BRISTOL, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — An Amtrak Acela train struck and killed three family members who were on the tracks in Bristol, Bucks County Thursday evening.
The crash happened around 6 p.m. near Bristol Station.
Bristol Borough police said they received a call about three people on the tracks in the area of Prospect and Beaver streets.
The tracks are elevated, not street-level. Bristol Police Chief Joe Moors said a sergeant had tried to make his way up an embankment to get the people off the tracks, but he was too late. The high-speed train barrelled through. Witnesses said they heard the train come to a screeching halt.
Police said the victims are family members, though they didn’t elaborate. They did not provide ages or any other information to indicate how they were related and why they were on the tracks in the first place.
The Amtrak train was traveling from Boston to Richmond, Virginia. Amtrak said there were 236 people on board and none of them were hurt.
As police investigated, service was suspended between Philly and New York for several hours. When trains resumed service again, speed was restricted.
This is the second day in a row that a person was fatally struck by a train in Bucks County. Another person was struck and killed by an Amtrak train near Cornwell Heights Station on Wednesday.