The Music City Star commuter train struck and killed a middle-aged man in Wilson County early this morning, but the incident appears to have been a suicide.
Lebanon police Chief Scott Bowen says a man walked down the tracks more than a quarter mile west of the Maple Hill crossing in Lebanon. He says safety procedures of the Music City Star have not been questioned.
“The engineer said that he was able to see the person on the tracks. He immediately, of course, tried to stop. But, again, you’re talking about a lot of weight, and I think he said he was doing between 50 and 55 miles an hour.”
Investigators found no identification on the body. The six-foot man wore a flannel shirt and a green John Deere hat.
This fatality is the first since the commuter train began running from Lebanon to Nashville in 2006.
Bowen says 60 passengers aboard the train were eventually taken to Nashville by bus and that the train is back on its regular schedule.
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