Death toll in N.Y. train crash lowered as investigators study incident

NEW YORK – A 400-foot chunk of electrified rail sliced through an SUV, punctured its fuel tank, and pierced the first and part of the second car of a commuter train, investigators said Wednesday as they pieced together details of a fiery train-car crash that killed six people north of New York City.

National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Robert Sumwalt said the agency was focusing on two main questions as it began investigating Tuesday evening’s crash in the Westchester County town of Valhalla: why the SUV driver was on the tracks, and why the accident killed so many people on the train.

“That’s really going to be the heart of it,” Sumwalt said at a news conference. He said rail crossing accidents are not rare, but they usually do not result in fatalities on trains. Part of the NTSB investigation will be to examine the crashworthiness and strength of the rail cars on the Metro-North train, Sumwalt said.

Four people remained hospitalized Wednesday, including one in critical condition. Officials had not yet identified all of the victims, who included five men on the train and the female SUV driver. Local media identified her as 49-year-old Ellen Schaeffer Brody, a jewelry store employee and mother of three who lived in Westchester County. Her husband, Alan Brody, and friends of the family posted statements online confirming her death.

Rick Hope, who was behind Brody’s car during a traffic tie-up Tuesday, has said she was in one of many cars inching along a street that is traversed by the railroad track. At one point, traffic came to a halt, and Brody stopped inside the crossing gate line. Suddenly, Hope said, the gate came down on the car and lights began flashing, indicating Metro-North’s No. 659 out of Grand Central Terminal was coming up the track.

Instead of hurrying off the track, though, Hope said the SUV’s driver got out of her car and walked around to the back, as if to check for damage from the lowered gate. Then, instead of backing up, Hope said, she got back into her car and drove forward about 15 feet.

It is not clear if she was trying to beat the train or if she was confused in the darkness and did not realize she was in peril, Sumwalt said.

The force of the crash pushed the SUV about 1,000 feet up the track. As the train barreled forward, the SUV wrapped around its front, the track’s electrified third rail became dislodged and penetrated the SUV’s chassis and fuel tank. The rail then impaled the train, where it spread a fire fueled by the SUV’s gasoline.

“The entire interior of the first rail car was burned out,” he said.

Sumwalt said investigators would be at the site for five to seven days collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses. He said experts will study the crossing gates, signals, tracks and the train’s black-box-type recorders to determine how fast the train was traveling and whether brakes were applied before impact. The express train should have been traveling at about 60 mph on that stretch, which is about 20 miles north of New York City.

“We intend to find out not only what happened, but we want to find out why it happened,” Sumwalt told reporters. “And our sole purpose for being here is to find out what happened so that we can offer recommendations to hopefully keep this from happening again.”

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said earlier Wednesday that it was a “minor miracle” when a search of the wreckage had determined there was one less fatality than had been initially reported after the crash.