LITHIA SPRINGS - Authorities say a man lying on railroad tracks has been struck by a train and killed near Lithia Springs in Douglas County.

The Douglas County sheriff's office says the accident happened about 5:30 a.m. Friday on the Norfolk Southern rail line near the Harper Road crossing, between U.S. Highway 78 and Ben Hill Road.

A Norfolk Southern police officer told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the man killed was lying on the tracks when the "piggyback" intermodal train headed toward Atlanta approached. The officer says that by the time the train's engineer saw the man on the tracks, it was too late to stop.