Railroad Plus Beach Adds Up to Tragedy

Popular beaches located near railroad tracks are often a magnet for disaster, as the death of a young San Clemente man this week showed, an Amtrak spokesman said Friday.

Jeffrey T. Hutto, 21, was killed by an Amtrak train while trying to ride his bicycle across a narrow railroad bridge near Trestles Beach.

“We’ve had problems like this throughout the state,” Amtrak spokesman Howard Robertson said. “People often want to use our train trestles to get to a favorite or prime surfing area. But it’s not worth a gamble with your life. Unfortunately, these kinds of trespasser strikings are not rare. They happen very frequently.”

Robertson said that Amtrak has no immediate plans to fence the bridge where Hutto died Thursday morning. He said it is the public’s responsibility to stay clear of these areas where warning signs are posted.

“Generally, we’ve found that in the past, fencing does not work if it is put up,” Robertson said. “It’s usually bent or torn down within a week if it’s a popular area for pedestrian traffic.”

A spokesman for the California Department of Parks and Recreation, whose jurisdiction includes Trestles Beach, said his agency has “no control over people who trespass in areas they don’t belong in.”

“You can say it’s illegal, but people are going to do what they are going to do,” said Jack Roggenbuck, supervisor for the department’s Orange Coast district. “There is an identified bike trail that runs from San Onofre State Beach to San Clemente. People can ride along that and feel very safe.”

The last death on the wooden bridge near Trestles Beach occurred in 1990, when 22-year-old Adam James Ruley was struck by an Amtrak train as he and two friends were taking a shortcut to the beach. That shortcut is used frequently by surfers and bicyclists.

Robertson said this week’s accident is a grim reminder of the dangers of trespassing on tracks.

“People definitely underestimate the railroad,” he said. “A lot of people think the train is going slower than it is, and they misjudge it.”