Driver injured after train hits car
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A woman was injured Thursday morning when her car was hit by an Amtrak train in west Raleigh.
It happened just after 10 a.m. on the train tracks along Nowell Road and Hillsborough Street.
Raleigh police told ABC11 that witnesses said the driver of a red Ford Focus - 59-year-old Ronni Squicciarinni of Cary - went around a down stop arm and over the tracks as the Amtrak passenger train approached.
Police said it is especially dangerous on that stretch of track since the speed limit for trains is 79 miles an hour.
The Carolinian train hit the car's left rear wheel area, and Squicciarinni was taken to WakeMed with minor injuries. She's charged with passing the rail road crossing stop arm.
"Very fortunate in this case," Raleigh Police Department Capt. Andy Murr said. "A lot of these turn out to be fatalities or very serious injuries ... she was very, very fortunate in this instance."
The Carolinian train was carrying 98 passengers on board at the time of the accident. No one on the train was hurt.
The Carolinian was headed to New York from Charlotte and had just left a stop in Cary before the incident. Service was temporarily halted as authorities investigated the accident.
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