A woman and her infant son escaped injury Monday morning when the car they were in was hit by a Northstar commuter train in Elk River.

The woman's car slid onto the tracks on Proctor Avenue just north of Hwy. 10 after coming in contact with a second vehicle. The woman was unable to move the car and was unable to get the child out of the car before it was struck by a northbound train at 7:01 a.m.

The train clipped the front side of the woman's vehicle on the right side with the boy inside. Following the collision, the mother immediately retrieved the child and went to a nearby business for help, said Metro Transit spokesman John Siqveland.

Neither the woman nor her son appeared to be hurt, but they were taken to an area medical facility for evaluation and were released, Siqveland said.

The northbound Northstar was cleared from the scene about 7:30 a.m. and allowed to make a subsequent southbound run. That trip was 30 minutes late heading back into Minneapolis. Metro Transit also initiated replacement bus service to cover that last trip, Siqveland said.

It was not immediately clear if the incident was weather related or how the two vehicles came in contact with each other, Siqveland said.

Metro Transit police are investigating.