SILVANA — The weekend death of a teen on the railroad tracks near Silvana was a tragic reminder about the dangers of trains near the river.
It was the second time in three years a teen was killed on the tracks in the unincorporated community along the Stillaguamish River.
The woman, 18, died at the scene early Saturday evening when she was hit by an Amtrak passenger train.
Witnesses said she was standing on a bridge when the train came around a corner, the Snohomish County sheriff’s officer reported.
The train operator sounded a horn, and the girl attempted to get away.
The train was going about 60 miles per hour and struck her. The death occurred in the 1900 block of Pioneer Highway.
Detectives with the department’s Collision Investigation Unit are examining what happened. The county medical examiner is expected to release the teen’s name and cause of death.
In May 2015, Kristi Bartz, 17, of Snohomish, was with friends at a popular swimming spot near the railroad tracks around Silvana when a train approached. She and the two others were on a trestle over the Stillaguamish River.
A boy from Everett jumped into the water before the train arrived. Bartz and a girl from Edmonds tried to get off the bridge before it arrived.
The train blew its horn and applied the emergency brake. The other girl was able to get to the side of the trestle as the train passed. Bartz could not get out of the way and was struck by the train, which was moving at about 40 mph.
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