Boy dies after train hit

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Police in suburban Milwaukee said there’s no indication of negligence on the part of a conductor, whose 32-car Canadian Pacific freight train hit 11-year-old Joey Kramer, a 6th grader at Longfellow Middle School In Wauwatosa, as he was walking to school about 7:25 a.m. the morning of Feb. 28. Kramer died about half an hour later at the Milwaukee Children’s hospital.

State Railroad Commissioner Jeff Plale said the boy was wearing headphones at the time of the accident. The train was traveling from Minneapolis to Chicago; the crossing gates were down, and all the alert equipment on both the gates and the train – lights, bells, horn – were working properly.

Canadian Pacific spokesman Ed Greenberg said the emergency brake was used, but it takes about a mile for a freight train to come to a full stop. The train’s engineer said he tried to stop the train but could not avoid hitting the youngster.

The railroad is working with police on the matter.

Plale said he would meet with Wauwatosa officials to see if anything could be done to prevent such a tragedy in the future. He urged people to be alert when crossing railroad tracks either while walking or driving, and never to walk on the tracks.

Tags: accidents, wisconsin, travel