"The engineer put on the emergency brake as soon as he saw him," Amtrak spokeswoman Elizabeth O'Donoghue said. "But it was dark. And it takes over a mile to stop."

Authorities were still investigating the cause of the accident yesterday. It was not immediately known why the man was on the track.

The King County Medical Examiner's office identified the victim as Gregory Allen Gates, 33, but did not release his home town. They said an autopsy showed he died from blunt-force injury.

Gates was knocked off the trestle into the White River near the town of Pacific shortly before 9:30 p.m. A railroad crew member pulled him from the water after the train was halted, O'Donoghue said.

There were 84 passengers and three crew members on board the northbound Cascades train, which was making a run from Portland to Seattle when the fatal incident occurred, the Amtrak spokeswoman said.

No one on board the train, which was going a little less than the normal 79-mph track speed, was injured in the emergency stop.

The train was delayed for about 1 1/2 hours because of the accident, O'Donoghue said.

The fatal incident occurred less than two weeks after two young girls were struck and killed by another Amtrak train as they walked along

a trestle over the Green River in Kent.

Killed in the April 20 incident were Zandra Rene Lafley, 13, and Rachel Lynn Marturello, 11.

P-I reporter Jack Hopkins can be reached at 206-870-7851 or jackhopkins@seattle-pi.com

Publication date: 2000-05-03