NEW SCOTLAND — A retired CSX engineer committed suicide by train on Sunday night on tracks not far from Town Hall, according to Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple.

“The accident was on Game Farm Road in the town of New Scotland,” Apple wrote in an email to The Enterprise. “We don’t believe this was an accident.  This is an apparent suicide.”

Steven Kalow, 65, of Glenmont, was killed by an overnight train that crossed Game Farm Road; his body was “observed” by an 8 a.m. CSX train, Apple wrote.

“We don’t know, yet, which train struck him,” Apple wrote. “At this point, it appears it was an apparent suicide, and I cannot go into detail about that.”

Kalow left a letter describing where his family could find money he left behind for his burial, Apple wrote.

Kalow retired from CSX as an engineer, according to the sheriff.

Asked if medications, other drugs, or alcohol contributed to Kalow’s death, Apple wrote that the “coroner’s report will be a long time. [It is] unknown about any other contributing factors until [the] report is released, which, again, will be months away.”

The New York Times printed letters from Kalow in the 1990s and the early 2000s, about topics that ranged from tracing bad meat from processing plants and changed airline rules to political mud-slinging. Local newspapers also printed Kalow’s letters over a span of decades.

CSX this week would not comment about Kalow’s professional performance, or his personal connection with employees within the company.

“For privacy reasons, CSX does not publicly confirm the identity of current or former employees,” CSX media representative Rob Doolittle wrote to The Enterprise in an email.

Prevalent train deaths

“Unfortunately, instances of pedestrians being struck by trains are all too common,” Doolittle wrote. “According to Operation Lifesaver, a national educational organization that promotes safety around railroad tracks, in 2014 there were 501 pedestrian fatalities nationwide and 915 casualties total.

“New York was the sixth-highest ranked state in 2014, with 25 fatalities and 15 injuries,” Doolittle continued.

In 2012, a Delmar man committed suicide by crouching in the path of an oncoming train in New Scotland.

Engineers spotted the man while still a quarter-mile away and blew whistles while attempting a futile emergency stop.

“There is usually very little that a train crew can do to prevent striking pedestrians who place themselves on tracks or in the right-of-way,” Doolittle wrote to The Enterprise this week. “Depending on the speed it is moving, a freight train can take up to a mile to safely come to a complete stop. Even when an engineer sees a pedestrian or vehicle on the tracks there is usually nothing they can do to avoid a collision.”

In October 2014, a Guilderland man committed suicide by train on a Guilderland track.

A 2008 study suggested that 22 percent of railroad fatalities may be suicides.

The railroad administration in 2012 began collecting data on the number of suicide train deaths.

Railroad companies are now required to include the medical examiners’ manner-of-death findings in information submitted to the railroad administration. There are four classifiable manners of death: accidental, natural, homicide, or suicide.

A Federal Railroad Administration spokesman said previously that railroad companies operate programs designed to help employees cope with such incidents.

“CSX provides access to counseling services and other support through our employee benefits program,” Doolittle wrote to The Enterprise this week. “A crewmember can request relief from duty following incidents involving pedestrians or vehicles. Every incident is handled on an individual basis to ensure CSX is being responsive to the unique needs of each employee.”