Train hits cars moments after drivers escape

NEWMARKET, N.H. – With seconds to spare, two drivers escaped from the path of Amtrak’s Downeaster on Tuesday after one car crashed into the other, pushing it onto the tracks, witnesses said. No one was hurt.

“Somebody was watching out for her today,” Police Chief Kevin Cyr said of Carol Baer.

Baer, 56, of Candia had stopped on Route 108 at the train crossing as warning lights flashed. A car driven by Diego Hernandez of Newmarket crashed into the back of Baer’s car, pushing hers onto the tracks as the train approached.

“At that point the gate came down,” Cyr said. The driver’s door was jammed, but Baer was able to get out of the passenger’s door, he said. She had about 20 seconds until the train arrived.

“The train hit her car and pushed it through the gate, broke the gate off,” Cyr said. “Her vehicle hit a light pole and struck Hernandez’s [car].”

The train crashed into the cars about 10:05 a.m.

“We were going through the crossing,” said Bill Lord of Kennebunkport, Maine, a passenger on the train. “I saw a woman and a man running like heck to get away from the train. Then, boom! The car came spinning off the side.”

Marilyn Hunkins, one of the conductors, said she “was so happy to see them standing there on the side of the road.”

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black in Washington said there were no injuries on the train, which had five cars being pushed by a locomotive.

The train left Portland, Maine, on time at 8:50 a.m. and was about two miles from Durham, Black said, where it was due at 9:59 a.m. The train resumed its trip after about a 20-minute delay. The route ends in Boston.

Black said the train probably was authorized to go from 50 mph to 70 mph in the area.

The fourth anniversary of the Downeaster is on Dec. 15. The service has bounced back from a drop in ridership last year with an increase in passengers spurred in part by high gas prices over the summer, officials say.