COLUMBUS — As weather and summer vacations bring children outdoors, officials are issuing reminders about the dangers of railroad tracks. Brian Green knows those dangers firsthand.

        The 9 year old was walking near a rail line while hunting for snakes on May 26 near his home on the city's west side when he tried to touch a Norfolk Southern freight train going down the track.

        “I put my hand out ... and the ladder or something caught on to my hand,” Brian said this week from his bed in Children's Hospital.

        Brian became entangled and was swept toward the wheels of a freight car. He kicked, trying to stay clear of the wheel, but his right leg was run over below the knee.

        Pushing off with his left leg, he held onto his injured leg as he slid down the embankment of the elevated track.

        Brian now wears a brace on what remains of his right leg and hopes to leave the hospital next week.

        Last year, 12 pedestrians were killed and 13 injured as they “trespassed” on railroad tracks in Ohio, according to Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit railroad-safety group.

        Nationwide, 463 pedestrians died in such accidents. The Federal Railroad Administration said that total is higher than the number killed in train-car crashes.

        Railroad officials said warning signs and fences can't always deter curious children, transients trying to hop a train car or drunks who see a crossing platform as a comfortable resting place.

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