Another car hit by LIRR train, this time in Patchogue

PATCHOGUE (WABC) -- There were service disruptions on the Long Island Rail Road Tuesday afternoon after a train struck a car east of Patchogue.

The incident happened around noon on Ryder Avenue, and service was temporarily suspended on the Montauk Branch in both directions between Patchogue and Speonk as a result. It was restored just before 1:30 p.m.

The exact circumstances of the accident are still under investigation, but based on witness accounts, authorities believe the driver drove around the signal gate. Looking at the damage to the car, and it's amazing anyone survived.

"The gates were down," witness Wayne Berry said. "He blew them. He went right through them...I just saw a quick flash and a bunch of parts flying everywhere."

The train had just departed the Patchogue station when the impact occurred.

There were 13 on board the train at the time, and no passengers were hurt.

"We heard the noise," witness Lee Harrison said. "It sounded like a train was derailing."

Rescue workers had to remove the door to the car to extricate the driver, believed to be a man in his 50s, but they say, amazingly, his injuries did not appear to be life threatening.

"A couple of people from the office went out and saw the man and said he was alive and breathing," witness Bruce Fuhrman said.

He was taken to Brookhaven Hospital.

"He was alert enough to give me his wife's name and his name and give me a phone number to reach his wife," Berry said.

On Monday, an SUV driven by an elderly woman was hit by a train at another Long Island crossing. That driver was hospitalized with neck and back injuries.

"That's just so sad," Patchogue resident Judy Alston said. "You wait, that's all. Nothing is that important. You just have to wait."

Last month, a Metro-North train crash in Westchester County killed six people.