 500-1000 ft but then again I've never been on any freight trains. I may just be an inexperienced commenter.

@Mike D. - What do you mean by other countries? Subways in the US use the powered 3rd rail.

@Mike D. - Rustling Leaf you must be kidding me. A loaded freight chain doesn't exactly leap out of the blocks. It probably goes 0-60 in what, 5-10 minutes? Unless you're climbing over the engine the startup is not going to come as a surprise to you, you'll hear and feel the start coming all the way down the train to you with plenty of time to get off before it even thinks about moving 6 inches.

Short story - these kids are in less danger than most kids are crossing main or center street in their town on the way to school. These teens are more likely to be killed while driving, swimming, riding their bikes, or even playing football than they are to be killed by a stopped train.

@Mike D. - The real danger here is the Frontrunner trains running on the adjacent track - fast and quiet. Come through the knuckles into the path of one of them and it's all over in a second.

I used jump up and through parked trains while I was walking to West High school in the same area until one of the kids I went to school with got his foot cut off one day when the railroad slammed some cars together to get them to link up. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

@D Chacon - It is true the greatest danger is when the train is adding or removing railcars. Railcar movement is sudden during that time. There really is no way to tell if that will happen either unless you work for the railroad.

I probably wouldn't be such an issue for the railroad workers but if a "child" is hurt jumping the tracks then they will get sued. I am sure the railroad employees do not want to have anyone injured for lots of reasons....

@D Chacon - I went to West, also, and I remember a kid that lost some toes from a train. Wondered if it was the same one.... I graduated in '74...

@D Chacon - The greatest stupidity in life

Lack of situational awareness

@D Chacon - Looking back on it I have to say that I was a stupid elementary kid. The trains would sit on the tracks for the longest times that even the cars would start honking where I grew up and I had two sets of tracks to cross.
My friends and I just learned how to walk around them or on them. It seemed the railroad didn't care about anything else, but themselves. The PTA complained, the school district complained and Pacific didn't care.
It seems they still don't care!
Build that crosswalk now for I know from experience the railcars get slippery when snowed on or rained on and the weather is ready to change.
Stay safe students.

As the article says, there can't be people everywhere all the time to watch for this, and even if there were someone at this corner what are the kids going to do? Stand there waiting for the thing to start moving again? No, they'll just hop it somewhere else.

@Mr Flibble - At one time there was a crossing watchman at that crossing, but you know, it takes money to keep a guy there and the multi-million dollar company just don't put up with that any more.

Some big corporations still have a shred of human compassion. Don't count Union Pacific in that group. Remember how they treated the Irish people that built the transcontinental railroad? That attitude is still prevalent with many of those in management. The Salt Lake area manager is an example.

Sk8boy

@Mr Flibble - You're just mad because he fired you for sitting on your lazy Irish behind. ;-)

Union Pacific needs to realize that the trains just sitting isn't right. They try and move during rush hours all across the valley. U.P. needs to do this earlier in the night.

@74g - Sorry but that's a simplistic solution. Trains run 24 hours a day. If trains waited to move at every city untill night time, they would never get anywhere. There's a limited number of sidings for trains to wait at. Yard congestion would be unspeakable. Many, many more crews would have to be hired since there is a federal limitation to the amount of time they can work. Prices for goods moved by trains would skyrocket. Electricity prices would increase. Food prices would increase.

Much cheaper to build pedestrian overpasses at every rail crossing in the city.

@74g - Dr. Don,

Sounds like you have come up with a solution to the current unemployment problem. They can either hire them all to work for the railroad, or use our tax dollar "stimulus" money to build all of those overpasses, as a bonus we can hire all the hoodlums to pre-graffitti them for us.

@74g - Where in the world are they going to park a mile long or longer train!!??? You tell me that and maybe they'll park them somewhere else!

@74g - How about just making a law that states UP trains can't stop in front of the school during school hours or up to an hour before or after school.

@74g - I've noticed trains stopped on the intersection 600 West and South Temple a lot lately. Is that part of their process or are trains having problems more often now? I wonder how difficult scheduling trains around certain times would be.

