Ok. How can 2 people ON a track, out in the open, NOT hear the trains coming?
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The noise of the first train on one set of tracks is so loud they do not hear the second train coming on the other set of tracks.
Read a story of a college student taking a shortcut across 2 tracks going from her dorm to the parking lot where her car was. She was waiting for a train, moving right to left, on the far tracks, and never looked to her left to see a second train coming at her on the near tracks. The noise and vibration of the first train masked the noise and vibration of the second train; she could have easily seen it since it was on the near tracks, but she was so preoccupied looking at the first train on the far tracks she never looked to her left. Sad.