Tragic story.
I have to ask “What was this guy thinking?”.
OK, you want to film a video by the railroad tracks. That’s cool.
But seriously, how could you not hear the train and think “Um, maybe I should move out of the way. I AM standing pretty close to (or on) the tracks. I’d hate to get killed or injured”.
Worse yet, why didn’t the person doing the filming yell out “Yo Achilles, you better get your butt out of the way NOW!”.
Maybe he did, but “butt” doesn’t communicate the same urgency as: “...get yo a— off the tracks, idiot!”
He probably had earbuds plugged in.
“Worse yet, why didn’t the person doing the filming yell out “Yo Achilles, you better get your butt out of the way NOW!”.”
Must be he is/was just like this star performer.
“how could you not hear the train”
I worked for the BN railroad and one day at Tascosa I discovered that an empty unit coal train coasting down a hill at 60 mph on welded rail can be very quite. I wasn’t very close to the track, but was looking the other way and didn’t hear it until it zoomed right by me.
Not jumping down your throat here, but, no, it's not cool. It's trespassing and very dangerous. Title 49 CFR Part 214 - Roadway Worker Protection mandates a safety program that all railroad must have. These railroad rules are very clear that even employees, unless performing their assigned duties and have some form of protection against train movements, that they are NOT to occupy the track.
Be careful out there.