The couple, whose names were not immediately released, were killed instantly, authorities said. But Karen Dunn, a spokesman for Amtrak, described the couple as a 22-year-old white woman and a 27-year-old white man.

"They were holding hands and they walked into the path of the train," she said. "(The engineer) didn't have much time to react."

The couple apparently left their wallets on the southbound, ground-level platform of the North Elizabeth station and crossed a set of southbound tracks before stopping on the first of two northbound tracks, investigators at the scene said. Their identification papers were found later.

The couple stood directly under a narrow overpass, Hand Lane, which may have sheltered them momentarily from the driving rain. Then, as the northbound train barreled down on them, they put their arms around each other, according to one law enforcement source.

Their bodies were pushed about 100 yards north of the point of impact. Witnesses said the two were casually dressed, and that the man was wearing a baseball cap that was recovered some distance from his body.

The accident occurred at 4:15 p.m. as train No. 650, the Keystone out of Harrisburg, Pa., sped past Elizabeth on its way to New York Penn Station, Dunn said. Its last scheduled stop had been Trenton, she said.

Trains are cleared to travel at 55 mph through the area, she said.

Daniel Quidore, a resident of the Harmony Manor Apartments located near the North Elizabeth station, said he was watching television when he heard the train suddenly slow and make an unusual sound.

"It was like 'whump, whump, whump.' Then I heard something, it was like a yell, or scream," he said.

Quidore said he did not react at once because children often run across the tracks to beat the trains. But a few minutes later, he looked out his window and saw two bodies covered by a yellow tarp. Police officers were walking along the tracks, he said.

About 15 minutes before the train screeched to a halt, Quidore said, he noticed a young couple kissing under an umbrella on the southbound platform. The man was wearing a baseball jersey and a cap, he said.

The bodies were removed by the Union County Medical Examiner's Office shortly before 8 p.m.

The accident caused scattered delays for NJ Transit commuters on the Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast lines. The transit agency routed selected trains to bypass the Elizabeth Broad Street and north Elizabeth stations.

Meanwhile, about 50 passengers on the train that struck the couple remained stranded on the tracks for nearly three hours. Shortly after 7 p.m., the train was permitted to continue on to New York.

Yesterday's deaths bring to five the number of pedestrians killed by trains in little more than a week. The three other fatal accidents, all of which involved NJ Transit trains, occurred in Orange, Glen Rock and South Amboy.