Two pedestrians are dead after a train hit them in St. Albans on Tuesday morning.
The train conductor last saw the man and woman on a trestle over the Coal River, according to a news release.
A separate train missed the pair as it traveled on the opposite track, the release states. Its conductor contacted the other train, which began to slow down.
The call came in at about 5:40 a.m., according to a Kanawha Metro 911 dispatcher.
Kanawha sheriff's deputies worked Tuesday afternoon to identify the two. The names will be released after family members of the man and woman are notified of their deaths, according to the release.
Laura Phelps, the media relations manager for CSX Transportation, said the train was transporting empty coal cars from Covington, Virginia, to Corbin, Kentucky.
CSX personnel responded to help law enforcement, she wrote in an email.
"CSX's sympathies are with those impacted by this incident and we remain committed to raising awareness about the dangers of being near railroad tracks," she wrote.
It can be especially dangerous to walk beside tracks, on bridges or in tunnels because trains are constructed up to 3 feet wider than railroad tracks, she wrote.
According to Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit focused on rail safety education, a person or vehicle is hit by a train every three hours in the U.S.
"It takes the average freight train traveling at 55 mph more than a mile - the length of 18 football fields - to stop," according to the organization's website.
Tuesday's incident brings the number of people killed by a train in West Virginia in 2017 to three, according to the Federal Railroad Administration's Office of Safety Analysis.
Trains killed 64 people in the state from 2008 to April of this year, with the highest number of deaths being 13 in 2013, according to the records.
Three people died last year, and two died the year before that. The majority of deaths happened on railroad tracks away from a crossing, including all the deaths from the last two years.
Another 14 deaths happened at highway-rail crossings.
CSX Transportation accounted for about 45 percent of total accident/incident reports throughout the last decade, according to the records. The company tied with Norfolk Southern Railway Company for the total number of deaths and injuries, with each reporting 271 since 2008.
Phelps said CSX tries to reduce accidents by continually training employees, coordinating with first responders and educating the community.
"Because CSX trains do not run on set schedules, you should always assume a train could come at any moment, from any direction," she wrote. Dave Pidgeon, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern, said it's critical to preach railroad safety with the emergence of spring, when people are drawn outside - sometimes to the tracks.
He said people have been known to trespass on railroad tracks, whether it be for a quick walk or even a wedding photo.
"It's a critically important topic to talk about in every community that has rail," he said.
Reach Giuseppe Sabella at giuseppe.sabella@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5189 or @Gsabella on Twitter.