A 29-year-old Lawrence man was injured this afternoon in North Lawrence when he was dragged by a train for about 200 feet before he came loose.

Police don’t have a witness that saw the man get entangled with the Union Pacific Railroad train on tracks near the crossing just east of the Lawrence Visitor Information Center, 402 N. Second St. He apparently walked into a car near the rear of the moving train.

Officers are still investigating, said Sgt. Michael Monroe, a Lawrence police spokesman.

Around 12:30 p.m., someone found the man in the tracks east of the overpass over North Second Street and called police. The man was conscious and able to walk and talk, Monroe said. His injury seemed serious but not life-threatening, Monroe said.

“But it’s probably too soon to really determine,” he said.

The man was flown by helicopter ambulance to Kansas University Hospital in Kansas City, Kan. His name was not released, but Monroe said he did not live in North Lawrence.

The train never stopped.

Monroe said the man became entangled between cars but was not run over. The train dragged him until he came loose.

The area is a 40 mph speed zone, police said.

Kathryn Blackwell, a Union Pacific Railroad spokeswoman, said the company’s special agents were called to the scene when a witness said the man was leaning on a crossing rail.

Minutes later, a second witness then found the man 200 feet east of the crossing in the tracks after the train had passed, she said.

Railroad investigators said the man told the special agents that he was trying to commit suicide, Blackwell said.

“It sounds like this individual is going to get a second chance,” she said.

The train was not damaged after the man trespassed on the tracks, Blackwell said, and the railroad company has turned the investigation over to police.

The accident happened nearly one year after a pedestrian was killed on the same tracks in nearly the same location.

Jeannie Marie NewMoon, 53, Lawrence, died Aug. 12, 2006, when she was struck by a Union Pacific train on the west side of the overpass as she walked a bicycle across the tracks and a pedal apparently got caught in the tracks. According to an autopsy filed in District Court, she tested positive for sedatives and may have been undergoing liver failure caused by cirrhosis.