One killed in Tri-Rail collision with vehicle in Palm Beach County

An unidentified person died Monday after a Tri-Rail commuter train collided with a vehicle at a crossing in Lake Worth Beach, the railroad said.

Shortly before 1 p.m., Tri-Rail train NB-P672 was heading north with 65 passengers when it struck the vehicle which burst into flames, said Victor Garcia, spokesman for the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which operates the commuter railroad. The crash site was at Sixth Avenue South east of Interstate 95 near the railroad’s Lake Worth station.

No passengers or crew members were injured.

“Police confirmed there was a fatality due to the incident,” Garcia said. “The folks on board were uninjured and got evacuated.”

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a phone message seeking comment Monday evening.

It was the first Tri-Rail accident of the year involving a vehicle that resulted in a person’s death,  Garcia said.

On Sunday, a Tri-Rail train hit and killed a pedestrian in Oakland Park. 

Transferred to another train

Garcia said the passengers walked to the nearby station and another Tri-Rail train picked them up to complete their journeys north to West Palm Beach and Mangonia Park, the system’s northern end point.

Later in the afternoon, the tracks were cleared, the vehicle was removed with a grapple truck and the system’s trains resumed normal operations about 4:30 p.m.

“We had major delays during the time it was happening,” Garcia said. “We couldn’t get a bus bridge out there. There were heavy delays experienced during those couple of hours.”