Braintree man, 83, killed when MBTA train hits car

A 83-year-old Braintree man was killed yesterday when his car was struck by an inbound MBTA commuter train in Holbrook, where witnesses said they saw the vehicle sitting on the wrong side of the road between the two closed warning gates, T officials said.

When police arrived at the scene, on South Street near the Holbrook-Randolph town lines, they found a Dodge Neon with handicapped license plates crumpled a short distance from the tracks.

The victim, Edwin B. Burrows Jr., a resident of elder housing in Braintree, was pronounced dead at Brockton Hospital.

Burrows, who turned 83 in January, lived at Independence Manor, a residence for senior citizens. Relatives could not be reached yesterday for comment.

MBTA Transit Police Lieutenant Joseph O'Connor said that witnesses and testing done at the scene indicated the two crossing gates were down and the warning lights and bells were working when the accident occurred.

Members of the MBTA Transit Police's accident reconstruction team and State Police from the Norfolk district attorney's office are investigating the accident.

The T's Middleborough commuter rail line was shut down for about two hours after the crash and reopened about 3:30 p.m. While the line was shut down, passengers were bused to Braintree to catch the Red Line into South Station.

None of the 90 passengers on the inbound train that struck the car were injured, said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo. The train's engineer was taken to Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton for observation, police said.