16-year-old Pa. boy killed by freight train while walking to school

LEBANON, Pa. (AP) — A 16-year-old central Pennsylvania boy has been struck and killed by a freight train while on the way to school.

Police say the boy was hit by a westbound Norfolk Southern train in Lebanon around 6:45 a.m. today and pronounced dead on arrival at Good Samaritan Hospital.

The Lebanon Daily News reports a witness told police that the warning gates were operating and that the boy ran across the tracks.

Norfolk Southern says the train was traveling from Allentown to Harrisburg in a corridor with a maximum speed of 50 mph.

The railroad says the 4,000-ton train had 3 locomotives, 25 cars loaded with intermodal freight trailers and containers and 17 empty cars.

Police interviewed the train’s engineer and a crew member. They did not release the boy’s name.