Back in 2001 I had a summer engineering internship with Amtrak. I spend a good deal of time out on the North East Corridor with the surveyors. You can’t hear these electrics, AT ALL, and they are bearing down on you at 120 MPH. These days the Acelas are clocking a buck fiddy on the long tangents. High pucker factor... because it’s not like you can just hop off the track and be in the clear if you are on one of the middle tracks.
Just about every safety rule on the railroads is due to a death.