DOT Missed April 1 Deadline For Crossings Study: State Officials

VALHALLA, NY — The state Department of Transportation missed an April 1 deadline for a study of New York’s at-grade railroad crossings. Assemblyman Thomas J. Abinanti, D-Mount Pleasant, said Thursday, July 27 the DOT has not responded to his inquiries concerning why the study hasn’t been completed.

During a press conference with Sen. David Carlucci, D-Clarkstown, Abinanti said we shouldn’t just wait for the next accident, the Journal News said, but that it should be prevented from happening. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

On Tuesday, July 25, the National Transportation Safety Board issued its determination that an SUV driver moving onto the Harlem Line Metro-North tracks was the probable cause of the deadliest train crash in the agency’s history.

Ellen Brody, of Scarsdale, was killed along with five train passengers Feb. 3, 2015, after she stopped at the Commerce Street crossing, got out of her car, despite warning signs, and went to the back of her vehicle where the crossing gate had come down.

SEE ALSO:

• Driver Of Car Probable Cause Of Deadly 2015 Metro-North Train Crash: NTSB
• Reports, Details of Fatal Valhalla Train Crash Released by NTSB
• Deadly Train Crash Puts the Spotlight on Metro-North's Recent Safety Record — Again
• UPDATE: Federal Investigators Begin Probe, Victims Identified, Train Service Restored
• Political Leaders Say Harlem Line Crash Was Preventable

The NTSB said that reduce the amount of time Brody had to get herself and her car out of the way of the oncoming train.

Contributing to the severity of the crash was the electrified third rail coming loose and piercing the first railcar, resulting in a fire that overwhelmed the railcar.

Among the recommendations, the safety board made were for federal agencies to notify rail-transit properties to do risk assessments of grade crossings that have an electrified third rail component.

State law said that those assessments should have already been done, the Journal News said.

Read the Journal News article.

Photo credit: NTSB.