@74g - The sad thing is.... there IS a bridge, the one on North Temple, not far at all from the crossing listed. The problem with taking that bride over is.... the bums there, and if you're walking alone.. Sometimes it's still a little dark. North Temple is full of what I call "Hooker Hotels" those hookers bring the johns, those johns lurk around the neighborhood, and WILL pull over even if you don't look like a hooker, to see if you get in. Some go to the horrible extent of trying to lure you in.

So North Temple and that bridge, I'd rather loose a leg than confront a pedophile, they're scary. North Temple is scary west of the bridge. Clean that up and send the kids there?

It seems that Dan has a lot of spare time to go around filming potentially dangerous things. Maybe he could come down to Utah county and film children buying soda pop & candy bars.

Dozens of student each day.....going on for years. I have not heard of any injuries, how big of a safety risk is this. I suspect a crosswalk with a crossing guard has a worse safety record! Thanks for another important "exclusive" ksl. «no swearing please»

@ddd - apparently rolling on the floor, laughing at KSL is swearing. so sorry.

Seriously, KSL is wasting time and resources on this article. I had friends who went to West High and they had to learn the train schedule to be able to get to school on time. It was a ten minute walk to the school from their home, but on certain days they would have to leave an hour before school started just to cross the tracks before the train did. It's a crappy set up and I agree with the comment that U.P. should build a pedestrian walkway if they want to keep people off their trains.

@Sehkmet - The tracks were there long before West High existed. Why should the railroad foot the bill because the school district chose to locate a high school where it did?

@Sehkmet - It is the responsibility of the School District to ensure students have "safe" passage to and from school. It would be up to the District (AKA tax payers) to provide a skywalk. An underground passage (like someone posted) would not work. It would present MANY safety hazzards.

It is NOT the responsibility of the UPRR to provide a "more convienient" way for students to get to school.
Big corps. do pass on any $$ spent (to build a skywalk or pay for an injury lawsuit) to the customer. We are ALL customers. It seems we the customer or we the tax payer will pay regardless...

@Sehkmet - DR Don...

I have pictures that will show those tracks were not there when West High was built.

I went to West and yes I walked up hill both ways no shoes or pants. I never had a problem jumping those trains !

@Sehkmet - KSL has listed this story as an "Exclusive". It can't be more interesting because if it was another news outlet would cover it thereby taking KSL's exclusive story.

@Sehkmet - If you go to the story listings page (Not the article its self) there is a green logo that says "Exclusive" next to this story. My comment was about that.

Hope that clears up the Huh.

"Think about the long-term effects, take an extra five minutes or so, and just wait and you'll be safer in the long run," Lange said.

Dude, if the train is stalled, then it's going to take a lot longer than 5 minutes for it to get out of the way. Instead of building a walkway OVER the tracks, why not build a walkway UNDER? It seems a lot cheaper to do it this way.

@Nigel Bevelridger III - Underpasses, or pedestrian tunnels, are about 1/5 the cost of an overpass but quickly become refuges for transients, favorite hangouts for thugs, and generally a headache for local law enforcement. I remember one on State St in Provo that was permanently closed in the late '70's, and that was happy valley in the 70's, not NSL today.

@Nigel Bevelridger III - Nigel,

Sadly it's not just five extra minutes. It can be as long as twenty minutes to a half an hour. Now when winter hits, your pants are starting to get wet at the feet, you're cold, no where to sit and wait, you have a bag of books. For the kids, and like when I was younger hopping the train was a seemingly better choice.

Back in my day people were a lot smarter.

That's because idiots like these kids were killed. We called it "natural selection." Those were the days when science was all the rage, the exciting new developments from Charles Darwin and Col. Cook.

Today everything is all "mystical," and touchy-feely. We're practically in the dark ages of stupidity, thanks to the way we're baby-proofed the world. Now days it's "news" when a bunch of kids almost get hit by a train. Back in the '50s you couldn't even make the front page unless there were at least 20 deaths.

@Roxy Grandma - You mean we shouldn't let stupid people survive and breed?

@Roxy Grandma - So these kids are idiots for doing what they need to do to get to school on time? I'd hop through a stalled train on my way to school too.

