8 Years After Fiery Train Crash, Widower Waits For Safety Improvements

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — It's been eight years since Ellen Brody and five other people died in a fiery commuter train crash in Valhalla — and her husband is still fighting for safety improvements at the railroad crossing where the tragedy took place.

The crash, the deadliest in Metro-North Railroad's history, happened at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 3, 2015. The Harlem Line's 5:45 p.m. express from Grand Central hit Ellen Brody's SUV at the Commerce Street grade crossing and pushed it about 1,000 feet up the tracks. About 400 feet of the electrified third rail sliced into both the Mercedes and the packed commuter train, causing an explosion. The Edgemont resident died in her car. Riders Joseph Nadol of Ossining, Chappaqua resident Robert Dirks, Tomar Aditya of Danbury and Bedford residents Walter Liedtke and Eric Vandercar died on the train. Fifteen others were hurt.

Not much has happened at the crossing since then, Ellen's husband, Alan Brody, told Patch on Friday.

"They were in violation with the timing on the crossing. That actually had ramifications — they could have been fined. They fixed that," Brody said. "They put new paint on the road. Now you can see the markings when the sun's shining."

Patch reached out to Metro-North for a comment on the crossing, but had not heard back by the time this article was posted.

Meanwhile, life has gone on.

"I'm OK. More importantly, the family is intact. When you think of all the things that happened and then you throw in COVID," Brody said, recalling the past eight years. "The kids got through college. My late wife, Ellen, was a wonderful, wonderful mom. My youngest daughter said she gave them enough love to last them a lifetime."

But the ripples of what he called "a tsunami of tragedy" are still spreading, as the families of the dead continue their lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

"I know people have gone through other tragedies. Other families we've met, each one has their own pain," he said. "It becomes more private over time. But in this case, other than getting the kids on track in life, I just want this fixed."

There are more than 250,000 highway-rail grade crossings across the United States. Grade crossing incidents are a leading cause of rail-related deaths and injuries, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. The FRA said in 2014 that an overemphasis on preventing delays led Metro-North officials to routinely put on-time performance well ahead of safety practices and concerns.

So why haven't safety improvements been made at Commerce Street? Brody said people ask him that all the time.

"It's like having this 19th-century beast in your backyard and it doesn’t want to be domesticated," he said. "Some part is they don’t want to admit any blame, but it's more of a cultural thing. The railroads have this incredible mentality of 'we were here first, we don't have to change, you change.'"

Take Positive Train Control, the expensive, high-tech system Metro-North began installing after four people died when an engineer fell asleep on the Hudson Line: If a train is traveling too fast, the system automatically takes control of the train to slow it down while alerting the engineer.

"It protects them from themselves, but it does absolutely nothing for the public at crossings," Brody said. "A lot of things they could be doing don't even cost that much."

Take strobe lights, for example, programmed to go on when the rail comes down and the bell starts ringing.

"You can get a strobe light at the Dollar Store," Brody said.

Even reflective paint on the warning signs (designed for cattlemen in the 1800s) doesn't help at Commerce Street, he said, because the signs are designed and positioned to reflect headlights 100 feet out, but at Commerce Street there's a sharp curve only 75 feet from the tracks.

Since his wife died, major improvements have been done at one of Westchester County's other grade crossings, at Roaring Brook Road in Chappaqua. Perhaps it was because there's a school up the street, Brody pointed out — parents can push hard when they're worried — and a new development across from it.

Federal grants awarded in 2016 for local grade crossings did include Commerce Street — but not for making improvements, just for installing CCTV cameras to record grade crossing movements and incidents and analyze crossing/traffic operations for "targeted safety modifications."

In December, politicians and officials descended on tiny Manitou Station in Garrison to announce a renewed push for federal funding to improve safety at grade crossings on Metro-North Railroad, including Commerce Street. Saying "we will never forget" the grade crossing tragedy in Valhalla, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer said more is needed to be done faster. But Metro-North's current project to improve grade crossings involves just five in Dutchess and Putnam counties.

Brody pointed out that the auto industry dragged its feet on safety features until Ralph Nader made it a national scandal, and that foot-dragging about at-grade crossings is a national problem.

"At the end of the day, we all win if they make the railroads safer," he said.

One person who agrees with him is his Town Supervisor, Paul Feiner, who created an online petition Thursday on change.org calling for Brody's proposed improvements to the crossing, though it is in the town of Mount Pleasant, not Feiner's town of Greenburgh.

"Thank you for signing to urge the Governor, state legislators and Metro North to take action," Feiner wrote. So far it has received 51 signatures. Click here to read it.

"The petition is a great thing, let’s get the conversation going," Brody said. Meanwhile, he waits for the work to be done and the lawsuit to get to court, which he expects will happen this year.

"In your wildest dreams, you’d never imagine something like this," he said. "We were a happy family. She was a lovely person."