Emergency workers examine an SUV that failed to stop Monday at railroad safety gates that had been lowered on Main Street in Waterville. A CSX Transportation train hit the vehicle and pushed it for about 100 yards, officials said. The teenager driving the small SUV was not injured. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel

WATERVILLE — A 16-year-old girl was uninjured Monday when the SUV she was driving broke through closed railroad crossing gates on Main Street and was hit by a train, which then pushed the vehicle for about 100 yards, officials said.

The crash occurred at 5:14 p.m. as the CSX Transportation train was heading east toward Chaplin Street and the CSX terminal on College Avenue, after the gates at Main Street had been closed, according to Chief Bill Bonney of the Waterville Police Department. The SUV was heading north on Main Street, he said.

“The operator failed to stop for the gates and went in front of the train, and the train struck the vehicle and pushed it about 100 yards up the tracks,” said Bonney, who was at the scene Monday evening. “There were no  injuries to the operator.”

Bonney said the vehicle sustained a fair amount of damage.

Waterville police Maj. Josh Woods said Tuesday the vehicle the girl was driving was a 2019 Hyundai. Asked if the driver would be charged, Woods said, “This is still under investigation as of right now.”

Woods said the train was traveling at 10 mph at the time of the incident and the railroad and lights and bells at Main Street were signaling.

At the scene about 20 minutes after the crash, police had closed off Main Street around the stopped train and a wrecker was attempting to reach the train and Hyundai from Chaplin Street, next to Railroad Square and The Playhouse at Waterville Station. Firefighters were also at the scene.

A CSX Transportation train is stopped Monday on the railroad tracks that cross Main Street in Waterville. The train hit a vehicle that failed to stop at railroad safety gates that had been lowered, police said. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel

Under darkness and with snowbanks piled high off Chaplin Street, the wrecker reached the vehicle and towed it away.

Woods said at the scene that in the 17 years he has been with the city’s police department, he has never seen a vehicle and train involved in a crash.

Bonney said it is “incredibly important for people to pay attention when they’re driving” and obey traffic signals.

“Though no one was hurt tonight, the story could have ended very differently,” he said.

An employee at the Empire Vape Shop at 251 Main St., near the site of the crash, said he was waiting on a customer and heard a noise, but did not know what had happened. Moments later, he saw a photograph on social media of the crash, he said.

The employee, who asked not to be identified, said the speed at which trains travel through the Main Street crossing has increased recently. He said his first thought when he heard the noise Monday was that a homeless person had been hit. He said homeless people often walk along or on the railroad tracks.

“Every time a train goes by, I’m like, ‘Please don’t hit the building,'” he said.

The vape shop has many glass shelves and cabinets for retail items, and when trains pass, everything rattles, he said.

Another man who lives off Chaplin Street and was watching the activity Monday night also said the trains are moving faster lately.

CSX Transportation is a rail freight company that operates in the eastern United States. In Maine, its system extends north to Mattawamkeag. It operates a rail yard not far from the site of the collision.

Responding to an email seeking comment Monday night, Bryan Tucker of CSX confirmed the crash had occurred and said the train crew was not injured.

“There was no damage to the tracks or the train,” he wrote. “CSX appreciates the swift response of the local responding agencies.”

An email sent Tuesday to CSX asking what the train cars involved in the crash were carrying was not returned as of mid afternoon.