A Metro-North train slammed into a tractor-trailer in the village of Sloatsburg Tuesday evening.

MTA police say the crash happened off of the Orange Turnpike near Washington Avenue around 6:15 p.m. Witnesses say the tractor-trailer, carrying ink cartridges, was attempting to make a tight turn onto Route 17 when it got stuck.

Witnesses tell News 12 they tried to get the driver out as the train was approaching, but he refused and stayed in the cab. Chris Schucht, of Tuxedo, was driving on Orange Turnpike when he noticed the truck on the train tracks. He says he pulled over to help. "I noticed the gates were coming down, went over to the truck, tried getting him out and he didn't want to leave."

The driver of the truck and all 375 passengers aboard the train were not injured.

 

 

Passengers aboard were left shaken. "It was a lot of thumps. Nobody screamed, nobody panicked, but everybody looked up from what they were doing like 'Oh my God we just hit something.' Nobody really thought it was a truck until they looked out the window. I initially thought it might've come off the track before I saw the front half of the truck outside my window," says Johnny Almodovar, a passenger aboard train.
MTA officials say the train involved was a 5:15 p.m. train out of Hoboken and was due into Port Jervis at 7:28 p.m.

Buses were on the scene to accommodate passengers and transport them to a neighboring train station.

Service was delayed on the Port Jervis line in both directions for hours before resuming back to normal.

The driver was issued three vehicle and traffic law summonses: disobeying traffic control devices- including no trucks on roadway and exceeding weight limit - and obstructing grade crossing.