The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. But sometimes that's not the best route to take.

That's the message from Homestead and Norfolk Southern railroad police to people who are crossing the rail tracks behind the Waterworks shopping center at points other than the legal crossing at Amity Street.

Last weekend, the railroad and borough police started to issue trespassing citations to people caught crossing the tracks at any point other than the Amity Street crossing, where gates are lowered when a train passes. Both police departments plan to increase patrols along the tracks.

"They are violating the law and we have to do what we have to do," said Homestead Police Chief Jeffrey DeSimone.

As of Tuesday, Homestead police had issued four citations, and the Norfolk Southern police issued one citation and four warnings.

The effort comes in the wake of a fatality last week on the train tracks behind Giant Eagle, where police say people frequently cross illegally.

It is the area where Linda Smith, 64, of Hazelwood, was hit by a train and killed at around 5 p.m. Jan. 21. Homestead Mayor Betty Esper said Ms. Smith was carrying groceries when she was hit.

The mayor and chief said the conductor of the train saw Ms. Smith on the tracks but could not stop the train in time. Officials are unsure where she was headed because she didn't live in Homestead.

Mrs. Esper speculated that Ms. Smith could have been going to the parking lot of the Shop 'n Save on the other side of the tracks where jitney drivers sometimes congregate.

Access to the tracks behind the shopping center is open. In the area behind the Giant Eagle store, there is a well-worn path over the hill leading to the tracks. On the other side, along Sixth Street in Homestead, well-worn paths lead down the hill.

Across the tracks from Giant Eagle is a high-rise apartment complex. Speculation is that many of those crossing may come from the apartments.

"I had one gentleman tell me 'I do it all of the time. It's either walk five minutes or 20 minutes,' " Mrs. Esper said.

She said about two years ago a woman who lived in the apartments was killed on the tracks after shopping at Giant Eagle.

In one area, the track is separated from Sixth Street by an approximately 4-foot wrought iron fence. In one spot, two bars have been removed from the fence, allowing a person to slide through, Chief DeSimone said.

In another area near the high rise, where there is a 6-foot-high chain-link fence, his officers recently found that a large chunk of concrete had been pushed against the fence, apparently as a stepping stone, the chief said.

This weekend he found a makeshift step ladder in the same place.

The chief said he issued a citation this weekend to a man who lifted his young son over the fence near the high rise, then climbed over it himself. He said the man told him he had to go to the Waterfront, where he worked, for a short while and took his son with him.

The chief said that fences, no matter how high, will not deter people from crossing the tracks.

In the 18 years he has been on the Homestead force, the chief said there have been about 10 incidents in which people were hit on the tracks. But the incidents have happened more frequently since The Waterfront was developed.

He recalled that a man who committed a crime at one of the Waterfront shops tried to escape across the tracks and was injured when he was hit by a train.

Mrs. Esper said the issue has existed as long as the tracks have been there. When the steel mill was operating in Homestead, mill workers frequently crossed the tracks illegally to get to work.

Chief DeSimone said police are issuing summary citations that can carry a fine of up to $300. The fine will be decided by Homestead Magisterial District Judge Thomas Torkowsky.

He hopes that as word gets out about the citations people will walk to the legal crossing at Amity Street, about two-tenths of a mile from Giant Eagle.

Norfolk Southern officials also would prefer to get the message out through education rather than citations, said spokesman Rudy Husband.

"We've had good success getting the message out in schools: Trespassing on railroad property is dangerous and illegal," Mr. Husband said. Now the railroad wants to get the message to adults as well.

The chief put it more bluntly: "You are not going to win the battle with a train, and if you lose, it's not a slight bruise you're talking about."