Crime & Safety

Car Falls from Turnpike onto Railroad Tracks

Accident shut down westbound lanes of the Turnpike Friday morning.

This article has been updated with information from the Pennsylvania State Police, King of Prussia Barracks:

A car traveling along the Pennsylvania Turnpike Friday morning lost control and ended up falling 65 feet below, to Route 23 near Center Street in West Conshohocken. It landed square in the middle of railroad tracks along the road.

Amazingly, police report, only minor injuries were sustained by the car's single occupant, the driver.

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According to Trooper Kevin Rathman of the Pennsyvania State Police, a 41-year-old female from Reading was traveling west on the turnpike in a 2000 Ford explorer when her vehicle spun out of control.

The driver struck the cement median, overturned, and slid over the side of the turnpike, 65 feet down to the train tracks below, Rathman said.

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The vehicle handed on its wheels, and the woman was entrapped until emergency services extricated her.

The woman transported by Lafayettte Ambulance to Paoli Memorial Hospital for what an Upper Merion police officer described as "minor injuries."

The vehicle was being loaded onto a flatbed when reporters arrived. While there was a child's carseat in the back of the car, police report there was only one occupant at the time of the accident.

The vehicle was crushed in, front to back, shattering most windows and the windshield.

The Turnpike closed westbound lanes around 10:22 a.m., according to emergency alerts. It reopened the lanes again by 10:36 a.m.

A crane was called in to remove the car from the train tracks. A flatbed tow truck was at the scene around 10:40 a.m. to remove it from the tracks.

Traffic had resumed a normal pace along the Turnpike by 10:40 a.m. The Pennsylvania State Police are following up the accident.


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