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Aug 27, 2023

Four years after train kills professor at Beverly Depot, still no gate, no signal, no horn

Wilted and long-dead flowers are slotted into a chain-link fence at the Beverly

Wilted and long-dead flowers are slotted into a chain-link fence at the Beverly Depot commuter rail station. A sign posted on the fence reads "Look Before Crossing." Emerson College Professor Moses Shumow was struck and killed by a train in 2019 as he was crossing the train tracks on his bike. (Chris Van Buskirk/MassLive)

Lesley Mottla, a startup executive in Boston, had just crossed the train tracks on a pedestrian walkway at Beverly Depot on Oct. 22, 2019, when she turned around to see a commuter rail train hit and kill Emerson College Professor Moses Shumow, a husband and father of three who was riding his bicycle.

Mottla said she did not hear or see the outbound train coming as she crossed the train tracks, which did not — and to this day do not — have barriers preventing people from walking to the other side as trains approach the station like other crossings only blocks away.

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