No one was injured when a Norfolk Southern train struck the front of an SUV Monday morning in Harrison, according to officials.
The crash was reported at 7:45 a.m. at the railroad crossing at Vine Street and Philadelphia Avenue.
Harrison Police Chief Michael Klein said a woman was turning right from Vine Street onto Philadelphia Avenue when a railroad crossing gate came down onto the hood of her SUV.
Klein said the front of the SUV ended up too close to the tracks and a mixed-freight train traveling east to Hagerstown, Md., clipped her front bumper.
“She had just made the turn and the lights then came on and the gate came down,” Klein said. “She stopped and wasn’t going to go any further, but unfortunately, a portion of her front bumper was too far out there so it tore off the portion of her plastic front bumper.”
The woman was the only person in the SUV. She was able to drive it away from the scene, the chief said.
Rachel McDonnell Bradshaw, a Norfolk Southern spokeswoman, said the company assisted police in investigating the incident. There were no reported injuries to the train crew.
She said Norfolk Southern advises motorists and pedestrians to stay alert around railroad tracks and to be mindful of all warning signs and signals at railroad crossings.
This is the second time in the past week that a Norfolk Southern train hit a vehicle in the Alle-Kiski Valley.
On Friday, a train en route to Enola hit the rear of a tractor-trailer in Cheswick, sending the big rig skidding sideways into the front wall of a man’s apartment. No one was hurt.
