Man escapes SUV stuck on Beverly train tracks

By Globe Staff

With a commuter train approaching at 60 miles per hour, a man escaped his sport utility vehicle after it got stuck at a rail crossing Monday night in Beverly and it was rammed by the locomotive.

William Kostifas, 40, was driving over the crossing at Hale Street when his 2004 brown GMC got stuck in the gravel along the edge of the tracks at about 8:50 p.m., according to Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Another motorist stopped and tried to help Kostifas push the SUV off the tracks.

"The lights started flashing, the (train) lights came up, and we bolted," Kotsifas told the Salem Evening News. "It was almost like something from a movie ... It's amazing how life changes in 30 seconds."

The northbound commuter train crumpled the SUV. None of the 150 passengers were hurt, but the train was delayed for 90 minutes, Pesaturo said.

Kotsifas, of Lowell, did not immediately return a phone message left by the Globe seeking comment. According to Pesaturo, no charges have been filed against Kotsifas.

“There’s no indication that he was trying to drive around the grade crossing,” Pesaturo said.

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