BEDFORD HILLS, New York - A Global Positioning System can tell a driver a lot of things - but not when a train is coming.

A computer consultant driving a rental car drove onto train tracks Wednesday using the instructions his GPS unit gave him.

A train was barrelling toward him, but he escaped in time and no one was injured.

The driver had turned right, as the system advised, and the car somehow got stuck on the tracks at the crossing.

Metro-North railroad spokesman Dan Brucker says the man jumped out, tried to warn the engineer by waving and managed to get out of the way just before the train slammed into the car at about 100 kilometres per hour.

The car was pushed more than 30 metres during the fiery crash and some 500 train passengers were stranded for more than two hours during the Wednesday evening rush hour.