Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 14, 1994                   TAG: 9407140101
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MANASSAS                                LENGTH: Medium

NS TRAIN HITS, KILLS 4 MEN ON TRACKS

Norfolk Southern spokesman Bob Auman said the 144-car train, bound from Alexandria to Lynchburg, struck the men about one-fourth of a mile east of the Virginia Railway Express station about 4:35 a.m.

The bodies of the victims were mutilated, Prince William County Police spokeswoman Kim Chinn said.

Chinn said Wednesday night that authorities were reasonably certain they had determined who the four were.

``We are getting information from the families,'' she said.

Two of the victims are thought to have been 18, a third 20 and a fourth 21, Chinn said. All were from Fairfax County. It may be several days before they are positively identified, she said.

A car found at the scene prompted police to begin interviewing people thought to have been relatives of the victims, Chinn said.

Auman said it's not clear why the victims were sitting on the tracks.

The conductor spotted the four ``at the last minute,'' Chinn said. It took about a mile for the 6,150-ton train to stop, Auman said.

Chinn said the morning was foggy, but that should not have played a role. Several beer cans were found at the site, Auman said.

The train was traveling 45 mph when the four were hit, said John Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration. The speed limit on tracks in that area is 50 mph, he said.

The wreck briefly disrupted commuter rail service and an Amtrak line.

VRE's first morning train, scheduled to leave for Washington at 5:30 a.m., was cancelled. Normal service resumed shortly after 7 a.m., Amtrak spokesman Michael Stewart said. About 1,600 passengers daily use VRE service on the Manassas line.

The wreck also delayed Amtrak's Crescent, bound from New Orleans to New York.

That train, with 228 passengers on board, was held at Manassas for about 90 minutes until authorities allowed the Norfolk Southern locomotives to leave, said another Amtrak spokesman, Howard Robertson. The three locomotives were blocking the Amtrak train, Robinson said.

Fitzpatrick said he could not recall another time when four people died while being on the tracks.

``This is unusual, the high number involved,'' he said.

Last year, 523 pedestrians died along the nation's railroad tracks, Fitzpatrick said. Another 529 were seriously injured.

Fifteen of those fatalities occurred in Virginia, Fitzpatrick said. Another 11 people were injured.

Keywords:
FATALITY