Woman killed when coal train hits car near Jefferson City

JEFFERSON CITY — A woman is dead after a coal train hit her car today near Jefferson City.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said one of the car tires got stuck between two railroad ties. The train hit the car just as she was trying to get out of it.

The patrol identified the victim as 51-year-old Kathleen Beier of Lupus.

A spokesman for Union Pacific said the train consisted of three locomotives pulling 103 coal cars on their way from Colorado to a utility in Kentucky. No train cars derailed, but railroad traffic was halted for more than two hours after the 6:30 a.m. accident.

It was the year’s second fatality at a Missouri railroad crossing. There were seven last year.