According to authorities, a Canadian National Freight Train, being operated by a two-person crew, was headed eastbound between Long Lane and SR39.

"The crew advised an object was observed on the tracks some distance ahead," said La Porte County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Derek Allen. "As the train engine approached closer, the crew was able to determine the object on the tracks to be that of a person."

The train crew says they exhausted all options to stop the train. However, their efforts proved to be futile, and the freight train collided with the pedestrian west of the SR39 crossing.

This collision came less than 24 hours after a South Bend man was killed by a train in Mishawaka.