Keifner v. Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co.

Citations

• 223 Pa. 50
• 72 A. 253
• 1909 Pa. LEXIS 471

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Railroads—Passengers — Stations — Crossing intervening tracks to train.</p> <p>1. Where there are several tracks at a station and passengers are expected to pass over intervening tracks to get upon a train, there is a positive duty upon the railroad company to provide a reasonably safe passage over the intervening tracks, and not to permit locomotives or trains to pass over them while passengers are on the crossing. Negligence in the performance of this duty will subject the company to liability for any resulting injury.</p> <p>2. In an action against a railroad company to recover damages for death of plaintiff's husband, it appeared that the deceased on the day of the accident went to a station where there were four tracks of a railroad running east and west. The station was on the south side of the four tracks. The track next to the station was the east-bound passenger, the next track, fifteen feet distant, was the west-bound passenger track, and the two tracks beyond were for freight traffic. There was a track platform between the west-bound and the east-bound tracks, and at this point the space between the rails of the east-bound track was planked for a distance of about thirty feet. The deceased entered the station, and while purchasing a ticket the gong sounded, giving notice of the approach of a west-bound train which he desired to take, and the ticket agent immediately announced to the deceased and other passengers, “train going west.” The deceased started with the other passengers following, proceeded down the steps to the platform, and while the deceased was about stepping from the planks between the rails of the eastbound track and the track platform from which he was to enter the west-bound train, he was struck and killed by an express train going east on the east-bound track running from twenty-five to thirty miles an hour, and twenty-seven minutes late. The other passengers who were following the deceased saw the situation in time to sa