Woman Struck, Killed by Train Near Burke VRE Station

A pedestrian was killed after being struck by a train near the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) Burke Centre Station Wednesday morning.

Fairfax County police were called to the station, located at 10399 Premier Ct., shortly after 7 a.m. for a report about a person that had been hit by a train. 

A train was traveling southbound enroute from Washington, D.C. to Manassas when the accident occurred.

"As the train passed the Burke station and rounded a slight curve, the engineer saw a pedestrian walking across the tracks from left to right," a news release from the department states. "The engineer immediately applied the emergency brake and sounded the horn. The train slowed but hit the pedestrian in the middle of the southbound track."

The victim, Danyelle Lynn Anderson, 22, of Manassas, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have ruled the incident as an accidental death.

The release further states that visibility reduced due to the foggy and dark weather.

Shortly after 8 a.m., the VRE Chief Operating Officer Rich Dalton confirmed that two trains, 330 and 332 on the Manassas line, were cancelled due to the incident. Commuters were advised to seek alternate routes and the Burke Centre VRE Station was closed for about two hours while police and officials conducted an investigation.

The station reopened to the public around 10:30 a.m.

The VRE previously warned residents about crossing train tracks last May. In a statement, the VRE asked residents to use the pedestrian bridge instead of crossing the tracks.

See: VRE to Burke Centre Station Riders: Do Not Cross Train Tracks as a Shortcut

"Each day we see a number of VRE and Amtrak passengers leave the station and hike up and over the tracks at this point as a shortcut to Guinea Road. Simply put, this practice is unacceptable to us. You are taking a significant risk in doing this because visibility is severely limited by the natural curve of the railroad and both tracks are always active with both freight and passenger trains," the statement read.

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