Train hopping leads to woman’s death and man’s injury

Awoman died and a man was injured while trying to hop a train on the South Side early Sunday.

Lindsey Marie Michaels, 21, of Pittsburgh, was killed at about 2:30 a.m. when she and the man, who was not identified, approached the Norfolk Southern train tracks near South Eighth Street.

Pittsburgh Public Safety spokeswoman Sonya Toler said the couple was “train hopping” when Ms. Michaels fell and was dragged. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The man also fell but he survived, having suffered an ankle injury.

According to a statement from Norfolk Southern spokesman Jon Glass, the train was traveling to South Fork, Cambria County, on the busy Mon Line. The train was transporting 130 hopper cars loaded with coal and was approximately 7,000 feet long. It was traveling at about three to four miles per hour through the South Side and then began to pick up speed.

The train crew did not see anyone trying to jump on the train, Mr. Glass said, and was not aware that anyone might have been struck by a rail car.

Norfolk Southern stopped the train in Etna, at about 2:55 a.m. after being alerted by Pittsburgh authorities about a possible pedestrian fatality involving the train. Norfolk Southern assisted in investigating the incident, but could not determine conclusively that the coal train was involved, though no other Norfolk Southern trains were moving through that area at the time the incident was reported.

According to Norfolk Southern, in Pennsylvania in 2016, 26 people died and 19 people were injured after being struck by trains while trespassing on tracks or railroad property, according to Federal Railroad Administration data. Pennsylvania ranked fifth in the nation for such incidents. Walking on railroad tracks other than at designated crossings is illegal and dangerous. It also is illegal and extremely dangerous to try to climb or jump on a rail car.

Ms. Michaels was a junior at Carlow University studying perfusion. Perfusionists run the heart-lung bypass machine during open heart surgery. She had previously attended Keystone Oaks High School.

The university said in a statement: “The Carlow University community extends its deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Carlow junior Lindsey Michaels, who died last night in a tragic accident on the South Side. We mourn her loss. Information about a memorial service on campus will be forthcoming. Our thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones. Please keep them in your prayers during this very difficult time.”