Crime & Safety

Alburtis Man Killed in Collision with Train

Locomotive struck his car in the borough and came to rest in Lower Macungie.

An Alburtis man is dead after a Norfolk Southern train hit a car around 9:45 a.m. Monday at the West Penn Avenue and Front Street railroad crossing in Alburtis.

Jason Earnst, 41, was driving a 2011 Hyundai Sonata when he was hit, said Alburtis Police Chief Robert Palmer.

Emergency personnel at the scene said it took the train about a half mile to stop just past Smith Lane in Lower Macungie Township which was admirable, they said, considering the morning's misty weather which made for wet tracks.

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The mangled vehicle was removed around noon.

The crossing at which Earnst was hit had fully functioning signals, Palmer said, though it never had a gate.

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