Train accident in Saddle Brook, NJ

What a horrible way to start the morning!

My wife and I boarded our usual train (the Bergen Line) to get to work. After about 5 minutes or so we all felt the engineer hit the brakes suddenly.

Then there was the impact.

The poor guy next to me spilled his hot coffee all over his hands and my wife started to say in an excited voice "We've hit a car! My God, we've hit a car!"

I looked up to see a dust cloud swirl past the windows as the train tried to come to a stop.

Everyone realized what had happened but were helpless to do anything but wait for information from the conductor. We all looked around hoping that whatever or whoever was hit by the train was okay.

10 - 15 minutes later (it seemed like forever) there was an announcement that the train had hit a car. Fortunately, who ever was in the car had escaped before the accident. The sigh of relief could be felt through the whole train car.

Another 15 minutes later they moved the train back so it wouldn't block the road and then they announced that they would be bringing another train for us to board.

My heart goes out to the person who's car was hit. My understanding is that this particular intersection is dangerous because of the angle of the road to the train tracks. Even if the person is at fault (which I don't know one way or the other) I just have to feel sorry for him/her.

Remember folks, be careful at train crossings. Getting to work thirty seconds earlier isn't worth risking your life (and your car too). At the same time, I hope NJ Transit will investigate the possiblity of changing the intersection in some way to make it safer.