(The following story by Diane Lacey Allen appeared on the Lakeland Ledger website on July 16.)
LAKELAND, Fla. — Four people were killed when a car was struck by an Amtrak train on tracks on Wabash Avenue in West Lakeland this afternoon.
There were no injuries on the train, police spokesman Jack Gillen said. No one was taken to the hospital.
CSX spokesman Gary Sease said a video taken from a nearby business showed the car going around another vehicle that was stopped and waiting for the train at the crossing and then going around the crossing gate and into the path of the train.
Sease said the crossing arm and signal were working properly.
Gillen said the videotape came from a surveillance camera at the nearby Publix complex.
The eastbound Amtrak train struck the car about 3:20 p.m. Wabash Avenue and Olvie Street.
Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy Connell said the train, the Silver Star, was on its way from Miami to New York with 161 passengers aboard. The train had stopped in Tampa before the accident.
Connell said the authorized speed for the train in that area was 79 mph, although she doesn’t know how fast it was going when it struck the car.