Child falls from moving train

A 12-year-old St Catherine High School student fell from a moving train last Thursday, splitting her head open and causing severe bleeding.

Juli-Ann Edwards boarded the train in Spanish Town after school and was heading home to Linstead when she fell through an open door close to the Bog Walk station.

Operations Manager at the Jamaica Railway Corporation (JRC), Vernon Dixon, said based on his preliminary investigation, the conductor was not at the door when the child fell from the moving train.

"She was seen standing on the steps along with two or three others. They were called inside and the door was closed behind them. But the moment the train personnel moved away and went somewhere else on the train, it occurred that they opened back the door and went back on the steps. And what happened after that it's only when she was seen on the ground," Dixon said.

When THE STAR visited the young girl at home yesterday, she was disorientated and had difficulty trying to recall what happened. She said there was no conductor at the door when she fell. Dazed, and with blood running down her neck, she picked herself up and ran as fast as she could to catch the train at the Bog Walk station.

"She could have died," her father, Garfield Edwards, said. He reasoned that the fall could have been fatal if it had occurred in the narrow tunnels.

Since the incident, young Juli-Ann has been experiencing irregular but severe headaches and has received six stitches to close her wounds. Doctors have not cleared her to return to school. A brain scan has been recommended by a private physician with whom the child had a consultation yesterday, as none was done at Linstead Hospital where she was taken.

"I'm worried because mi nuh sure how deep the injury guh, or if there is any clot blood or nothing like that. Suh mi kinda worried over that," Juli-Ann's mother, Davina Reynolds, told THE STAR.

Last Thursday's incident left the pre-teen's parents quivering in fear, while fuming at the manner in which the situation was handled by the state-owned train company. They found out that their daughter fell off the train from a 14-year-old friend who gained access to Juli-Ann's phone, called her mother and told her to meet her at the hospital.

"She explain seh Juli-Ann drop off a di train and har head buss, but she still on the train suh mi fi come meet har. When we guh (to the hospital) we see only a 14-year-old school girl in har uniform. She alone up deh at the hospital with har," said Reynolds.

The mother said that when she got to the hospital, Juli-Ann seemed to be struggling to remain conscious, and was crying because of the pain.

"She could a barely talk to mi. She did just a move har head like she feel dizzy or sumpn like that. She just barely a talk to mi but she did a cry," she said.

For his part, Edwards said he could not help but cry when he saw his daughter's condition and realised that she could have died. He was also saddened by the fact that his daughter, who aced the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), the series of tests used to place students in high school, is now missing out on classes.

"First she come inna PEP, enuh, and it just nuh feel good cah she a duh suh well and fi she stop. It a guh set har back now," Edwards said, adding that he hopes her injuries will not cause long-term problems.

The JRC offers rail service to students in St Catherine on weekdays at a cost of $70 per trip. The corporation operates two trains - one goes to Old Harbour, and the other goes to Linstead. Each carries about 150 students at a time.

Dixon said that seats are always available on the train but stressed that there are "a lot of the indisciplined children" who don't want to sit. He said, too, that it is difficult for conductors to be at the door at all times.

"You have three coaches [and] you three conductors. They can't just stand up one place where an unruly child or unruly children are. They have to be moving in the train doing things," Dixon said.