RED BANK – At about 7 a.m. Monday, an unidentified adult male was struck by a North Jersey Coastline (NJCL) train bound for Penn Station in New York.
According to NJ Transit (NJT) spokesman Joe Dee, NJCL train number 3222 originated from Long Branch at 6:50 a.m. and hit and fatally injured a “trespasser” who was on the train tracks as the train crossed the Navesink River Bridge.
“Certainly the engineer of the train observed the person, sounded the horn, placed the train into emergency braking, but was unable to stop in time,” Dee said.
The train had left the Red Bank sta- tion, which is about a half-mile from the Navesink River bridge, and was on its way to Middletown when the incident occurred, he said.
After the incident, the train was reversed back to Red Bank, where passengers were transferred to another train, according to Dee. Of the 350 passengers aboard the train, no one was injured, and the train crew was relieved at that time, Dee said.
“There are two tracks in that area, so the trains were able to operate on one of the tracks,” he said.
Dee said trains were delayed during peak morning hours because they were limited to operating on only one of the two tracks, but that NJCL trains were back on schedule by 10 a.m.
“[The incident] remains under investigation by NJT police,” said Dee.