A 29-year-old woman died of injuries sustained after she was hit by a train near the Veerenni crossing in Tallinn on Saturday. The accident disrupted departures and people waiting for the Riisipere train at the Baltic Station were told to take shelter from the cold inside the station building.
Woman dies in train accident
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The crossing is located on a sharp bend in the railroad. Visibility is around 100-150 meters, and it might be difficult for pedestrians to assess the safety of crossing the tracks. The crossing had a traffic light until it was closed to vehicles in 2015 after which only railings marked with red stickers remained for pedestrians.
Peeter Sillakivi, who works close to the crossing, warned the Technical Regulatory Authority (TJA) two and a half years ago.
“That crossing is very dangerous, and it is just a matter of time before an accident happens there,” he wrote to the agency back then.
“Passenger trains move at 70-90 kilometers per hour between two stations there. Standing at the crossing, a person only has seconds between seeing the train and it reaching their location, which is not enough time for an elderly person or someone with a hearing impediment to react,” Sillakivi wrote in his letter to TJA.