El callejón del suicidio

Monday, October 25, 2004

By HEATHER KAYS
HERALD NEWS



Nobody knows where it came from, but the nickname has stuck.

Suicide Alley - the set of railroad tracks from Outwater Lane to the end of the Bergen Line - has been the site of accidents and suicides for years.

Residents say that the Van Winkle Avenue crossing, near the intersection with Midland Avenue, is more than a little dangerous - it's a death trap.

"It's almost like a myth, or an urban legend," said Deputy Chief Robert Andrezzi. "It almost develops itself."

Except it's not a myth.

According to Federal Railroad Administration statistics on safety, the Van Winkle Avenue crossing has had more accidents in the last 10 years than all but four other road-rail intersections in the state.

The intersection in the state that has had the most fatalities in the last 10 years is just down the line, at Monroe Street.

With four, Garfield has more intersections in the top 25 for road-rail incidents than any other city in New Jersey.

No one seems to know why it has been the site of so many deaths and suicide attempts. They just know that it has.

"We've had our undue share of suicides and accidents," Andrezzi said.

"It's a substantial number and because of the frequency of the incidents, people started calling it that."

Though there are several agencies set up to handle railroad safety, the ultimate responsibility for Suicide Alley lies with the state.

The state Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration both say they have done everything they can to protect pedestrians and drivers from the trains, that are often traveling at speeds of more than 40 mph.

A deadly crossing

In the past three years there have been three deaths at the Van Winkle crossing alone, according to Janet Hines, a spokeswoman for NJ Transit, which owns the railroad lines. That's in comparison to 24 incidents on NJ Transit rails within the city - including injuries, accidents, deaths and suicides - in the last 29 years.

The tracks claimed their latest victim in late summer. An 88-year-old lifelong city resident, Anna Filippelli, was taking one of her daily morning walks when a Hoboken-bound train struck her on Monday, Aug. 23. The engineer saw her. The horn blared.

But the emergency brakes did not stop the train in time. The reason the woman was on the tracks could not be determined, according to Bergen County officials. After an investigation of her death, the Bergen County Medical Examiner's Office was unable to prove if it was accidental or intentional, Hines said.

One of the most notable occurrences at Suicide Alley was the death of a high school teacher who was well known in the community. Edward Kotwica's death in October 1999 was ruled a suicide by Bergen County authorities.

The 51-year-old health teacher and coach had been charged with sexually assaulting two students. A few hours later, he stepped onto the train tracks. He was struck by a train and killed. Kotwica's wife, Christine, was out getting him breakfast at the time.

"Wednesday was the fifth anniversary of his death," said Connie Giacomarro, a former councilwoman who lives on the opposite side of town, but drives past the train tracks on a daily basis.

"It just seems like once someone committed suicide there, then every time anyone decided to commit suicide, that's where they went," she said, adding that she sees children and teenagers hanging out near the tracks regularly.

The history

In 2002, a woman was killed after lying on the tracks in the path of a commuter train half a mile west of the Plauderville station.

In 2001, a 70-year-old woman was killed when she made no attempt to move out of an oncoming train's path. In November of the same year, police were investigating the possible suicide of a man in his mid-30s. The list goes on and on, dating back as far as the early 1980s.

Others incidents appear to be more accidental, but no less tragic.

On June 23, a 60-year-old man from Passaic was struck and killed as he walked along the train tracks near River Drive. Felipe Zuniga appeared to have been trying to get out of the way of the train when he fell and was hit, NJ Transit officials said.

In 1996 a 12-year-old boy died of head injuries after a being struck by a train near Monroe Street. Christian Maldonado died about two hours after the 3:55 p.m. accident on Oct. 11.

He was trying to outrun another child and beat the train when he was hit. Moldonado could not see the eastbound train, as there was a westbound train blocking his view.

Of the three deaths in the past three years only one was ruled a suicide. Another was ruled an accident and the third could not be determined, according to Hines. But the notoriety of the tracks has not faded over the years.

"It's a congested area. It's open. It's easy access, really," said Deputy Chief Andrezzi. "There's no part that's fenced off. You can just walk right onto the tracks."

Making it safer

The installation of warning signals, fences and other safety precautions are the state Department of Transportation's responsibility, said Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration in Washington.

The Van Winkle Avenue and Chestnut Street crossing is a grade crossing, an intersection of railroad tracks, roads and walkways on the same level. It has signal lights, a crossing gate and warning signs.

But there are no fences or barriers, something residents and many officials, including Mayor Frank Calandriello and state Sen. Garry J. Furnari, D-Essex, have said they've complained about over the years.

"The state DOT alone decides whether or not lights and gates are needed at public crossings," Flatau said. "The state has the authority. It's their responsibility to do studies and perform risk assessments in areas that seem to have a lot of incidents."

Studies and investigations are done on a regular basis and after every incident on the tracks, said the DOT.

"Suicide is not something that we have a mode of preventing at the DOT," said Mark Lavorgna, a spokesman for the department. "What we have a responsibility to do is ensure that individual intervals of the tracks are properly signed, have the appropriate flashers and potentially have crossing gates."

Lavorgna said that the state sets the rules and does have authority, based on federal standards.

"We consult with other states and transportation organizations," he said. "But with the suicide issue, there's not really all that much we can do."

If other warning signals or fences were installed, it would then be up to the railroad to maintain them, according to FRA regulations.

Fences will be built along 1.3 miles of track in Garfield, according to City Manager Tom Duch, though he said he did not know the locations or a possible date of completion. For residents, erasing the site's past is not likely.

"It's been going on for many years. You either have to be really brave or insane," said Giacomarro, the former councilwoman, who said she could not remember the first death but that it has been like this for the past 25 or 30 years. "I can't imagine standing in front of a train. But if you were going to, for whatever reason, that seems to be the place to do it."