Rescue workers handle SUV-train accident
by Matt Mabe/The Star-Ledger
Monday January 19, 2009, 11:20 AM
A passenger train collided with a car this morning at a railroad crossing in Sea Girt, injuring the driver of the vehicle, a New Jersey Transit spokesman said.
The incident took place at 9:10 a.m. at the Washington Avenue crossing near the Manasquan border. New Jersey Coast Line train 4321 was on its way from Long Branch to Bay Head when it struck the 1997 Nissan Pathfinder, NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said.
Rescue personnel from Manasquan and Sea Girt work to extricate the driver of a Nissan Pathfinder whose SUV was struck by a southbound NJ Transit train at the Sea Girt Avenue crossing as the train traveled from Spring Lake to Manasquan stations at about 9:15 a,m.
The sole occupant of the vehicle, William Nixon, 51, of Sea Girt, sustained head and leg injuries and was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, Stessel said. The severity of his injuries was not immediately known.
About 75 passengers were aboard the train, but there were no injuries reported. The passengers were able to board the next train headed south and continue to their destinations. The total delay lasted about an hour.
Stessel said the gates were working properly, but the car crashed through them for an unknown reason.
