Woman dies after SUV collides with train in Braintree

Braintree —

After she drove her SUV around the lowered gates at a Braintree grade crossing on Dec. 6 at approximately 6:15 p.m. and was struck by an oncoming MBTA train at the intersection of Grove Street and Commerce Drive, Marilyn S. Henick, 74, of Hull, died overnight, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said.

According to Transit Police who initially did not identify her, Henick went around the barriers at the Grove Street railroad crossing, turned right onto the train tracks, and was struck from behind, pushing her Toyota Highlander off the tracks and into the perimeter fence.

The gates were down and the car went around them.

The Transit Police Crime Scene Unit was notified and responded to the scene.

The vehicle was thrown 100 yards from the woods and found to be on its roof in the woods.

Transit Police Sgt. Giancarlo Cantella said that the train’s engineer did not have time to avert a collision.

“Why anyone would try to do that, I don’t know,” he said. “The trains go by so quickly, in about a minute. It’s like stopping for a stop light, really.”

Police said that Henick was out of the vehicle when rescuers arrived, indicating that she was likely ejected from it following impact with the train.

Henick was conscious when firefighters arrived at the scene, Braintree Fire Capt. Alan Predella said.

She was taken by ambulance to South Shore Hospital in Weymouth with unspecified injuries.

There were no injuries on the train, which had several hundred passengers aboard and was held at the scene for about 90 minutes before resuming its route.

Trains in both directions on the line were delayed, and buses were briefly used in place of the train.

In the aftermath of the collision, the Weymouth and Braintree ends of West Street were blocked off to traffic.

The collision will be investigated by the T’s accident reconstruction team.