Police seek identity of man killed by train in Kensington
Investigators do not know how he came to be lying on tracks
Montgomery County Police Department officials say they are still trying to identify a man they found dead on train tracks in Kensington on Sunday.
Shortly before 1:30 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to the Kensington MARC station on Howard Avenue to the report of a body found on the eastbound tracks, about 50 yards from the station.
A preliminary investigation revealed the man had been killed by a train, said Capt. Paul Starks, a spokesman for county police. He said police do not know how he came to be lying on the tracks.
"Evidence at the scene indicates that he was, in fact, struck by a train," he said. "There are no obvious signs of foul play. Technically someone could have caused him to be hit by the train, we don't know yet."
Starks said the man did not have identification when he was reportedly struck.
An employee of CSX Corporation, the company that operates MARC trains, reported finding the body at 1:17 p.m. Sunday. Police said the last train near the station on the eastbound tracks passed the Kensington station around 9:30 a.m. July 25. The freight train that struck the man is owned by the Maryland Transit Administration, but operated by CSX.
The man, described by police as a white male with dark hair, 5-feet 8-inches tall, weighing about 120 pounds, believed to be 30 years-old. At the time of his death, he was wearing blue running shorts and had a gray shirt wrapped around his hand.
Federal Railroad Administration figures show there were five fatalities caused by trains in Maryland in 2009, all of which occurred outside of designated crossings.
2010 FRA data shows there have been 13 accidents reported by MARC trains this year, with zero fatalities. CSX trains, which operate more than 21,000 miles of routes nationwide, reported 33 fatalities and 322 accidents, according to the FRA.
This was the first of two deaths by trains in Montgomery County this week. On Monday, a body was found near the Boyds MARC station, police said.
His identity and the events surrounding his death were unknown by police as of Tuesday.
Anyone with information related to the case is asked to call MCP's Major Crimes Division at 240-773-5070.