A train struck a car near the New Meadows Motel in Brunswick Monday. Photo courtesy of Brunswick Police Department

BRUNSWICK — A Brunswick woman suffered minor injuries when a train hit her vehicle on Monday as she was leaving a motel.

Coretta Harrison was leaving New Meadows Motel in a Toyota Rav 4 SUV shortly after noon. While she was crossing a set of railroad tracks that bisects the motel’s main driveway, a train owned by Central Maine Quebec and Railroad struck her vehicle.

Harrison was taken to Mid Coast Hospital but is no longer listed as a patient there, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Police say the tracks are marked with crossing signs. In addition, there is a stop sign on either side of the tracks. There is no gate, blinking lights or audible warning system at the crossing, which is on private property. It couldn’t be confirmed Monday whether the train’s horn sounded prior to the collision.

Brunswick police and Central Maine and Quebec Railroad authorities are investigating the crash.

According to police, safety at that crossing is the responsibility of the landowner because it is a private crossing.

Walter Reil has owned the New Meadow Motel for at least 40 years and said this is the first time a train has collided with a car at that crossing.

“You can see both ways right and left as you go across,” he said.

Reil said drivers can see the train for at least a half-mile to the left side and about a quarter-mile to the right.

According to Brunswick Town Manager John Eldridge, these tracks are owned by the state. All the crossings between Maine Street and the town’s southern border were upgraded with gates and lights when the Downeaster passenger rail service expanded services to Brunswick.

With plans to expand passenger service north to Rockland, Eldridge said the town has had early conversations with the Maine Department of Transportation about improving other crossings north of Maine Street.

He wasn’t sure what can be done for the private crossing near the motel.

“We’ll see what we can do for that particular one,” he said. “The (crossings) north of Maine Street all need some level of upgrade in our opinion.”

Attempts to reach Central Maine and Quebec Railroad for comment Monday were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, in Portland, police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found on railroad tracks.

The man is believed to have been homeless and in his 50s, Portland Police said on Monday. His body was found on Sunday afternoon after someone called in a report of a man lying on the ground near the tracks.

Officers from Amtrak Police and the Railroad Police from Pan Am Railways are working to determine if he was struck by a train and if so, which train it was. The final determination of the man’s death will be made by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

It was the second fatality near train tracks in the Portland area this month. Lewis Bradley, 62, was struck and killed by a train in Falmouth.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A train struck a car crossing tacks at the New Meadows Motel in Brunswick Monday. Photo courtesy of Brunswick Police Department