A woman who mistakenly drove her car onto railroad tracks in Andover was able to safely escape the vehicle just before a commuter rail train crashed into it on Tuesday night, Andover police said.
The woman, a 50-year-old Andover resident, was driving through the intersection of Railroad and Essex streets near the Andover MBTA stop around 6:50 p.m. Tuesday when the incident occurred, Andover police Lieutenant Edward Guy said.
The woman was attempting to turn onto Dundee Park Drive, a side road running parallel to the rail line, when she mistakenly drove onto the nearby tracks. Guy said there is around a 50-foot gap separating the street and rail line.
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“She thought that she was taking a left into the driveway of Dundee Park, and unfortunately because of the rain and lighting she didn’t take the turn into Dundee Park, she actually took a turn onto the train tracks,” Guy said.
He said the woman then had “a hard time” getting her Volkswagon SUV off the tracks, and she saw that the nearby railroad crossing gates had lowered and a train at the nearby station was beginning to accelerate in her direction. She then exited the vehicle and watched as the train smashed into the rear of the SUV and pushed it down the tracks.
“She had driven approximately 50 to 60 feet down the train tracks to begin with, and then the train pushed her vehicle 30 to 40 feet more,” Guy said.
The train was then stopped, and MBTA Transit Police and Andover police and fire crews arrived on scene. No one was injured in the crash.
“The only thing that happened was the train impacted the rear of her vehicle,” Guy said. “It was a mistake. She just didn’t realize exactly where the turn was because of the lighting and it was raining last night.”
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“It could have been a lot worse, and fortunately for her and everybody else, it wasn’t,” he said.
Crews remained on scene until around 9:30 p.m., when the tracks were cleared and the train continued on its way, Guy said. He described the damage to the woman’s SUV as “several thousand dollars to potential total loss of the vehicle.”
Guy said that traffic incidents in that area are uncommon, but have been reported in the past, due to the intersection of multiple streets and the train tracks.
“It isn’t the first time this has occurred, but it is indeed a rare occurrence,” he said. “There are four roads that kind of converge on this particular area, and there are two train crossings betweeen those four.”
The incident is under investigation by MBTA Transit Police.
Ben Thompson can be reached at ben.thompson@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Globe_Thompson