Trains are nearly impossible to stop when an engineer comes across someone on the tracks.
A family member said the man, Billy Malia, had been drinking and likely fell asleep on the track. The Canadian Pacific train that hit him was pulling 90 cars and weighed 8,348 tons. Yes, trains are very, very big and that also makes them nearly impossible to stop when an engineer comes across someone on the tracks - the very spot where no one belongs. This week's fatality was the second along that stretch since the tracks reopened to daily traffic in 1999. Local authorities were quick to erect a plastic barrier and question whether the trains were traveling too fast.