NJ Transit Train Hits, Kills Pedestrian At Cedar Avenue

MIDDLESEX, NJ — An NJ Transit train struck and killed a pedestrian on the tracks Wednesday night in Middlesex borough, an agency spokesman confirmed to Patch.

The person was struck at 11:10 p.m. in the area of Cedar Avenue, said NJ Transit spokesman Jim Smith. A Raritan Valley line train was being moved to the maintenance yard in Kearny when it struck and killed the person, described by Smith as trespassing on the tracks.

The victim has not been identified.

The train was carrying no passengers since it was not in service, and there were no injuries to the three crew members on board. Raritan Valley line service was temporarily suspended between Bound Brook and Plainfield.

This is not the first fatality to occur at the problematic Cedar Avenue rail crossing, which is where the NJ Transit tracks cross over Cedar Avenue/Possumtown Road. Earlier this month, on Jan. 3, two women were killed when their car went around the gate and crossed the tracks while a train was coming. In that instance, the train hit their car directly while it was on the tracks and both women, New Brunswick and Middlesex borough residents, were killed.

Florence Obado, 73, of New Brunswick was the driver of the car. Her passenger was Susan Mazurek, 44, of Middlesex borough, according to an NJ Transit spokeswoman.

In January 2011, a man driving a tractor trailer was killed after his trailer was hit by a Norfolk Southern freight train at that same railroad crossing, according to MyCentralJersey.

The tracks are used by the Raritan Valley line, and freight trains.

Here is a video of the Cedar Avenue railroad crossing:

Read: Middlesex: Women In Car Killed By NJ Transit Train Identified (Jan. 3, 2020)

With reporting by Alexis Tarrazi/Patch