A Sounder commuter train hit and killed a 58-year-old Seattle man on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks just north of the 15th Street overpass Tuesday morning.

“We got the call about 6:37 a.m. that a northbound Sound Train had hit a pedestrian,” said Auburn Police Cmdr. David Colglazier. “We have no details as to how he got on the track.”

The King Medical Examiner on Wednesday identified the man as Bradley Malone and classified his death as an accident.

Operated by BNSF crews, the train was traveling from Tacoma to Seattle at about 40 mph, according to BNSF Spokesman Gus Melonas.

“The crew observed a subject in the middle of the tracks, hit the whistle and went into an emergency brake application, but the subject was struck” said Melonas.

Melonas said Tuesday’s collision was the 26th train-pedestrian fatality in Washington state this year to date.

“Twenty-four of the 26 have occurred on BNSF tracks,” Melonas said, noting that that grim statistic sets a record for the highest number of fatal train accidents in the state in the last 20 years.

Melonas said the subsequent investigation stopped train and passenger service in local areas south of Seattle for two hours.