Sounds like a poor design, most places will have people boarding from sidewalks or a raise area. As for the 2nd, people run into stuff in the cars all the time

Sounds like a poor design, most places will have people boarding from sidewalks or a raise area. As for the 2nd, people run into stuff in the cars all the time. Around 50-100 people die each day on US roads. And in the story you mentioned only the people in the car were injured, nobody on the train.