Man killed by Amtrak train in Northeast Phila.

A 25-year-old man was killed Thursday night when he apparently stepped in front of an Amtrak train traveling through Northeast Philadelphia on the way to 30th Street Station, according to Amtrak officials and police.

Scott Small, chief inspector for Philadelphia police, said officers identified the man, who lived near SEPTA's Holmesburg Junction, the site of the accident. Small, who characterized the incident as an apparent suicide, declined to reveal the man's name because officers were en route to his home.

Small said that earlier in the day Amtrak police noticed the man on the ground-level platform at Holmesburg Junction.

"He said he was hanging around but he had no where to go," Small said. After speaking with the man, Amtrak police drove him home, Small said.

Amtrak spokeswoman Tracey Connell said the train that hit the man at 9:16 p.m. was the Northeast Regional, which started in Boston and was bound for Washington.

Connell said there were 248 passengers but no reported injuries among them.

A northbound Amtrak train was also stopped for a time.

All four tracks of the Northeast Corridor were shutdown while police investigated; two tracks reopened at 9:54 p.m., according to Amtrak.

Connell said the authorized speed for that stretch of track was 125 m.p.h. She said the investigation would determine how fast the train was going at the time of the accident. Small said that part of the investigation would involve looking at video from a camera on the front of the engine.

The operator of the train was not identified.

Bob Williams, 47, a senior engineer with Amtrak, has been working with the railroad for 20 years. He said he has seen at least a dozen fatalities of this nature.

"It's different from the first time," Williams said. "You almost become cold to it. But after a while you learn to control your feelings. Unfortunately, you get used to it."

That accident was one of four train-related deaths in the Northeast yesterday.

The Associated Press reported that the first death occurred in Mercer County yesterday morning when Amtrak's Keystone hit a person near the Hamilton Township station.

The second accident occurred in New York City when a 48-year-old woman was crushed by a subway train. The AP reported that New York police spokesman Paul Browne said the victim may have been trying to retrieve a bag on the tracks.

Earlier last evening, according to AP, a man was struck by an NJ Transit commuter train near the East Orange station.