That shopping cart was there on Sunday evening, too, so it might not have have any relation to the deceased.

Good comment "dang", when I read about the shopping cart I immediately thought the deceased was a transient who left it there.

How sad. This has got to be traumatic for the guy's family, witnesses, the police, firefighters, paramedics, and the engineer operating the train. My thoughts go out to them.

My son and I saw the ABC 7 helicopter hovering over the neighborhood late yesterday afternoon, and we didn't know what was up. Now we know.

Yes, often, journalists for The Voice add their personal (and often misleading) observations to their articles (e.g., shopping cart) without understanding the facts. The implication is that this was a homeless person, and that is apparently not the case. He was a resident of Sunnyvale, according to SFGate.

This is a terribly selfish way to end one's life. It is terribly traumatic to others, such as the poor train conductor and others on the train or at the station. Why would you want to take your pain and dump it on others this way?

Depression is a mental illness. It is not incurable - get help, and be patient. You will get better. Stop directing your focus inward. Focus outward, and stop the selfishness!!!!!

@Anonymous: You clearly fail to understand the effects of depression and lack the compassion to put yourself in the shoes of someone afflicted by it. Kindly refrain from commenting on something you know so little about. Foisting your insensitive comments on the rest of us is a truly selfish act.

I think Anonymous is right - it is a selfish act. I heard that the train hit him at 75 mph, and it created a terribly grisly mess. This is not the way to end one's life if one feels strongly about doing so.

To "USA" of Old Mountain View: I don't think whether he is a heterosexual or not has anything to do with this story or related story.

The man was a suspected molester, period.

On March 20, 2010 this man, Christian Edward Archibald was arrested for molesting a minor in a store: Web Link

Whether he was a homosexual pedophile or a heterosexual pedophile, why does it matter? I never have noticed articles detailing the fact that someone was a hetero child molester, so why should it work the other way? You know what the difference probably is? The difference is probably that a homo pedophile will feel bad enough about it to kill himself, where a hetero pedophile will just keep doing it and will likely kill the victim(s) instead. Think about it...I bet statistics will prove this to be correct.

I was told by a psych major that those that choose to end there lives this way do so because its easier to do than some other means. they can step in front of the train but cant injure themselves directly.
I was on the 515 baby bullet last night and shortly after we had left the station heard from the engineer that we were going to be making all the stops between ssf and san carlos where we waited for 30 minutes or so and then stopped every station til palo alto where we were deboarded so the train could express to diridon. We boarded another train and waited another 30 minutes in palo alto until taking off for mountain view around 730pm.
When we got to the san antonio stop there were still police and emergency personnel onsite and the area was taped off. There was a gurney on the platform covered with yellow and yellow tarps covering most but not all of the the persons remains at various spot along the tracks. I saw some bloody clumps and and few feet down a severed foot and ankle with a black crew sock. There was a police officer measuring the distance the remains covered. The body must have basically come apart upon impact.

Mountain View should offer free stress management courses so that the deeply depressed among us can realize their are ways other than these terminally desperate measures.

How about it, city of Mountain View? What can you do proactively here?

The brilliance of our fellow citizens' comments and submissions even re: this story are truly mind-boggeling. Posted by "witnessed on the tracks" immediately prior to this blog - "The body must have basically come apart upon impact." Let's examine something here folks. The train was traveling between 73 and 79 miles per hour when the victim stepped in front of it. What would you expect would happen to a body under these circumstances? Thank you for listening.

Conductor does not drive train. Engineer drives train. Conductor deals with passengers.

The conductor is "in charge" of the train. His responsibilities are quite a bit more involved than "deals with passengers."

Engineers operate, conductors coordinate.

A train can move without a conductor not without an engineer.

I think it's probably more likely that the train ran over the guy than it hit him and he exploded into pieces. This was a particularly grisly incident because he ended up under the train. Conductor, engineer, passengers, people at the station....unfortunate that they all had to witness this. It is traumatizing.

I'm so sorry that that man felt so lonely or sad or depressed to have taken his own life.

I am unforgiving, though, that he should have brutalized SO many others in the way he did it. He didn't have to take his life that way and horrify so many others.

I respect someone's right to take his/her own life. But to horrify others like that in doing it, you deserve no sympathy.

Why are some places on these tracks drawing more suicides than others? Seems San Antonio station and East Meadow crossing have been the most used for suicides. Is there something that makes these tracks more accessible or appealing for such acts? Perhaps they are somewhat sheltered and less busy than other areas?

AND PLEASE STOP with the graphic comments. I never read such comments on other suicides. Are we all becoming so numb about these stories that there is a need to amp up the details?

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Committing suicide in a way that brings the entire train commute to a grinding halt is not just a solitary act of violence against the self.

It victimizes hundreds or thousands of innocent people trying to get to and from work and inflicts a huge amount of random trauma.

Making compassionate comments about such an extraordinarily disruptive method of suicide is kinda weird.