NEW YORK, February 4. /TASS/. A commuter train slammed into a vehicle stuck on the tracks on Tuesday evening, killing 6 people, mostly on the train, and injuring at least 12 others, authorities said.
The northbound train struck a Jeep Cherokee at a railroad crossing in Valhalla, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of New York City, a Metro-North Railroad spokesman said.
Media reports said the driver of the Jeep that was hit by the train and five passengers on the train were killed.
The train shoved the Jeep about 10 train car lengths north, and the Jeep and the front of the train caught fire, the spokesman said.
The railroad track gates came down on top of the vehicle, which was stopped on the tracks. The driver got out to look at the rear of the vehicle, then she got back in and drove forward and was struck, he said.
Smoke was seen pouring out of the scorched rail car, its windows blackened.
The accident happened about 6:30 p.m. and involved a train heading out of New York City on the Harlem Line. Service was suspended on a segment of the line between North White Plains and Pleasantville, the Metro-North Railroad service said.
Metro-North is the nation's second-busiest railroad, after the Long Island Rail Road.
News media showed images of a car on fire and smoke coming from train cars, and reported that passengers were evacuated from the train.
A passenger was quoted as saying that some 750 people were on the train. The passengers were evacuated to the back of the train and then put on buses, according to media reports.
The Harlem Line train runs from Harlem, a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, to Wassaic in southeast New York state.