@Roxy Grandma - Wilco:

I could've driven through the Main Street plaza to get to my hair appointment on time. Esmeralda doesn't appreciate tardiness. But I followed the law and drove around Temple Square, didn't I?

If kids today would only obey the law, they wouldn't have to learn through amputation.

- Grandma

@Roxy Grandma - You mean back in the day when cars didn't have seat belts?

@Roxy Grandma - you are a mean person Roxy Grandma, and you seem ignorant. Shame on you.

@Roxy Grandma - I'm not ignorant. I have nearly 90 years of life experience, young man. Something your master's thesis could never teach you.

Big Freaking deal, NOT!

Back in my day, I did that all the time. You walk to school, a train is stopped across the tracks. Do you A: Wait who knows how long for the train to move, and pay the penalties for being late to school? or do you B: Notice that the train is at a complete stop, climb up one side ladder, walk across the walkway and climb down the other side in order to continue on to school in a timely manner.

Unless we are going to pay the money to Bus every kid who has to cross a railroad track to get to school, or build pedestrian bridges over every possible obstacle, kids are going to do this. Freight trains are not like trax cars, they don't zip up to traveling speed in seconds. As a train starts to move, there will first be a series of clangs as the engine pulls the chain of cars tight, then it will begin slowly inching forward. Easy to get off of and an obvious sign that the train is going to begin moving.

No climbing over the train like this isn't the safest thing to do in the world, but it's not really all that dangerous or difficult.

Union Pacific needs to ensure they go to the schools and advise the kids of the risks, but other than that if they are going to stop trains across crossings then the trains are going to get climbed over.

@Zablde - That's true Zabide, when i was at West, I never noticed anyone dare cross after you hear the clangs or hear/see any signs of the train moving.

Oh yeah the other thing I forgot to mention on here, is sometimes there is not only ONE stopped train, but TWO stopped trains, then you really don't know if you'll make it to your first class.

Who is this man and why is he secretly taking video of children????? Sounds suspicious to me!

@Roger B. - I'm surprised he isn't arrested for voyeurism. You can get into some really serious trouble taking videos of children.

"...it could -- worst case -- kill you," spokesman Tom Lange said.

I doubt death is the worst case. I'd imagine being dragged while still alive over 100 miles of track would be worse.

That's Nothing, My friends and I used to crawl under the stalled trains because we had bikes and we couldn't pick them up and over the hitched rail-cars. So hey parents it could be worse.

At that crossing you either have to go to 6th North or North Temple to walk across a bridge to get over the tracks. West High is on 3rd North so of course kids are going to take the quicker route even if it is blocked.

@Eric F. - 6 north is actually a lot more out of the way, because you'd have to take 800 west to get to the 6th North bridge. So in some cases that'd be backtracking, and possibly take you 30 min, or even longer to do so. you never really know if you'll miss the train or get stopped by one, and in bad weather, it's not that kids just want to take the quicker route.

Now when it comes to North Temple, if you're a boy, it's not so bad I'd guess. If you're a girl forget it. North Temple is a whole lot closer to the 3rd north crossing. It has hooker hotels, that blood bank, bums, hooker picker uppers, and it's just a place to ignore. If you grew up next to North Temple West of the bridge you'd know what I mean. I'd give anything to not have had to live so close to that growing up. ugh.

Trains do not take of suddenly, but let some kid be in between cars when the slack is yanked out or a cut of cars is coupled up to the standing train and you now have a kid laying between the cars that becomes an amputee or worse.
Stay away from trains, they were here long before any of these housing tracts or schools were in place and let the community designers be held accountable to build pedestrian bridges where neccesary.

So What! Big freaking deal!

When we were little we used to see who could stand nearest to the Train as the Engineer was blowing his horn as it was going 50 miles an hours down the track

We might be a little brain dead But we aint dead!

Maybe the goverment can rent them helmets,knee and elbow pads hold there hands and walk them around the trains

@Randy R. - Oh there will not be renting involved. It will be a government funded "program". They'll hire directors and research committees and by the time this is over, each student will have $32,000 worth of gear and training to cross the tracks.

