Arthur Beardsley was already pulling the brake lever, slowing the MAX train as it rolled into

, when he saw a woman fall face-first onto the tracks.

The 110-ton train was moving at a downtempo 20 mph. But from the operator's cab, it seemed like the vehicle was bearing down on the motionless figure in the red coat without mercy.

Beardsley smacked a huge black button, engaging the two-car train's emergency brakes.

Large magnets clamped onto the metal wheels. Horrified, Beardsley watched through the front window as the woman disappeared under the black grease of the front coupler.

He prayed. "Please, please, Lord, let this train stop in time."

It's hard to know if the plea helped. But Beardsley's quick action likely saved the woman's life after she fainted and fell from the Willow Creek/185th Avenue station on Monday afternoon.

Beardsley, a 62-year-old

t operator with the cool bearing of actor Edward James Olmos, took a few minutes after his shift Friday to talk about the close call.

"Trains are very heavy and can take a long time to stop," he said. "Hitting someone is a light rail operator's worst nightmare."

Even with emergency brakes bracing the set of wheels, or "trucks," a MAX train traveling 55 mph takes 600 feet to stop, said TriMet spokeswoman Bekki Witt.

Fortunately, Beardsley, who has been operating MAX trains for two years, knew the Willow Creek stop in Hillsboro can be "a scary area." It's connected to a transit center. The platforms are busy during the day. People often run for the trains.

"I approach slower than usual there," Beardsley said.

As the Westbound train reached the platform at 3 p.m. Monday, he pulled brake lever to his left and he scanned the platform. He saw the woman in the red coat and noticed she was standing inside the white warning strip, awfully to close to the edge.

Then she fell like a brick.

Beardsley said he was only about two train cars away when she landed across the tracks. That distance was eaten up in a few heartbeats.

The emergency brakes did their job, but not fast enough for Beardsley.

"When she disappeared under the nose of the train," he said, "I was very frightened."

After the vehicle had stopped, Beardsley stood up and peered over his control panel. He could see the woman's feet. The train had stopped a foot or so short of crushing her.

The operator called dispatchers to report what had just happened, turned off the train and got out to check on her condition. She was unconscious.

"She came around when the medical crews got there," he said. "They took her to the hospital."

Officials said the woman survived.

declined to release the woman's name, saying it was protected by medical-confidentiality laws.

The woman may have had a medical condition that lead to her fainting and falling from the platform, Witt said. Video from a station surveillance camera shows her staggering around the platform before she collapsed.

Beardsley – who had to apply the emergency brakes last year after a man stumbled onto the tracks at the Gateway Transit Center – said he saw the video from the Willow Creek incident for the first time Thursday.

"It was surprising how close it was," he said. "It should be a reminder to people to be careful around these trains. Stay behind the white line. Don't try to beat the train by crossing the tracks, like so many people do."