Woman, 60, Is Killed by Amtrak Train : Chatsworth: Police say she walked from a retirement center to the tracks, where she waited for the line’s ‘San Diegan.’

A 60-year-old woman described by police as despondent died Friday after she apparently walked from the retirement center where she lived and stepped into the path of an Amtrak passenger train at a Chatsworth rail crossing, authorities said.

Rose Lambert of Chatsworth was pronounced dead at the scene by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics, department spokesman Brian Humphrey said.

Several witnesses told Los Angeles police that about 9:30 a.m. Lambert was standing near the Southern Pacific railroad tracks that cross Devonshire Street just west of Canoga Avenue. Just before the seven-car “San Diegan”--traveling from Santa Barbara to San Diego--reached the crossing, Lambert abruptly stepped in front of it, Police Department Detective J. J. Thompson said.

“She had apparently been there waiting for the train to come by,” Thompson said. “She was despondent about a family matter and wanted to commit suicide, and this is the way she chose to do it.”

The speed of the train was not immediately available, but an Amtrak spokesman said the authorized speed of trains on that section of track is 60 m.p.h.

The train was delayed for about an hour after the incident, Amtrak officials said.

Lambert had lived at the Chatsworth Garden Retirement Center, about two blocks from the death scene, for about eight years.

“She was a very wonderful person,” said Leticia Robles, a worker at the center. “This is very sad.”

Robles said Lambert’s family had asked center employees not to comment further.