I was thinking if this is such a problem. Why won't the state and city and school district come up with an alternative way of getting around the tracks with a bridge or tunnel or something? I think this would be smart because obviously students, especially teenagers most of the time will not listen to advice from adults.

20 minutes equals very late to class. Its dangerous enough walking to that school, but leaving a half hour earlier when its darker in the morning and you have just put your odds of injury up there with jumping through the trains. If this was happening in Cottonwood Heights (oh but they would never tolerate a train near their highschools) than there would be a walkway built over the tracks leading to the school. or better yet, a moving sidewalk like in the airport that took them right to the front door. Westside kids just don't seem to be worth much I guess.

Here's a solution. Trains have provided us with reliable transportation since the 19th century but in the 20th century the automobile was invented and they have evolved to the point we no longer rely on trains. We thank the railroads for their service but we no longer need their services. Get rid of trains!

@Dextromethorphan - ...and I thought you were educated. Everybody has to be wrong once...

We still depend heavily on trains. They transport many things and can do so rain or shine. If we can't use coal or cars or oil or cement or...then we might not need them...wait then we would need them if we no longer have cars.

@Dextromethorphan - Let's see Dex get to work or anywhere else with fuel prices tripled and tens of thousands more big trucks clogging the highways once he gets rid of all the trains. Each rail car hauls as much as three fully loaded rigs at 1/5th the fuel cost.

Gee, this one is easy. Build a bridge. Oh wait, no money to do that. Ok, raise taxes even higher. It's a recession, people have all sorts of money tucked away that we, as politicians can get from them.

It's our money anyway. We're the government, and the government prints the stuff, so it's ours. Then we can build a bridge, and charge for it, along with those fun higher taxes, just think Gov, we'll all be rolling in the dough.

Thoughts of the politicians....

like I said before, if this were happening in any other part of the valley, there would be a walkway built over the tracks, there wouldn't even be a discussion. I really wish people would see what is happening on the Westside instead of treating the problem like it is something the people living here deserve. Stop ignoring us! hey, we REALLY needed a police station...but that will happen when they build a bridge...

Come on KSL! Don't you think we are already raising a generation of wussies? Would not have thought twice about doing this when i grew up!!!

Im sure its not a matter of these kids just thinking they are invincible! I havent been outta high school too long to recall what the penalties were for being late for class!! Yea they arent as severe as say losing your life but still!! As for their rush to get home, Im sure many of them have responsibilities to attend to after school...babysitting, picking up a sibling, homework before an evening event or getting to a job!! Think about it. If I were 16 & needed to get to me job I couldnt wait for a 15 minute stalled train!! Drivers can choose to turn their vehicle around & go to another route. When youre a pedestrian you dont really have that speedy access to an alternate route!!
I think ppl are misfocusing their efforts in this issue. They should do more than 'educate the students'. They should be focusing on getting Union Pacific to build a walkway over the tracks or reroute their trains or simply not run them in these areas when they KNOW kids will need to make it to & from school.
School hours are set. Why cant UPRR work around these times??

@Jazzy811 - I agree with you to a point. Students do need to get to school on time and have responsibilities to attend to after school. Yes a stalled train can take a long time to clear the crossing and even drivers sometimes find themselves stuck at a railroad crossing. What I disagree with is I don't think it would be practical for UP to adjust their schedule or re-route trains. I also don't think UP should be the people responsible for building a bridge. It would be a nice gesture on their part but I think this is more of an issue with the local government. It would be nice to have a bridge built but don't count on it. Taxpayers don't want to pay more taxes even when the economy is in great shape and the UPRR cannot afford to build bridges over all the railroad crossings on the thousands of miles of tracks their railroad operates on.

@Jazzy811 - Thats a nice dream you live in, but you cant expect UPRR to build a bridge everywhere that someone finds it inconvenient to wait for a train. Do you even realize how long that railway has been there? Or how much freight goes down those tracks every day? To expect the rail road to stop running twice a day while kids walk to and from school is rediculous. And to make it sound like the end of the world to make student wait a few minutes is a little over dramatic too. If i knew i had to walk that route to school, do you know what i would do? I would leave a little earlier! Or i wouldnt plan anything till a little later after school! I know that high school students think life couldnt be any more stressful, but believe me, it can. A 15 minute wait isnt the end of the world.

