Sad, but I just looked at the crossing on Google Maps. There are flashing lights and lowered barriers for the sidewalks as well as the street. I can't see any way to make the crossing safer, short of elevating or burying the train tracks.

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@Retired Engineer: you are sadly correct. All Caltrain crossings are fully-equipped with automatic warning and protection systems (lowered reflective gate arms, copious flashing red lights, bells, signage, striping) in addition to the very bright headlights, flashing “ditch lights,” and loud horn blasts of oncoming trains. And once the trains were all fitted with forward-facing recorded video cameras, the occasional lawsuits that used to be brought by pro-bono ambulance-chasing attorneys claiming tragic accidental or negligent circumstances largely disappeared. The happy truth is that truly accidental pedestrian deaths at Caltrain crossings (and even at station platforms) are *extremely* rare.

So sad that this has happened again.

In the many years I have lived in Palo Alto, we do what we can to help those in need of help. Unfortunately, I wish we could find the solution that works, but it seems elusive.

RIP.

Palo Alto is one of the few cities that have not done grade separation at the Churchill crossing. Buses, parents, students, drivers, walkers, bikers all use Churchill Avenue. Why is this train not on a separate grade to cars, pedestrians, ad cyclists?

Studies have shown grade separation prevents numerous accidents between trains and all others (drivers, cyclists, pedestrians).

The City of Palo Alto know this is 1 of the worst Rr crossings in the State. They have seen all the accident/suicide data for this crossing. After 2 school suicide clusters —- 2009 and 2015, one really has to wonder why Churchill grade separation is taking so LONG to get done. CC has already decided on the Plan( option 1 or option 2. What is the holdup? I hold the City responsible for dereliction of duty to its citizens. This Rr crossing , which serves a HS of around 1,900 students and 100’s more ind and bike riders daily needs the grade separation NOW. Do we really have to have this scenario happen again? So sad for all friends and family of the victim.

Tragedy . I am very saddened by this fatality. My kids often ride their bikes over this crossing at this time. The city and namely the CM is at an apex , a near derail ruin of duty. WTEff. The types of deaths over his tenure. ECR pedestrian crossings, mid town power stations, down town high rise buildings, long time residents dying of hypothermia on a sidewalk, train crossings ... last week he was whining about his supervision of 1000 employees, full time and really mostly, part-time & contract. Seriously. Those perishing are the young, the old, the unhoused and yes, people of color. What a super sad state our city is in. And the the Palo Alto Museum gets a yah nod from CC. What is Palo Alto history? Post 195o and tech wanks???!!! How ‘bout pervasive redlining and a discriminating town for whites? City is archiving what at the Ye Olde PAMF bldg? Community rooms for public use? Are low income local seniors going to be served by La Comida lunch program with safe permanent cover there? Right now our seniors are served in cold, wet, severe heat and cyclone bomb weather. All out in open. No cover. No safety. No chair or table to digest a mid day meal let alone food, properly. Now downtown, low income seniors have to cross railroad tracks to get a covered, safe space at Stevenson House. Is this safe? Right? Inclusive? Equitable?

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Grade separations — easily costing well over $100m each — only stop (thankfully rare) truly accidental deaths … as with BART, and as already sometimes occurs with Caltrain, intentional deaths can easily shift to nearby stations.

He was aiming towards a PhD in Physics and that is quite difficult!

Vice Provost for Student Affairs, Susie Brubaker-Cole wrote: "Jonathan earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, where he developed an interest in quantum computing, a multidisciplinary field combining computer science, physics, and mathematics. The recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship he began his studies at Stanford in fall 2017, and co-authored several papers during his time here."