A woman died Saturday morning after being struck by a train in downtown Puyallup, according to police.
Puyallup police and Central Pierce Fire and Rescue responded at about 6:41 a.m. near East Main Avenue and North Meridian for a report of a train-pedestrian collision.
When officers arrived, they found a woman, believed to be in her early 50s, with significant injuries on the tracks. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said the cause of the collision remains under investigation. The Metro Cities Major Collision Response Team is leading the investigation and will coordinate with the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Authorities have not released the woman’s identity, pending notification of family.
The incident caused temporary road closures in the downtown area, with several railroad crossings blocked, including North Meridian at Stewart, 3rd Street Southeast (the bypass), and 5th Street Southeast (by the Powerhouse).
“Multiple intersections downtown have been affected and are blocked by the stopped train,” the department said earlier on social media. “The intersections are closed until further notice. Alternate routes advised.”
Train-pedestrian collisions typically result in fatal or catastrophic injuries due to the massive weight and momentum of trains, which cannot stop quickly even when engineers apply emergency braking. Trains traveling at moderate speeds require hundreds of feet to come to a complete halt.
The early morning timing, 6:41 a.m., raises questions about visibility conditions and whether darkness or dawn light levels played a role in the collision, though investigators have not indicated contributing factors.
Downtown Puyallup’s railroad crossings carry both freight and passenger rail traffic, with multiple trains passing through daily on tracks that bisect the city’s commercial core and create potential conflict points between pedestrians and rail operations.
The Metro Cities Major Collision Response Team’s involvement indicates the complexity of investigating train-pedestrian incidents, which require specialized expertise in railroad operations, locomotive braking systems, and federal railroad safety regulations.
The extended road closures caused by the stopped train demonstrate how rail incidents affect not just the immediate collision site but broader traffic patterns, as trains blocking crossings prevent vehicle movement across multiple downtown intersections simultaneously.
Pierce County Medical Examiner’s involvement will determine official cause of death and whether the woman died from impact injuries, was incapacitated on the tracks, or experienced a medical emergency that led to the collision, critical factors in understanding how the incident occurred.
The delayed family notification and identity withholding is standard protocol, but the process can take hours or days when victims lack identification or when locating next of kin proves challenging.
