Earlier today, the Russian Railways concluded its official investigation into the death of Elena Soboleva, who died on January 18 crossing the tracks at the Saltykovskaia train platform [1] [ru], located just east of Moscow. The Railways (or RZhD, as it's known in Russian) determined [2] [ru] that Ms. Soboleva was responsible for her own death, having elected to cross the tracks despite numerous signs and signals that a speeding train was approaching.
This verdict has inspired her husband, Kommersant radio journalist Sergei Sobolev, to launch [3] on Facebook a civic campaign against both RZhD and the local town government for negligence in public safety. Sobolev claims that 20-25 people die annually at this train crossing, and reports that two more people have died there since his wife's fatal accident. RZhD, for its part, refutes [4] [ru] those numbers, insisting that only nine people sustained nonfatal injuries in 2011 and 2012. Sobolev, however, says he wants to build a public campaign and eventually take formal legal action.
Mr. Sobolev's efforts have already attracted significant attention [5] [ru] from the mainstream media at both the local and regional levels.