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Montgomery County police are asking for assistance in indentifying a man killed by a MARC train near Kensington on Sunday afternoon.

Shortly before 1:30 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to the Kensington MARC station on Howard Avenue to the report of a body found on the eastbound railroad tracks, about 50 yards from the station.

A preliminary investigation revealed the man had been killed by a train, said Lt. Paul Starks, a spokesman for county police. He said police do not know how he came to be lying on the tracks.

"Evidence at the scene indicates that he was, in fact, struck by a train," he said. "There are no obvious signs of foul play. Technically someone could have caused him to be hit by the train, we don't know yet."

Starks said the man did not have identification when he was reportedly struck.

An employee of CSX Corporation, the company that operates MARC trains, reported finding the body at 1:17 p.m. Sunday. Police said the last train to leave the station on the eastbound tracks departed the Kensington station around 9:30 a.m. July 25.

The man, described by police as a white male with dark hair, 5-feet 8-inches tall, weighing about 120 pounds, and believed to be 30 years-old. At the time of his death, he was wearing blue running shorts and had a gray shirt wrapped around his hand.

Federal Railroad Administration figures show there were five fatalities caused by trains in Maryland in 2009, all of which occurred outside of designated crossings.

2010 FRA data shows there have been 13 accidents reported by MARC trains this year, with zero fatalities. CSX trains, which operate more than 21,000 miles of routes, reported 33 fatalities and 322 accidents, according to the FRA.

Anyone with information related to the case is asked to call MCP's Major Crimes Division at 240-773-5070.