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Samantha Hayes Reporting The railroad tracks behind a Kearns school have attracted mischievous trouble for years, but after a few recent dangerous incidents, officers and railroad leaders are getting serious about stopping it.
The Sheriff's Deputy on duty at Kearns High School says students and other teenagers have jumped in front of the train and on the train while it passes. Officers have also had to remove large objects from the tracks.
Teenagers and trouble always seem to go together. At Kearns High school, Deputy Chad Zitting finds both down at the railroad track.
Dep. Chad Zitting, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office: "Kids throwing rocks at the train, breaking windows. They've actually jumped in front of the train and had the train come to a stop when the engineers got out they jumped aboard the train."
Deputy Zitting has also found objects on the tracks.
Chad: "I've removed big tree trunks, stuff they've thrown, couches, stuff they've had on there."
That kind of stuff, if a locomotive hits it, can be deadly. Union Pacific operates the railroad in back of Kearns High School.
Mark Davis, Union Pacific: "Placing anything on the track as a train goes by, it can literally kick that object out and then its literally a missile, it can go through a person, a vehicle, anything."
Deputy Zitting says the school has warned students several times before. Now anyone caught in the area will be ticketed. Officers say students who use the area, crossing the railroad track as a short cut to school, are also putting their safety at risk. They too could receive a ticket for trespassing.
Union Pacific has joined the education effort in other areas and may talk to students too.
Mark Davis: "Whenever there's a report of activity --high school, grade school-- we have a network of engineers, conductors, who go into the schools and let them know the safety message."
Union Pacific says in Utah in 2004 six people died trespassing on railroad property, two people in 2005, and one this year.
