Long Island Trains Collide with Passenger Car

WESTBURY, Nassau County, Long Island, NY — Nassau County police said that a male driver ran from a minor motor vehicle crash and onto Long Island Railroad tracks according to Click Lancashire Independent News and Newsday. A train pulling away from the Westbury station clipped the car and sent it spinning into the path of another passenger train moving at full speed. The passenger car blew up, and the force of the impact derailed the second train, causing it to slam into a concrete platform at the Westbury station. Fortunately, there were few injuries on the train. Regrettably, however, the driver of the passenger car and his two passengers died at the scene. The circumstances of the tragedy are still under investigation with local and federal authorities.

Nassau County officials used this horrific incident as another cautionary tale to dissuade drivers from crossing onto train tracks when the gates are down. Thus far, law enforcement investigators had determined that the passenger car which drove onto the tracks when the gates were down on School Street in Westbury was fleeing from an accident that happened seconds earlier. That vehicle reportedly clipped another car and drove toward the tracks. The witness involved in the minor crash said that the other vehicle weaved around the closed gates and onto the train tracks. A Long Island Railroad train pulling away from the station and headed east hit the car before it could cross the tracks. The forces of the collision caused the vehicle to spin into the direction of a Long Island Railroad train headed west. The westbound train struck the vehicle, and the car exploded.

Police say what happened next was straight out of a movie. The engineer of the westbound train saw that impact and explosion derailed the train. The runaway train headed straight for the concrete platform of the Westbury station. In a death-defying maneuver, the engineer ran deeper into the train away from the collision point while pushing a passenger to safety. Both were hurt but could have died in the collision.

Police did not immediately identify the deceased motorists.

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