BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
KATHY CHANG The rain the night before soaked the makeshift memorial of candles, flowers, stuffed animals, and balloons for 12-year-old Ashlyn Marie Ferriero that surround the entrance of the stairwell to the platform of the Avenel Train Station on Avenel Street. Ferriero, a seventh-grader at Avenel Middle School, was struck and killed by a North Jersey Coast Line NJ Transit train as it passed through Avenel on June 19. WOODBRIDGE – A 12-year-old Avenel girl, who was just three weeks shy of her 13th birthday, was struck and killed by a North Jersey Coast Line NJ Transit train as it passed through Avenel last week.
NJ Transit authorities said Ashlyn Marie Ferriero, who was a seventh-grader at Avenel Middle School, was “playing on the tracks” with four or five of her friends when the incident occurred at 2:56 p.m. June 19.
A concrete wall of the train station, which is on Avenel Street, displayed photographs of a smiling Ferriero with her friends, along with numerous messages left on the wall and nearby, displaying words such as “we love you and miss you” and “we will never forget.” A makeshift memorial of candles, flowers, stuffed animals, and balloons surround the entrance of the stairwell to the platform of the train station.
“Obviously this is a tragedy,” said Joe Dee, a spokesperson for NJ Transit. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.”
The North Jersey Coast Line train left the Hoboken train station at 2:13 p.m. heading toward Bay Head, NJ Transit authorities said.
“The train, which carried 250 passengers, was passing through Avenel and its next stop was expected to reach the South Amboy train station at 3:01 p.m.,” said Dee. “The train engineer sounded the horn and applied the emergency brakes; however, the train was not able to stop in time. No one on the train was injured.”
The tragic accident caused two-hour delays for transit riders while NJ Transit police with the help of the Woodbridge Police Department were investigating the incident.
Dee said that in light of the accident, it was important for people not to play or be on the railroad tracks.
“Trains are not like cars,” he said. “They can’t swerve to avoid something and it takes a long time for them to stop. It’s also important for people to obey the train gates as they are coming down.”
Dee said NJ Transit has been reaching out to the public for the past 20 years and educating them with safety programs about rail safety.
The Avenel train station is a high-level platform station that has two sets of tracks with an 8-foot-high fence separating the north- and southbound tracks.
Ashlyn was born in Livingston and moved to Avenel in 2002. She was a communicant of St. John Vianney Roman Catholic Church in Colonia, a student of Verne Fowler School of Dance, also in Colonia, and played in the Colonia Softball League.
Surviving are her mother and stepfather, Laura and David Seiden of Avenel; her brothers, Sam Seiden of Avenel and Carland Hunnaman of Colonia; her grandparents, Peter and Joyce Ferriero of Gouldsboro, Pa., Joseph and Joan Mellett of Linden, Jane Seiden of Cranford, and Guillermo and Frances Ibarra of South River; her godparents, Joseph Mellett and Judy Ferriero; and many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.
Funeral services were held June 23 at the Costello-Koyen Funeral Home in Avenel, and a funeral liturgy was celebrated at St. John Vianney Church.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 338105.