A woman pushing a baby in a stroller across railroad tracks was hit and killed by a train but managed to shove the stroller to safety just in time to save the infant, authorities said.

The woman was trying to walk through the crossing in Riverside, California on Saturday evening when the stroller became stuck in the tracks, police said. She managed to free the stroller, but she couldn't escape the oncoming commuter train.

"She didn't quite make it," Riverside police Sgt. Dan Warren said. "The baby's fine, but she got hit."

He did not have further details, including the woman's identity and her connection to the child.

Passenger Joseph Avila said he and the several dozen other passengers on the train going from Oceanside to San Bernardino in southern Californai did not feel the collision.

He told KCAL-TV that the train stopped and a conductor said there had been a fatality.

Both police and railroad officials were investigating the collision.