Wednesday, February 4, 2015

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Metro-North Train Hits SUV, Killing 7 in Worst Accident in Its History - New York Times




A Metro-North train on the railroad’s Harlem line crashed into a vehicle on the tracks in Valhalla, N.Y., on Tuesday evening. Albert Conte/The Journal News/lohud.com




A crowded Metro-North Railroad train passing through Westchester County at the height of the evening rush on Tuesday slammed into a sport-utility vehicle on the tracks at a crossing, creating a fiery crash and explosion that killed seven people, injured a dozen and forced the evacuation of hundreds. It was the deadliest crash in the railroad’s history.


Passengers were temporarily stranded after evacuating the train, as its front car continued to release billowing smoke into the cold night air. Service was suspended on the Harlem line on Tuesday night as firefighters responded to the smoking car and officials said they were investigating what had led to the crash.


The train hit the S.U.V., a black Jeep Cherokee, in the crossing at Commerce Street in Valhalla, N.Y., around 6:30 p.m., officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said. The driver of the vehicle and six people on the train were killed, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said after touring the scene late Tuesday.



“This is a truly ugly and brutal sight,” he said. Mr. Cuomo said the car was stopped on the tracks and the crossing gates were down when it was hit by the train, resulting in a fire that consumed the vehicle and the first car of the train. The train pushed the S.U.V. about 400 feet, and the explosion caused the third rail of the track to go through the front train car, Mr. Cuomo said.



Area of the Crash





Passengers were evacuated through the back of the train. About 400 of them were taken to a local rock-climbing gym for shelter, where buses were to take them to the next working station, said Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for the authority.


Ten people were seriously injured and two others had injuries that were not life threatening, Rob Astorino, the Westchester County executive, said. They were taken to local hospitals. The locomotive engineer on the train was among the injured. One passenger, Scott Miller, 45, said he was riding in the second car of the train when he heard a bang.


“The train screeched to a halt, and you immediately started smelling smoke,” he said. “People started screaming, ‘Run to the back of the train.’ ”


He grabbed his coat and bag and started walking down the aisle toward the back of the train with other worried passengers, he said.


“It was kind of crazy,” he said. “You had firemen trying to bang open the doors. People were jumping out of the windows.”




Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo toured the scene of the wreck. “This is a truly ugly and brutal sight,” he said. John Taggart/European Pressphoto Agency

A worker at a nearby gym, Michael McGuinn, 22, said he saw sparks flying from the front of the train and heard a huge crash. He said he saw the train braking and the car catching fire.


“I knew immediately that it was a car and that it was going to be really bad,” Mr. McGuinn said.


A short time later, he heard passengers moaning and trying to leave the train.


“I just saw a lot of dazed and confused people,” he said. “They all looked shellshocked.”


Metro-North has been under intense scrutiny after a series of crashes that killed six people in less than a year, including a derailment in 2013 on the Hudson line that left four commuters dead in the Bronx. A federal report released last year was highly critical of Metro-North.




The S.U.V. and the train in Westchester County on Tuesday. “This is a truly ugly and brutal sight,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said. Mike Segar/Reuters

On Tuesday night, the National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to investigate the crash.


According to preliminary information, the gates at the crossing came down on top of the S.U.V., which had stopped on the tracks, Mr. Donovan said. The driver got out of the vehicle to look at the rear of the car, then got back in and drove forward. Then the vehicle was struck, he said.


Mr. Astorino said that the crash appeared to be the S.U.V. driver’s fault, not the conductor’s.


Service on the Harlem line, which runs from Grand Central Terminal to Wassaic, N.Y., in Dutchess County, was suspended between North White Plains and Pleasantville on Tuesday night. The train in the crash had left Grand Central around 5:45 p.m. and was running express, Mr. Donovan said.


The transportation authority’s chairman, Thomas F. Prendergast, said the express train usually carried around 655 people, and can reach speeds up to 60 miles per hour.




Emergency workers at the site of the crash on Tuesday. Mike Segar/Reuters

Late on Tuesday at the snowy scene, railroad gates were lowered at the site of the crash. Helicopters hovered above. Early on Wednesday the M.T.A. said it had set up a family assistance center at the Mount Pleasant Town Hall in Valhalla for those affected by the crash.


The M.T.A. said there would be major service changes to the railroad’s Harlem Line on Wednesday morning and riders should expect delays and crowded trains. The Valhalla and Hawthorne stations will be closed, and service north of the North White Plains station will not operate normally.


In a statement, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York said, “Our hearts go out to those lost, we pray for those injured and our hats are tipped to the brave first responders who came to the scene of this tragic crash so quickly.”


Mr. Schumer, who has been critical of safety measures at the railroad, added,


“At this early stage, it is premature to point any fingers of blame, but there are many important questions that must be answered in the coming days.”


Representative Sean Patrick Maloney issued a statement: “As M.T.A. and N.T.S.B. look into this horrific incident in the days to follow, we need to know how and why this happened and then take real steps to prevent another tragic collision from ever recurring.”


James E. Hall, a former chairman of the safety board, said he expected investigators to consider whether gasoline escaping from the Jeep had set the train car on fire. He said it was unusual for a passenger train to burst into flames in a crash, but he added that “anytime you have friction in an accident there’s a possibility of flammability.”


Mr. Hall said he would expect investigators to look into the rail cars and the difficulty passengers might have had evacuating. He said the safety board had investigated several train accidents in the 1990s “where evacuation was a problem.”




Reporting was contributed by Edna Ishayik, Patrick McGeehan, Nate Schweber and John Surico.



A version of this article appears in print on February 4, 2015, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Train Hits S.U.V. In a Fatal Crash on Metro-North.










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