A 20-year-old man was struck and killed by a train on Saturday afternoon.
According to a Tucson Police Department press release Jorge A. Villalobos was riding a mountain bike north along the train tracks near the Rillito River and Interstate 10.
TPD said Villalobos began riding on the bridge crossing the Rillito River. A train was also heading north on the tracks.
According the the release, the train’s engineer sounded the train’s air horn and applied the train’s emergency brakes, but could not stop before striking Villalobos, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
can you explain in more detail how this happened? were they riding across the track, or alongside it? We don’t know the trail.
JenGoodSword I think that Mr. Villalobos was riding northbound on the train bridge that is east of I-10. The Rillito portion of the Loop trail goes under this bridge and under the frontage road and I-10 to meet up with the Santa Cruz portion.
There is no reason to be riding a bike on this bridge; it’s for trains only. I think you’d have to go out of your way to get off the bike path and onto the train tracks.
JenGoodSword Yes. From the report he was riding north on the train tracks and then entered a section that is a bridge for the train and the train alone. There isn’t a reason that I can discern for riding on it and it takes some work to do so.
MikeMcKisson JenGoodSword terrible. Sorry to hear it.