The man, identified as Bobby L. Hazelwood, 30, of Council Bluffs, was pronounced dead after being transported to UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center.

Fort Dodge Police say Hazelwood was lying near the traveled portion of the railway as the train approached from the west. Train operators applied emergency braking procedures in addition to efforts to alert the man, who displayed no signs of being alert and could not be roused by the train’s signals.

The Fort Dodge Police Department and the Fort Dodge Fire Department responded to the scene at approximately 4:25 a.m. after the Webster County Telecommunications Center received a call from the Union Pacific Railroad. Paramedics began medical treatment on the man before transporting him to the hospital.

“The area in which this occurred is a grassy area not prone to pedestrian traffic,” said Capt. Ryan Gruenberg, public information officer for FDPD. “We are working to determine the timeline of events that led to this individual being on the tracks at that time.”

“There’s not a whole lot of reason to be out there,” he added, saying investigators are exploring the possibility that the incident was a suicide.

Gruenberg said there was no vehicle belonging to the victim nearby.

FDPD is assisting the Union Pacific Railroad Police Department in an investigation of the incident.