Car driver dies in train collision

DELTA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP/WOOD) - Authorities say the driver of a car near died after the vehicle was hit by an Amtrak train heading from Chicago to Port Huron.

The victim has been identified as Hermes Fernandez-Lopez, 39, of Lansing.

Eaton County sheriff's investigators said the crash happened about 9:11 p.m. Thursday at the Millett Highway crossing near Lansing Road in Delta Township.

The car was traveling west when the driver went around the gates that were down at the time, according to a sheriff's department news release. Fernandez-Lopez died upon impact, police said. It is unknown if alcohol or drugs were a factor.

Amtrak spokeswoman Christina Leeds told The Associated Press that 145 passengers on board were bussed to their final destinations. She says there were no reported injuries to crew or passengers on the train.

Brian Blattert, one of the train passengers, told WILX "it felt like we hit an animal or something."

The train was the Blue Water Service, Amtrak said, which runs through Lansing with stops in Buffalo, Niles, Dowagiac, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek.