WILLOW -- A car driver died Thursday evening in a collision with an Alaska Railroad passenger train in Willow, about an hour north of Anchorage, railroad and emergency services officials said.

The collision happened at about 6 p.m. where the railroad tracks cross Willow Station Road, not far from Willow Trading Post, a local bar and restaurant. Shirley Barber, a patron at the Trading Post that evening, said she saw the aftermath of the accident on her way to the restaurant.

Barber described a burgundy sedan that had been cut in two pieces by the impact, with one half near the road and the second half off the road, farther down the tracks. Barber said the train, which was stopped, was a passenger train with several tourists aboard.

Mat-Su Borough emergency personnel from Willow responded to the scene. Borough Emergency Services Director Dennis Brodigan said reports from the scene indicated one person was dead.

Railroad police were on the way to the scene Thursday evening, said railroad spokesman Tim Thompson.