A 46-year-old pedestrian was killed by a train in Seymour.
Tomas's name was initially withheld pending identification and family notification. Tomas was a Seymour resident. The department's Serious and Fatal Crash Investigation Team and Investigations Division both responded to the scene, alongside the Seymour Fire Department, Jackson County EMS and Jackson County Emergency Management.
Specialized freight rail law enforcement also arrived on scene: the CSX Police Department assisted local responders.
A City Built Around the Tracks
Seymour is a railroad-crossroads town, according to Indiana Transportation History, which identifies the Louisville and Indiana Railroad and CSX Transportation as successor railroads.
That junction has also become faster in recent years. Under a joint agreement between CSX Transportation and the Louisville and Indiana Railroad, CSX funded $100 million in infrastructure and signal upgrades that raised train speed limits through Seymour from 25 mph to 49 mph while increasing daily train traffic, per Railway Technology.
Not the First Strike Along Local Tracks
This is not the first time Seymour's rail corridors have been the site of a serious pedestrian collision. On October 8, 2024, a 62-year-old Seymour resident survived head and limb injuries after being struck by a CSX locomotive at O'Brien Street and Reliance Avenue, the Seymour Police Department said in a Facebook post at the time.
State Law and the Trespassing Warning
Indiana law treats being on railroad right-of-way outside a public crossing as a crime.
Police have not disclosed why Tomas was on the tracks or whether environmental or visibility factors contributed to the crash. The circumstances surrounding his presence near the Broadway Street crossing remain part of the ongoing investigation.
