Train crews can suffer intense emotional distress when a person is struck, even when the death is not the crew's fault, industry officials said. Engineers and conductors in the lead locomotive often witness the fatalities.

"For a lot of our guys, it's not that they expect it, but they know it's a possibility," Canadian Pacific spokesman Mike LoVecchio said. "It can be really difficult for them."

On Sunday, Casey Thomas Merchlewitz, 25, of Winona was struck and killed by a Canadian Pacific train near Kellogg, Minn. On Aug. 30, Ryan Carl Lange, 26, of La Crosse died from injuries after being hit by a Canadian Pacific train two days earlier in Dresbach, Minn.

The Winona County and Wabasha County sheriff's departments have not received official coroner results, but both departments have ruled train crews were not at fault, deputies said Tuesday.

It can be nearly impossible to avoid hitting people on the tracks, even when the engineer spots them, because trains can take up to a mile to stop, LoVecchio said. Whenever a Canadian Pacific train hits and kills a person, a new crew takes over the train and the original crew is given the day off with pay.

The company provides "critical incident stress counseling" to crew members whenever a fatality occurs to mitigate potential psychological trauma, LoVecchio said. In particularly troubling cases - such as when a child is killed - counseling is mandatory.

Crew members can have time off if they don't feel they can immediately return to work, LoVecchio said.

Train tracks are private property, and a Canadian Pacific police service frequently presses trespassing charges or asks local authorities to do so, in large part to lessen the frequency of fatalities, LoVecchio said.

From January 2006 to June 2009, 12 trespassers were killed by Canadian Pacific trains, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

The company and others in the industry fund educational programs for school children, teaching them to stay away from the tracks, even if a train isn't in sight.

"These incidents never need to occur," LoVecchio said. "They can absolutely be prevented by not trespassing on the tracks."