ELIZABETH, N.J. — A couple walked onto railroad tracks and embraced just moments before they were struck and killed by a train, a wire service reported.
“They were holding hands and they walked into the path of the train,” Amtrak spokeswoman Karen Dunn said. “(The engineer) didn’t have much time to react.”
The couple, described only as a 27-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman, were killed around 4:15 p.m. Monday. They apparently left their wallets on a station platform, crossed a set of southbound tracks and stopped and embraced on the first of two northbound tracks as the train barreled down on them, investigators said.
Amtrak police, who were handling the investigation, did not release the victims’ names pending notification of relatives.
Daniel Quidore, who lives in an apartment complex near the North Elizabeth station, said he heard the train slow down and make an unusual noise. “It was like, `whump, whump, whump,'” he said. “Then I heard something, it was like a yell or a scream.”
He said he looked out his window a few minutes later and saw two bodies covered by a yellow tarp.
About 15 minutes earlier, he said, he had noticed a young couple kissing under an umbrella on the southbound platform.
Dunn said the Amtrak train had left Harrisburg, Pa., and was headed to New York’s Penn Station with about 50 passengers aboard.
The train remained at the site for about three hours before it was allowed to continue its trip. The accident caused scattered delays for commuters.