A person is dead after an MBTA Commuter Rail train collided with a car on the tracks in Abington, Massachusetts, Wednesday afternoon, MBTA Transit police confirm.
The heavily damaged car can be seen right off the tracks near the intersection of Railroad Street and Birch Street.
According to transit police, they were called in around 4:50 p.m. They say their investigation suggests that the warning system at the crossing was working properly, and that the vehicle passed another one that was stopped, drove around the gate arm and onto the tracks, where it was hit by the train.
The driver was killed. There was no one else in the car and no other injuries were reported, Transit police said.
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"All of the sudden, the train just kind of shook and the lights went off," said train passenger Darius Fiske. "And then we looked out our window almost immediately and we saw the car just go flying past our windows."
This is an intersection that has seen several crashes in recent years, including one less than a year ago when Abington High School senior Katelyn McCarthy was hit and killed by a train as she tried to cross the tracks on foot.
"Now another family is going to be devastated," McCarthy's mother, Lori Frost, said Wednesday.
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She says the area is dangerous and continues to call for more to be done to keep people safe.
"We need someone to listen to us," she said.
Town leaders have been working to improve safety at this intersection.
This is an intersection with two gates that come down as a train approaches. Town leaders have been calling for four gates to prevent drivers from going around those arms as they come down.
The investigation is causing delays for the MBTA's Kingston Line.
