Man hit by a train in Anchorage’s Spenard neighborhood

A man was struck and badly injured by a train Saturday morning in Anchorage’s Spenard neighborhood, the Alaska Railroad reported.

A southbound empty passenger train hit a man at Milepost 111.4 on the Alaska Railroad’s main line at about 4:30 a.m., according to a written statement from Alaska Railroad. The area is north of where the railroad crosses West 36th Avenue in Spenard.

The man, who hadn’t been identified as of Sunday, was about 500 feet from the nearest crossing when he was hit, railroad staff said in the statement.

The man was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, an Anchorage police spokeswoman said.

As of Sunday morning, the man was still receiving treatment, Alaska Railroad spokeswoman Meghan Clemens said. Further details about the man’s condition and what happened weren’t immediately available.

The passenger train was headed from Anchorage to Whittier to meet cruise ship passengers, according to the statement.

The railroad stressed the danger of walking in the railroad right-of-way.

“As an active rail transportation corridor, the track right-of-way — 100 feet on either side of the tracks — is not open to the public,” the statement said.