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UPDATES: Person Struck & Killed By Caltrain in Palo Alto

Some trains in and out of the area have been affected.

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013

The Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office has released the name of the man killed by a Caltrain loaded with 200 passengers during last Friday’s evening commute.

The victim was Jonathan Lazarus, 28, of Sunnyvale. He died of multiple injuries caused by the train hitting him.

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FINAL UPDATE:

The person killed was a male.

Caltrain released the following statement late Friday evening.

"The cause of death is under investigation and will be determined by the county coroner. No matter what the circumstances, any fatality is regrettable. Caltrain apologizes to its passengers for the significant delays caused by tonight’s fatality and thanks everyone for their patience and understanding as we deal with these tragedies." 

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UPDATES 9:45 P.M.:

Shortly, train 284 will be taken to the San Antonio station where the passengers will be able to board train 190. 

The train will then be taken out of service and moved to the San Jose maintenance facility. 

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UPDATES 9:22 P.M.:

The northbound track is now open for trains moving at reduced speed.

The first train through the area will be train No. 195. After that, southbound train No. 190 will proceed through the area and stop at the crossing to pick up the passengers on train No. 284.

The bus bridges have been canceled. 

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UPDATES 8:55 P.M.: 

Efforts are currently underway to open one track so that trains can travel through the area.

Northbound train No. 190 is stopped at Menlo Park.

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UPDATES 8:30 P.M.:

SamTrans will provide a bus bridge between the Palo Alto station and the California Avenue station. 

VTA will provide a bus bridge between the California Avenue station and the Menlo Park station. 

There is no service to the California Avenue station at this time.

Southbound train No. 288 will turn at the Palo Alto station and go north, making all local weekday stops.  Northbound train No. 193 will turn at the San Antonio station and go south, making all local weekday stops. 

All other trains are operating on time.

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About 7:30 p.m. southbound train No. 284 struck and killed a person on the train tracks at E. Meadow Drive in Palo Alto.

Emergency personnel are on scene.  

Approximately 200 passengers are on board the train. There were no injuries to anyone on the train, including passengers and crew.

There is no service to the California Avenue station at this time.

Southbound train No. 288 is stopped at the Menlo Park train station.  Northbound train No. 193 will hold at the San Antonio station.  

No other trains are impacted at this time.

This is the first fatality on the Caltrain tracks this year. The last fatality occurred on Dec. 14, 2012.

There were a total of 12 fatalities in 2012. Of these, eight were determined to be caused by suicide and four are still under investigation, said Caltrain spokesperson Christine Dunn.

Patch will update this story as more information becomes available.


Gretchen February 9, 2013 at 02:11 am
Too many teenagers are killing themselves in front of the train in this town. Shouldn't the school board be fined for too much academic pressure? Something needs to change. I now homeschool all 3 of my boys bc Palo alto schools are awful.
Chiqui February 9, 2013 at 11:15 am
My son went to Paly as a junior. By November, he started presenting signs of depression which progressively got worse. By February, I had to pull him out of the sch.
Michael Hall February 9, 2013 at 12:43 pm
Unfortunately, Palo Alto has a rather disturbed culture. The powers that be don't see it, they think everything is wonderful. It's the combination of Stanford, Silicon Valley and way too much empasis on money, prestige, and success. It started long ago, but the recent influx of immigrants from east asia has also added to this mind set, since these are values very compatible with their pre-existing mind set. I kinow people who have relocated here from other parts of the country and the world just to get their kids into the Palo Alto schools. The Daily Post recently has been reporting the salaries of public employees. The salaries are extremely high by any rational standard. This includes public safety, city administration and school officials. It may not be obvious at first glance, but this also feeds into the culture of arrogance and contributes to this problem. This system suits so many influential and powerful people, and is so little recognised by the leaders as well as the people of this community, that doing anything about it will be very difficult. Mind-sets of this type are self-reinforcing and build powerful defenses that prevent change. Anyone who tries will either be ignored or possibly even crushed. Believe me, the mind-sets you see in so many other parts of the world, our country and throughout history apply here as well. Human nature does't change just because you think you are enlightened.
Laura February 9, 2013 at 06:44 pm
Whistles are blowing. Gates are down. Train lights are flashing. Red lights are flashing at the crossing. My sympathy is for the Engineer that sees someone step in front of him/her knowing there is no way to stop the train in time. My sympathy is for the Conductors who get off the train to see what they should never see in their lifetime.
Karen Enrietto Neyman February 9, 2013 at 06:48 pm
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein
Claudia Cruz (Editor) February 11, 2013 at 08:53 am
Our condolences to the family.
Mary February 14, 2013 at 12:52 am
Gretchen, you're not very intelligent. The schools teach, the parents put the pressure on then. It's sad that parents are so stupid.
Sam February 17, 2013 at 01:36 am
SAM

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