@Jazzy811 - There is a bridge, right by the delta center or energy solutions. There are also bums and perves there. It's dark when you're leaving to school, and it's a whole different kind of risk. That is probably why UP will not build a bridge ever, because there is one.... 3 blocks or so south of the listed location.

The other thing people keep saying is wait 5 min. wait 15 min. no big deal. However, it's not always just 5-15 min. of a wait. It's not always only one train stopped. It's not always great weather. Sometimes it's pouring rain, sometimes it, a foot of snow, or snowing and freezing. Some kids too, don't have all the proper storm gear on, or available to them.

Last and not least, being late or missing a class all together every few days, every other day... it becomes an issue with your teacher, your parent getting the call, etc. You can say it's the trains, but after a while it gets old. Even though the School is fully aware of the problem, and will remove your tardy for you. You still miss a portion of the teachings you go there to learn.

@Jazzy811 - cuno101
You mean that there are bums and pervs (as you put it)3 blocks away from the place the teens are crossing?
Isn't there just a small chance (please note sarcasm) that there could be bums and pervs sleeping or whatever inside the trains?
...it's not like we have had a century of railroad bums...wait! It seems we have!
Jumping the tracks through stopped trains is a bad idea for many reasons.

@Jazzy811 - Rescuer,

I guess there could be bums on a moving train, when it stops, how likely is it that the cart with the bum, is at the crossing? However the bums sleeping under the bridge is not uncommon. The perves on North Temple have been there for years. I'd rather be killed by a train than by one of those sick hooker picker uppers.

I'm not saying the bums will attack you if you cross the bridge, however the risk is high because it's a very isolated location, it's dark, you may or may not have someone to walk with you.

So the students make a choice, out of a list of crummy choices.

-Wait for the one or two stopped trains, not knowing if it will start again in 5-10-15-20 min. Oh and when it starts going it's really slow.... Oh and you never know if it'll stop once more and back up again. So you choose to wait, and you miss half your first class because after the train goes again, you still have a few blocks to walk to get to the school, stop at the office because you're late, then head through the halls to your class... Very late... Sadly missing sometimes crucial class work.

- If the train happens you can hop it. Risk it starting again and jerking you to fall off, and hurting yourself in a number of ways. Dangerous yes.

- You can walk to North Temples bridge, and risk running into the wrong person. Risk rape, assault, kidnapping, murder... I could go into detail how many times, walking around there, having to run, or hide from perps. It's not a safe area... at all. It's more common than many may think, because if you never lived there, you don't see what goes on.

- You can back track and walk to the 600 north bridge, but walk time, you'd probably miss your first class all together.

@Jazzy811 - Part of the point I have been trying to get accross..is that if someone (anyone) builds a new bridge exactly where the teens want it built, then the bums and the pervs will have found another new home. If there are bums near the area and you provide them a new place to stay...with plenty of young people to tease and scare and taunt...they will migrate.

Why not leave earlier each day and always walk via the 600 North bridge? Or, you could have the students and parents petition the district for a bus or start a carpool and have the parents take turns driving the students to school...
The high school students are the future leaders. I would like to see some leadership coming from them...although...the ability to cross the tracks even with the trains present, shows leadership qualities with problem solving and risk taking.

Good Luck!

@Jazzy811 - You make a valid and good point Rescuer... Can't dispute it.

To the people who have had there legs loop off by trains You can’t sue
don't have a leg to stand on.!!

Mr. Maxwell has a lot of time on his hands to take videos of children crossing through stalled trains. Sounds like KSL also has a lot of time on their hands to do an exclusive on this story and not only talk to local Union Pacific officials, they had time to talk with UP officials in Omaha. Don't get me wrong. This is dangerous but this guy seems obsessed with videotaping children. What next, will KSL do an exclusive on jaywalking from videos Mr. Maxwell has of children jaywalking? Unfortunately, I doubt you could get a bridge built over this crossing. Even in great economic times, people don't want to fork over extra money for a bridge like this.

