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MNRR/Metro-North train Collides with cars in Valhalla, NY 2/3/15


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#21 CNJRoss

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Posted 05 February 2015 - 08:04 PM

Related post:

 

Technology Solution? Sensors Could Warn Trains of Cars on Tracks



#22 CNJRoss

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Posted 05 February 2015 - 10:06 PM

Gothamist.com, 2/5 8:51 am:
 

Metro-North Service Resumes On Harlem Line After Deadly Collision

 

Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that Metro-North service on the Harlem line has resumed after Tuesday night's fatal crash between an SUV on the train tracks and a commuter train from New York City.

 

The National Transportation Safety Board has removed wreckage from the site in Valhalla, NY. At this point, it's known that the 5:44 p.m. train from Grand Central, due in the Southeast station at 7:08 p.m., barreled into Ellen Brody's Mercedes SUV, which was parked on the tracks. Apparently one of the barricade crossing gates had come down onto the SUV, and another driver who was behind Brody said, "It looks like where she stopped she did not want to go on the tracks, but the proximity of the gate to her car, you know, it was dark — maybe she didn’t know she was in front of the gate."

 

Brody had gotten out of her car to inspect, and apparently tried to wave at the oncoming train to stop, but the train's engineer, who attempted to brake the trains, couldn't stop the "87-ton rail cars," which were going at 58 mph (under the 60-70 mph speed limit for trains) in time.  .  .  .

 

Continue here w/ photo gallery.

 

Photo 4 - note the 3rd rail passing between the cars near the roof line!  Photo 9 - rail  being cut before moving the cars.



#23 KevinKorell

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Posted 05 February 2015 - 10:55 PM

While we still don't know all of the details, and may not considering that the lone SUV driver perished, I count 6 warnings to the driver that somehow were missed.

1.  The gate that came down on her SUV.

2.  The bells at the crossing.

3.  The flashing red lights.

4.  The crossbucks.

5.  The train's horn.

6.  If the TV reports are showing that very crossing, then there is also a white sign that says as follows:

 

 

74926CA6-6E62-4646-9CC0-DDB1707EE2E3-med

 

 

 

 

 

x25235969.jpg



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#24 KevinKorell

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Posted 06 February 2015 - 03:28 AM

On the issue of the third rail becoming dislodged from its normal position and piercing the rail cars, it was mentioned on the local news tonight that one thing being investigated is the under-running nature of the third rail on Metro North (ex-New York Central RR) vs the over-running third rail used in most other places.  I believe in this case that third rail is third rail, and the means of contact probably little to do with the freak nature of a vehicle being hit and dragged as it was.



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#25 CNJRoss

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Posted 06 February 2015 - 08:06 PM

Related post:

 

Interim FRA Chief lacks rail ties



#26 CNJRoss

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Posted 06 February 2015 - 08:51 PM

Bloomberg Business,2/6:
 

MTA Chief Prendergast Put to Test Again After Metro-North Crash

 

1200x-1.jpg

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, center, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Tom Prendergast, right, speak to members of the media at the site of a Metro-North commuter train crash in Valhalla, New York on Feb. 3, 2015. Photographer: Michael Graae/Getty Images
 
(Bloomberg) -- Less than an hour after a Metro-North train derailed in the Bronx in 2013, killing four people, Tom Prendergast was surveying the damage. The chairman of the biggest U.S. transit agency had been heading home that morning from a weeklong cruise when he heard about the accident.

 

“He was right at the scene, I imagine his suitcases were still in the car, when he called me,” said Fernando Ferrer, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority vice chairman and a former Bronx borough president. “He called me and said, ‘Freddy, you’ll never guess where I am.’”

 

Just 14 months later, Prendergast was back at another fatal scene Feb. 3 after a Metro-North train smashed into a sport-utility vehicle on the tracks in Westchester County, killing six people in a fireball. It became the latest challenge for the 61-year-old railroad veteran, whose agency federal regulators slammed last year for lax safety standards and that now faces a $15.2 billion deficit in its five-year capital plan.

 

Prendergast’s decades of experience informed his response to the Bronx crash as he instituted safety measures, including screening employees for sleep disorders and improving track inspections and speed compliance. Former colleagues, union officials and transit advocates say his composure under pressure is helping him navigate the aftermath of the latest accident, the worst in Metro-North’s history.

 

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#27 CNJRoss

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Posted 07 February 2015 - 05:22 PM

The New York Times, 2/4:

 

Investigating the Metro-North Crash

 

A commuter train smashed into a sport utility vehicle on the tracks near an intersection on the Taconic State Parkway in Valhalla, N.Y., on Feb. 3, killing six people. The accident was the deadliest in the history of the Metro-North Railroad.   Related Article

 

 

Continue here; interesting graphics.



#28 CNJRoss

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Posted 08 February 2015 - 09:02 AM

New York Post, 2/6:
 

Planned warning lights were never installed at Metro-North crash site

 

State transportation officials planned five years ago to install more flashing warning lights at the Westchester train crossing where a driver and five commuters perished in a fiery crash Tuesday — but inexplicably never did so.

 

SNIP

 

Asked if the extra lights could have helped prevent this week’s horrific accident, state Transportation Department spokesman Beau Duffy told The Associated Press, “There’s a lot of unknowns here.

 

“It’s way too early to be guessing about what could have or couldn’t have made a difference,” he said.

 

SNIP

 

Although the other two sets of warning lights and descending gate at the crossing were working properly, a power substation about 20 feet away may have blocked the oncoming train from Brody’s view, said National Transportation Safety Board investigator Robert Sumwalt on Friday.

 

This weekend, the NTSB plans to set up a train and a vehicle at the scene “to see how far back people can see each other,” he said.

 

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#29 CNJRoss

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Posted 24 February 2015 - 08:58 PM

The Journal News, White Plains, NY, posted 2/23:

 
Metro-North crash: NTSB issues Valhalla tragedy report
The crash, which killed six people, was the worst in the history of Metro-North Railroad.
B9316216462Z.1_20150212113259_000_GD89UB

(Photo: Frank Becerra Jr./The Journal News)

 

Federal officials on Monday released a narrative of the fatal collision between a Metro-North train and sport utility vehicle on Feb. 3, but the preliminary report does not shed new light on why the driver, Ellen Brody, wound up in the path of the oncoming train.

 

The fiery crash killed Brody and five train passengers.

 

In the two-page report, the National Transportation Safety Board said:

 

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#30 CNJRoss

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Posted 24 February 2015 - 09:03 PM

The Wall Street Journal, posted 2/23:

 
Deadly Metro-North Train Wreck Cost $3.7M in Damages: NTSB Report Feb. 3 Collision in Valhalla, N.Y., Killed Six People
NY-DL747_CRASH_J_20150223190505.jpg ENNTSB NTSB officials view the wreckage a day after the fatal Feb. 3 crash. Photo: NTSB/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
 

The deadly train-SUV collision in Westchester County this month caused $3.7 million in damage to the Metro-North Railroad, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report, which contained new details but stopped short of laying to rest major questions about the crash.

 

The preliminary report, which was released Monday, didn’t address issues such as why the sport-utility vehicle wound up on the railroad tracks before the collision, or how safety at crossings might be improved.

 

Five of the train’s passengers and the driver of the SUV were killed in the Feb. 3 crash at the Commerce Street railroad crossing in Valhalla, N.Y.

 

The safety board’s investigation could take more than a year before it identifies a probable cause of the crash, NTSB officials have said. The safety board determines what leads to major crashes and often recommends how to address flaws uncovered in their investigations.

 

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