Officials say seven people were killed and at least 12 others were injured when a commuter train struck a vehicle on the tracks north of New York City.

Metro-North Railroad spokesman Aaron Donovan said the northbound train struck a Jeep Cherokee at a railroad crossing in Valhalla on Tuesday evening.

Donovan says the fatalities consisted of the vehicle’s female driver and six people aboard the train. Donovan says the vehicle and the front of the train caught fire.

The rail passengers were moved to the rear of the train, which had left Grand Central Terminal about 45 minutes earlier. Service on a portion of Metro-North’s Harlem Line has been suspended.

Metro-North is the nation’s second-busiest railroad, after the Long Island Rail Road. It serves about 280,000 riders a day in New York and Connecticut. SAPA