GUIILDERLAND — A massive search for a body following a CSX report of a man lying in the train tracks Tuesday evening, ended with the discovery that there was no body to be found.

Emergency medical technicians and firefighters stood by as State Police searched in a helicopter above Frenchs Hollow and CSX crews searched along the tracks below for any evidence of a body. Guilderland Police were contacted by a CSX engineer around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the acting chief of police, Carol Lawlor.
"A report came in about a man lying down on the tracks," Lawlor told The Enterprise. "The train made an emergency stop and a search began."
A search was conducted until nearly 9 o’clock that evening, Lawlor said, and police closed the investigation by concluding the man escaped the train’s path without serious injury and was in no way "struck or harmed by the train and did safely exit the tracks."
"We would like to talk to the person in question," she said.

The only charge that could result from the incident, Lawlor said, is trespassing, which is a violation.
"That’s why it is illegal, because it causes so many problems," Lawlor said. "We’ve had kids on the tracks before," she added, referring to when a young man jumped from the train track trestle over Route 20 to avoid a train and required hospitalization.

Local residents along Frenchs Mill Road and Frenchs Hollow gathered outside of their homes, many of whom were listening to hand-held scanners, to watch as police searched from the skies and along the railroad tracks for a body.

Dozens of responders arrived on the scene to help. The Western Turnpike Rescue Squad and Guilderland Emergency Medical Technicians were on hand as well as firefighters from the Guilderland, Guilderland Center, and Altamont fire departments. Guilderland Police and State Police teamed up with the Albany County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team to answer the call.

Although there is no concrete answer to how much the incident cost local responders, Lawlor said that overtime hours were used in the Guilderland Police Department.

Sergeant Kern Swoboda, a spokesman for the State Police’s specialized services, said an exact number couldn’t be given on the cost of the helicopter use that evening.
"It’s an incorporated part of our annual budget," Swoboda said. "That’s why we have the service available. We’re a support unit."

The unit aids in various missions for the State Police, local municipalities, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, hospitals, aerial fire suppression, and other functions, Swoboda said. The New York State Aviation unit consists of five stations with its headquarters located in Albany.

A spokesman from CSX, Bob Sullivan, said that the 84 cars in the train heading from Selkirk to Chicago made an emergency stop after the train crew spotted the man in the tracks.
"They stopped very quickly"The message here for people is the railroad tracks are not for recreation; they are a place of business," Sullivan said. "People put themselves at risk when they walk on the tracks."

Lawlor said the response to the call went very well and reiterated what Sullivan said by reminding people that railroad tracks are dangerous places.