A 40-year-old Chehalis man died when his pickup was struck by a northbound Union Pacific Railroad train in Kalama at about 2:10 a.m. Saturday, according to a Kalama Police Department.

The man has been identified as Michael L. Turpin. The Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office has notified his family.

Police say Turpin’s red 1986 Mazda pickup was stopped on the first (east) set of Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway tracks with its lights off, perpendicular to the train’s path. The vehicle appeared to have turned off the roadway and driven through a parking area in the 200 block of West Frontage Road near the BNSF depot. There is no railroad crossing in the area.

The 13-car freight train struck the driver’s door, pushing the truck about seven-tenths of a mile before it could stop. Turpin died instantly, according to the coroner. The collision remains under investigation.

Although the train’s crew wasn’t injured, such incidents are “pretty traumatic” for the engineers and conductors because trains can’t swerve to avoid obstacles and they can’t brake quickly, Union Pacific spokesman Tom Lange said. The weight ratio of a locomotive to a passenger vehicle is the equivalent of a car to a 12-ounce can of soda, he noted.

The track reopened shortly after 6 a.m., Lange said. Fewer freight trains are operating than normal this weekend due to the holiday schedule.