Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board briefed members of Congress about Tuesday's deadly Metro-North crash between a commuter train from Grand Central and an SUV in Westchester County. The lawmakers were shown the wreckage, and Senator Charles Schumer said, "It's like looking into a coffin."
Six people—the SUV driver and five passengers in the train's first car—were killed. The investigation is still ongoing, but the driver, Ellen Brody, appeared to have stopped in the rail crossing for at least 30 seconds. Apparently one of the crossing gates hit her car; a driver behind her who witnessed the crash said that he thought she'd back up out of the tracks, but she didn't.
Steven Smalls, the engineer of the train, going 58 mph (under the 60-70 mph speed limit range for trains), threw all the brakes but it wasn't enough. About 400 feet of the electrified third rail pierced the first car. According to the NY Times, "In all, 12 sections of third rail pierced the train, each of them measuring 39 feet. The first section had cut through the 2011 Mercedes S.U.V. behind the driver’s seat, [NTSB vice chairman Robert] Sumwalt said. Other sections jutted through the ceiling of the train car, and one bridged the gap between the first and second cars."
Senator Richard Blumenthal said the pieces of third rail in the train car were "like daggers going into the heart of that chamber." From the Hartford Courant:
Metro-North, who operates in New York and Connecticut, is believed to be the only U.S. commuter railroad that uses the "under-running" or "under-riding" configuration: A metal "shoe" slips underneath the third rail rather than skimming along the top. Some have questioned whether the collision caused the shoe to pry up the third rail.
"This has never happened before, and this is a rare configuration of a third rail," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "Do those two add up to the explanation for this terrible, terrible tragedy? Very possibly."
At this point, train experts think that Smalls "appeared to have done all he could to stop the train."
The NTSB said that Smalls helped out five or six people from the train, and also carried one out of the burning train. He then tried to go back for more but the fire was too much. Sumwalt said, "I think it goes without saying that he’s very traumatized."
The driver of the SUV, Ellen Brody, was mourned in a funeral service yesterday. According to the Post, her husband said that she "had been on her way to meet a client at the time and was unfamiliar with the neighborhood in Valhalla where the crash occurred."
