The Charleston Daily Mail said Tuesday afternoon that the woman and male driver, who was not injured, were hit near Lincoln.
Neither have been identified, but officials said the pair were in their 60s.
“They were just trying to get across the tracks,” Hamlin State Police official G H Ellis told the paper.
“They just pulled out in front of the train. It was not anything like suicide by train or trying to beat it or anything like that.”
He noted that the train was moving slower than usual because of its coal load.
The extent of the woman’s injuries is not known, and the carrier of the cars was not available for comment.
An investigation into cause is underway.
