Mansfield Train Station reopens after man killed on tracks

March 3, 2016 5:04 pm

By Ana Bottary

abottary@abc6.com

Commuters that were forced to leave their cars at the Mansfield Train Station after a pedestrian was killed there are now able to get them back.

The station was shut down all morning long while police investigated. It reopened Thursday, nearly 24 hours after the man was struck and killed by an Amtrak train.

It was an unplanned day for John Greene. His car is one of the many roped off at the train station after the man was killed Wednesday afternoon. The gruesome accident happened too close to the parking lot, causing his car became part of the investigation.

"It’s a sad situation with what has happened," said Greene.

Because of the accident, Greene’s train was detoured to Sharon. When he finally got to Mansfield, they wouldn’t let him take his car home.

"We left at 5:40 p.m. from South Station trying to get here and we got back probably about 8 o’clock, after someone picked us up from Sharon," he explained.

Many commuters ran into the same issues and were dropped off at other stations Wednesday night. Some even witnessed the aftermath.

"It was like a bomb went off. Like everybody was running around picking stuff up. It was a gruesome sight," said one commuter.

The clean-up continued through the night and into Thursday as HAZMAT crews decontaminated the scene, washing down cars individually. The closure of the station created major delays Wednesday, and a headache for commuters the next morning.

"I was going to take the train to Providence today but I saw this whole scene. I called Amtrak and found out that they weren’t stopping here today, so it’s just a bit of an inconvenience. Kind of out-of-the-way," said another commuter.

Witnesses have told police they saw the pedestrian jump the fence and try crossing the tracks when he was hit.

"It’s just a short enough fence that you can try and jump it. They need to put up an 18-foot fence and signs. It’s just people always trying to find a way to get around it," said another commuter.