A New York City train narrowly missed a fleet-footed dog who was running alongside it on Tuesday.
According to the Associated Press, the dog was mere steps away from getting into a potentially fatal situation, after it ran next to the Metro-North Railroad train on a side track.
Metro-North officials instructed train operators to slow down when they heard that a dog was chasing the commuter train from the South Bronx to Harlem, CBS Local reported.
Engineer Joseph Delia told New York Post reporters that the dog, which officials nicknamed "Tie," ran on a parallel track "like she didn't have a care in the world."
Dispatchers told about six other train conductors to keep watch for the stray animal, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority told AP.
At one point, Tie managed to run in front of the train, forcing the operator to advance "real slow" to try not to hit her.
The dog started chasing the train at a rail yard on 149th Street in the Bronx, then followed it around a mile and a half to the 125th Street station in Harlem.
MTA officials Luis Alvarez and Errold Borges told CBS they grabbed hold of Tie and rescue her from the tracks.
"We whistled, called and it actually came to us," Alvarez said this week. "It was actually very happy to see somebody because, remember, it came from the Bronx."
Train passengers who had been alerted of the situation cheered when officials announced they'd rescued Tie.
"There was a lot of commuters and they were actually clapping and very glad," Alvarez continued. "There must've been a lot of animal lovers out there, like myself."
Tie, who got her name for each of the railroad ties she crossed, is currently being house at Animal Care and Control.
"We don't really know who she is, or what she is, because she had no tags around her neck," AC&C Executive Director Risa Weinstock told CBS. "She had no license, and she has no Microchip. She definitely has an owner out there somewhere, so we're really hopeful that with all this attention her owner will come forward."
