A woman was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition after her car was hit by a train in Springville.

According to Springville police, a train hit the front of the car at a railroad crossing near 800 S. Main St. shortly before 9 a.m. on Tuesday. The 37-year-old driver, whom police identified as K. Mikeal Curtis, was the only occupant of the vehicle. She was flown by medical helicopter to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo with head, neck and leg injuries, police said.

When the train hit the driver's side, the car was knocked into the pole that holds the railroad crossing lights and came to rest against a control box between the railroad tracks and the road, according to police. The car was badly damaged and the Springville Fire Department had to extricate the trapped driver.

"They actually hit the intersection at the same time, so the front engine of the train hit the front of the car," said Lt. Dell Gordon of the Springville Police Department. "Any time you have a car and a train, the car always loses, and they're pretty severe."

Gordon said Curtis was in critical condition when she was taken to the hospital. No information was available on the victim's condition later in the day.

Police are not sure whether the car slid on the icy road or if the driver simply did not see the railroad crossing. Both sides of the road were packed with snow, and roads were icy due to low morning temperatures.

Gordon said the railroad crossing does not have any barriers that are lowered when a train is approaching, but there are visible lights and an audible bell. Gordon said the sun was shining brightly at the time, and the sunlight reflecting off the snow could have reduced the driver's visibility.

The accident occurred at an area where 800 South crosses U.S. Highway 89 and turns south onto old South Main. The railroad tracks run parallel to the highway.

Gordon said that accidents at the railroad crossing are infrequent but do happen periodically. In the past 24 years, Gordon said he has seen about five train-related accidents at the crossing, including Tuesday's wreck.

"We've had accidents there before," Gordon said. "Really not that often, but they do happen there."

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, there were 13 collisions between trains and highway users at railroad crossings in Utah in 2007. Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit organization that promotes railway safety, advises people to never drive around lowered gates at railroad crossings; only cross tracks at officially designated crossings; and to remember that trains are about 3 feet wider than the rails they travel on. Never stop your vehicle closer than 15 feet from a railroad track, the group's Web site said, and remember that trains cannot stop quickly.

• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or jduda@heraldextra.com.