A pedestrian was struck and killed by a train near Alma Street and Sherwood Way in Menlo Park on Wednesday morning, prompting police to shut down roads in the area and warning residents to stay away as officers worked the scene. The person was pronounced dead before first responders arrived, according to the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.
Menlo Park police alerted the public, posting on X that people should avoid the area of Alma and Sherwood Way due to what they described at the time only as a major injury accident, adding that some roads were closed. The actual cause soon became clear: a pedestrian had been hit by a train, as reported by almanacnews.com. The Menlo Park Fire Protection District said police had called first responders to the scene at 9 a.m., but the individual had already died by the time crews got there.
Police closed streets near the intersection until shortly before 11:30 a.m., according to the same report. Westbound lanes reopened first, at 10:42 a.m., with the eastbound side following almost an hour later as officers finished their work at the scene.
Caltrain Service Disrupted for Hours
The collision rippled across the broader rail corridor. Caltrain canceled several trains and warned riders of delays exceeding an hour, per the same account from almanacnews.com, leaving commuters scrambling during the morning transit window.
The Menlo Park PD
advisory specified the eastbound Ravenswood Avenue/train tracks and westbound Laurel Street/train tracks as places to avoid, and the department's original notification was issued as a Nixle alert that has since been deactivated and is no longer available. The San Mateo County Coroner's Office said its investigation into the death remained ongoing as of 11 a.m., though its current status could not be independently confirmed.
A Stretch of Track With a History of Deadly Crossings
Wednesday's death is not the first fatal collision involving a train near this stretch of Alma Street. A woman in an SUV was struck and killed by a train in February 2015 at a nearby street-level crossing, according to a report from paloaltoonline.com. That death prompted the Menlo Park City Council to vote 3-0 in favor of a six-month trial of safety changes at the Alma Street-Ravenswood Avenue intersection, which included temporary medians running from the railroad crossing to Noel Drive and a curb extension blocking left turns from northbound Alma Street onto Ravenswood Avenue.
Menlo Park has also been studying longer-term options to separate roadways from the railroad tracks entirely, though that study was expected to take at least 18 months, per the same paloaltoonline.com report. It remains unclear whether any of those earlier safety measures apply to the exact location of Wednesday's fatality near Sherwood Way.