18 deaths in the last 8 years, that is not so bad. We can call that gene pool cleansing. Lets just hope they didn't have kids. I am willing to bet that more people die from tripping and hitting their head, then getting hit by a train.

All the people leaving comments here saying how "overstated" the danger is, are people who need to stop reproducing. We dont need any more idiots in this world than we already have.
Yes trains are slow movers, but a train is like a string. No matter how long that string is, as soon as you pull the front of the string, the back of the string moves too. Some long trains can gain 12 feet in length in a matter of seconds. There is a small amount of space in the knuckle of each rail car and when you multiply that small amount of space by 100 rail cars, it equals quite a bit.
Its gonna take one of these kids dying before people will remember that they arent invinsible.

My Dad is your Dad Too!!!

What's the school policy? Most bosses honor "late" slips given on late commuter trains. For some reason, this article doesn't say what the school does to students delayed by the trains.

@generalsn - If you are late because of a train, the school will discard the tardy. They are aware of the issue with the trains.

However it doesn't replace the time you lost in class, my first class freshmen year was English. Ever few days I missed a good 20 min. of the class due to the trains. That's a lot because if you think about it, you walk into class the teacher starts right off, with say a journal, or reading, or whatever it may be.... and it's hard to catch up all the time or you can't replace the lecture that was given prior to your arrival.

I really do need to do something for it. Even if it costs some money, in the long run it's worth it I'd say.

all you need to do is set up a metal over pass as they are millions all over the world...but not in slc..

@fireproof - or most of Utah for that matter...I come from a 3rd world country and we have metal over passes all over the place...

Ever notice how generation after generation we get a little weaker and more afraid. Just look at the number of trick or treaters going door to door nowadays, the numbers have dropped to almost none. People have gotten so out of control trying to protect their children that they have no street smarts or common sense at all. Do you think 30 years ago an article like this would show up in the news? No way it would, the article wouldn't be written unless a kid died, and the odds of that happening probably would have been slim, as kids used their brains and street smarts more back then. Our children taught to fear from the very start now. Global warming, terrorists, gangs, guns, flu viruses, getting abducted, raped, drugs, car accidents, razor blades in candy, anthrax, drunk drivers, plane crashes, the apocalypse, and now killer parked TRAINS!!!!

Here Keesler, police dept, school officials.... say the children think they are invisible. When that's not always the case, it's actually far from it. They all acknowledge it's been like this for years.

Weather, Missing half your first class every other day or so, and so many other factors that they failed to mention. Like the kids get enjoyment out of hopping trains. After school, I see no reason for the kids to be doing it, because it's light enough to use North Temples bridge, and or you're not missing crucial class time.
They spoke to one student, who said she wanted to get home sooner, that doesn't speak for all of them.

I wonder if the guy filming that works at that factory on the west side of the street that's full of MEN whistling, saying hi..... and staring at all the high girls as they walk home from school?

Wow..what hardened criminals.

"Those cars, when they go, they go right now. There's no forgiving," he says.

Any way we could get a video of that happening? maybe show the kids how fast it really happens?

@bobglaub - I'm surprised with all the effort KSL has put into this story they didn't show some video that Operation Lifesaver has or videotaped a parked UPRR train suddenly move. It would be helpful for people to understand these dangers if they had footage of a train suddenly moving. Instead KSL spoke to Union Pacific officials in Utah and in their headquarters in Omaha. Maybe people would understand how unsafe this is if they showed a parked train suddenly move to demonstrate just how fast the cars can start moving.

I went to West 16 years ago and they were doing it then to.

@Vain - I went to West High in the early 70's and it was happening then,,, I only remember one person that lost some toes from a train, but we were jumping on them and riding them out to Salt-Air..

i wonder why they are catching them on camera and not stopping them are they wanting to see if one of the kids gets hurt! then it would sell more

A disturbing trend that has been going on for a lot longer than you think. It's nothing new. I was doing the same thing on my way to middle school every day from 1980 to 1982.

Here's a starting train.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_aWqA6XH8o&feature=related