The past two months have been deadly for local pedestrians traversing the railroad tracks.

When Bruce "Ernie" Streng was struck and killed by a train Monday on the Winona State University campus, it was the third train-pedestrian fatality in the Winona area since mid-August.

The spike matches a national trend of increasing rail-pedestrian fatalities in the past two decades, even as rail-vehicle collisions have declined. Safety officials credit an aggressive campaign to improve road crossings for decreasing vehicle-train wrecks. But pedestrian deaths have proven a more intractable hazard, killing more than 450 nationwide in 2008 and 11 in Minnesota so far this year - the most in a decade.

Many of the fatalities happened when the victim was wearing headphones, under the influence of alcohol, acting suicidal or simply not paying attention. Officials say these kinds of deaths are especially difficult to prevent.

It's impossible to ignore the mounting problem and its tragic effects. The Streng death and another last week in central Minnesota prompted state officials to issue a special safety alert, warning people to take precautions near tracks.

But warnings can go only so far: Safety officials have found no simple way to keep pedestrians safe from trains, said Bill Gardner, a rail official with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

"It's just very difficult to keep folks off the tracks," he said.

Pedestrians, not drivers, are most common victim

Since 1998, when a young Winona couple was killed after a train broadsided their truck at a Goodview crossing, all eight local rail fatalities have involved pedestrians, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

Several fatalities occurred when pedestrians were trespassing on the tracks. Other mishaps were at marked pedestrian crossings, including Streng's death and two accidents at Winona's Harriet Street crossing. A 19-year-old Alma, Wis., man, Ryan Eisenmenger, was injured at Harriet Street in August when he walked into a moving train. And a 15-year-old Winona cyclist, Zachary Churchill, was hit by a train and killed there in 2002.

Alcohol played a role in several incidents. A 25-year-old Winona man, Casey Merchlewitz, was under the influence when he was hit and killed near Kellogg, Minn., on Sept. 13, according to police. A 21-year-old Saint Mary's University student, Christy Pickford, had been drinking before she suffered critical head injuries when a train hit her near Sioux Street in Winona in 2007. Police say Eisenmenger also appeared drunk when they found him.

Officials recently have zeroed in on another accident-related culprit for pedestrians: loud headphones. Loved ones say Streng was wearing headphones during Monday's accident, as he always did on his morning walks.

Authorities also suspect a 24-year-old man was wearing headphones when struck and killed by a train Tuesday near Litchfield, Minn. Before the train hit the man, investigators say it sounded its whistle for more than a mile.

Officials struggle to improve safety, keep pedestrians off the tracks

Two recent train incidents occurred on or near the WSU campus, where foot traffic across the tracks is nearly constant.

WSU has obtained $4 million to build pedestrian tunnels beneath the tracks near campus - including one at the spot Streng was killed - and planned to have the tunnels finished by this fall. But the university couldn't coordinate the project in time and postponed it until spring.

Meanwhile, WSU security officers are focusing more on pedestrians who play near the tracks or don't use designated crossings, said WSU vice president Kurt Lohide.

Despite the attention, Minnesota has relatively weak laws barring pedestrians from trespassing on the tracks, said Gardner, the rail official at MnDOT. And Winona Police Chief Paul Bostrack said citing pedestrian trespassers is nearly impossible, though the department occasionally writes tickets for people who drive around rail crossing arms.

Mayor Jerry Miller says other measures might improve train safety. After Churchill was killed in 2002, some in the city discussed walling off the tracks to force pedestrians to use road crossings, where lights, bells and stop arms might give more warning. Such walls have been built along tracks in other communities, MnDOT and Canadian Pacific Railways spokesmen said.

In the wake of the Streng death, Miller said it might be worth another look.

"I'd rather see people have to walk around (walls)," Miller said, "than have somebody else be injured or killed."