A 21-year-old Peoria man was pronounced dead early Sunday after being struck by a train in downtown Flagstaff, marking the second fatal pedestrian rail collision in the city in less than eight months. Flagstaff Police officers responded around 2:15 a.m. to reports of a pedestrian collision near South San Francisco Street and the railroad tracks, where they found Jason Cataldo with injuries consistent with a train strike.
According to FOX 10 Phoenix, witness statements indicated Cataldo had been lying on the northernmost eastbound track before an eastbound train struck him. Police pronounced him dead at the scene. Flagstaff Police said entering or walking on railroad tracks outside designated crossings is unlawful and extremely dangerous, urging the public to cross tracks only when it's safe and to obey crossing gates, warning lights and audible signals.
A Crossing With a Troubled History
The stretch of track near San Francisco Street where Cataldo died is not an obscure hazard. The Arizona Department of Transportation's 2022 State Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Action Plan ranked this downtown Flagstaff crossing, just south of Historic Route 66, as the fifth-highest risk urban highway-rail grade crossing in the entire state, based on an evaluation of 698 public crossings statewide.
The corridor's danger isn't new. As reported by the Washington Times, a 21-year-old man was killed at the same crossing in August 2018 after reaching out to touch a passing train, and another fatality was recorded near San Francisco Street and Route 66 in December 2022. Under Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-1502, knowingly entering or remaining on railroad tracks or right-of-way outside designated crossings is classified as third-degree criminal trespass, a Class 3 misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.
A Busy Freight Corridor Slices Through Downtown
BNSF Railway runs its Southern Transcon mainline directly through downtown Flagstaff along Historic Route 66, carrying an estimated 80 to 100 freight trains a day across dual tracks that bisect the city's core, connecting West Coast ports to the Midwest along one of the busiest freight routes in the country. Those tracks also form a physical divide between Northern Arizona University's student housing areas to the south and the city's main nightlife district along Route 66 to the north, a barrier that pedestrians frequently cross late at night to move between venues and residential areas, according to City Hikes.
Federal money is already earmarked to address the risk. The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Flagstaff $32.46 million in 2022 toward the $58 million Downtown Mile Safety and Connectivity Improvement Project, which includes plans for automated pedestrian safety gates at the San Francisco Street crossing. The project, co-funded by BNSF and the city, remains in progress.
Part of a Wider, Deadly Pattern
Cataldo's death follows a similarly grim incident less than eight months earlier, when two men were struck and killed by an eastbound train on Christmas Eve near East Nestle Purina Avenue and East Industrial Drive. Flagstaff Police issued warnings after that double fatality nearly identical to the ones released this weekend, urging residents to stay off private railroad property.
The pattern extends beyond Flagstaff. Federal Railroad Administration data compiled by Operation Lifesaver ranked Arizona eighth nationally for pedestrian rail trespassing casualties in 2025, recording 38 casualties including 25 fatalities, part of a preliminary nationwide total of 1,317 rail trespass casualties that year. Research published in the Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems has found that rail trespassing and grade-crossing incidents account for more than 95 percent of all U.S. rail-related fatalities, with non-suicide trespasser deaths disproportionately occurring during late-night hours and often involving alcohol or drug impairment.
