As reported by WHDH, a man walking along the train tracks near the intersection with Brighton Street was struck and killed by an inbound commuter train this morning around 7:30 AM.
UPDATE: The Belmont Citizen Herald has identified the man as David C. Haverty, 82, of Gale Road in Belmont.
I passed by this scene shortly after it happened, by which time Transit Police had already taped off the scene and started their investigation. I don’t have much to add at this point, though it appears that the man was a Belmont resident. Police at the scene were reluctant to provide details on the incident –including whether it was accidental. It does appear that the signals and crossing gates were working properly at the time.
According to the report, Haverty was not crossing at the grade crossing, but was on the tracks “in an area where no person should be on the tracks,” according to an MBTA official quoted in the story. Haverty’s son, John, is quoted saying that his father was hard of hearing, the result of a war injury, and may not have heard the train coming.