Man, 35, Killed by Train Near Zemun Railway Station

A man believed to be around 35 years old was killed on Saturday, August 8, at around 4 p.m., when a train struck him near Zemun Railway Station. The accident happened on the section of track heading toward the tunnel that leads to Novi Beograd.

According to information gathered at the scene, the man tried to cross the tracks at a point where crossing is not permitted. A train was approaching at that moment. The engineer was unable to stop it in time, and the collision could not be avoided.

An ambulance crew reached the scene quickly, but doctors could only confirm the man’s death. He died on the spot from his injuries. His identity has not been released.

Police and the duty prosecutor carried out the on-site investigation

Police and the duty prosecutor came to the scene. The investigation is meant to establish how the man ended up on the tracks and exactly how the collision occurred.

That work is not a formality. The findings of the on-site investigation form the basis on which the prosecutor’s office decides whether the case involves elements of a criminal offense or is an accident for which no one bears responsibility. Until that decision is made, there is no talk of fault, neither for the engineer nor for the victim.

Why did traffic through Zemun run late?

Because the track stayed closed for as long as the investigation lasted. Rail traffic on that section was temporarily suspended, and once it resumed, trains ran with lengthy delays.

Zemun station sits on the route trains take toward Novi Beograd, so a stoppage at one point ripples down to every train behind the one that is held up. Passengers felt the delays through the afternoon and into the evening.

Tracks are not to be crossed even when no train is in sight

Following the accident, authorities repeated their appeal to residents not to cross railway tracks on foot and to cross the line only using:

• marked pedestrian crossings
• overpasses
• underpasses

The appeal gets repeated year after year, always after the same sequence of events. A train has nowhere to swerve, and its brakes do not act instantly. An engineer who spots someone on the tracks can start braking and sound the horn, but the outcome is already decided before the train comes to a stop. That is what happened on Saturday.

The spot where the man died is not a designated crossing. Taking the shortcut across the tracks saves a few dozen meters of walking, but the difference in risk is the difference between a footpath and a railway where a train is moving at full speed.

Third pedestrian death in three days

The Zemun accident is the third fatality outside a vehicle in just a few days. On Thursday, August 6, a cyclist died on the Ruma to Kraljevci road, and a pedestrian was killed the same day on Ugrinovacka Street in Dobanovci after being hit by a truck, as we reported. In none of the three cases was the victim inside a vehicle.

The common thread is not the driver, and it is not speed. The common thread is a pedestrian who ends up in the path of something that cannot stop. On the road that is a truck, on the rails it is a train, and the difference is that a train cannot even swerve.

Once the investigation concludes, the prosecutor’s office will decide on further proceedings. Until then, the circumstances under which the man ended up on the tracks remain a matter under review, not an established fact.