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SALT LAKE CITY — A woman died Thursday after being hit by a train in Salt Lake City, officials said.
The woman and another man were standing in front of a crossing gate in the area of 800 South and 600 West around 2:20 p.m., Utah Transit Authority spokesman Carl Arky said. The couple had passed the zigzag walkway "designed to alert pedestrians they are approaching a crossing" and the activated crossing gate with its bells and lights.
Investigators believe she might have been watching a Union Pacific train on the other set of tracks that run parallel to the UTA tracks, and when that train had passed, she stepped out onto the FrontRunner tracks without knowing the train was coming.
The woman was struck by a southbound FrontRunner train and was taken to the hospital where she later died from her injuries. Police do not know if she was wearing headphones when she was hit.
"UTA asks all pedestrians and vehicle operators to observe all safety signals at railroad crossings, wait behind the crossing gate, wait for the red lights to stop flashing, look both ways before crossing, and to put away mobile phones and remove ear buds and headphones," Arky said in a statement.
