Police say a woman in Lake Barrington followed her GPS Thursday evening and drove her car down railroad tracks — thinking it was the roadway — and then a train struck her vehicle.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Barrington-Countryside Fire Protection District responded around 6:40 p.m. Thursday to Route 14 and Kelsey Road for a report of a train that struck a vehicle.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived and determined a train sideswiped a car that was improperly on the railroad tracks, according to Lake County Sheriff Spokesman Lt. Christopher Covelli.
The driver of the 2013 Nissan sedan, a 50-year-old Mount Prospect woman, was not injured. Her passengers were also uninjured.
A preliminary investigation showed the driver of the Nissan was traveling southwest on Kelsey Road, Covelli said.
The woman told deputies that her GPS told her to turn right as she approached Plum Tree Road and so she turned right onto the railroad tracks instead of the roadway.
She then proceeded to drive northwest on the railroad tracks for approximately 50 feet when a Metra train struck her vehicle.
Covelli said the train was headed towards the Fox River Grove train station when the collision occurred. The woman was cited for improperly driving on the railroad tracks.
According to Metra, Train #647 on the Union Pacific Northwest line, which was scheduled to arrive in Harvard at 7:24 p.m., struck the vehicle.
Outbound train movement remains halted as of 8:45 p.m., according to Metra.