I wonder if another factor in the "curse" of that line is the extension with the second track.
At least the incident with the elderly couple reads as if they were aware of the track in general but were believing they were out of danger once they left the track with the freight train, not realizing they just drove the car from the one onto the other track.
If the line was a single track for so long, people living nearby might have developed a sort of "muscle memory" - if a train aporoaches, just walk aside - and because of this easy way to evade trains might not have remembered the line as "safe" enough that it could be crossed away from the crossings. However, with two tracks, this way to evade trains can become deadly.
Coming from Europe, I think the combination of at-grade + no fencing + high-speed trains + multiple tracks is at least unusual. I've seen some unfenced, at-grade tracks in Switzerland that crossed right through a meadow, but as far as I remember those were all single-track.
At least the incident with the elderly couple reads as if they were aware of the track in general but were believing they were out of danger once they left the track with the freight train, not realizing they just drove the car from the one onto the other track.
If the line was a single track for so long, people living nearby might have developed a sort of "muscle memory" - if a train aporoaches, just walk aside - and because of this easy way to evade trains might not have remembered the line as "safe" enough that it could be crossed away from the crossings. However, with two tracks, this way to evade trains can become deadly.
Coming from Europe, I think the combination of at-grade + no fencing + high-speed trains + multiple tracks is at least unusual. I've seen some unfenced, at-grade tracks in Switzerland that crossed right through a meadow, but as far as I remember those were all single-track.