Grade Crossing Safety Issues, 1 Year After Deadly Valhalla Crash

Congresswoman Nita Lowey, Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney and Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Sarah Feinberg told reporters during a conference call Monday that progress is being made to improve grade crossing safety issues affecting the Hudson Valley as well as communities nationwide.

“One year ago, the Metro-North crash in Valhalla shocked our entire region,” said Lowey (Westchester/Rockland), the Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Committee. “Most troubling is that the people involved could have been anyone’s family member or loved one, commuting back from work and looking forward to getting home.”

The first anniversary of the Metro-North tragedy in Westchester is Wednesday. When a commuter train hit an SUV on the tracks at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 3 on the Harlem Line in between Pleasantville and White Plains, five train passengers and the driver died in the fiery crash.

RELATED:

• Harlem Line Tragedy: Safety Systems at Crossing Were Working, Investigators Say
• MTA Launches Grade Crossing Safety Campaign

“Installing positive train control systems on commuter rail systems like Metro-North is the single most important step we can take to reduce human error and save lives,” said Maloney (D-Cold Spring), who is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Among the steps taken in Washington: more money for grade crossing improvements, supporting education and enforcement campaigns, and increased spending for rail infrastructure safety.

“To get to a point where we have zero railroad crossing deaths means everyone has to do their part – the FRA, the railroads, states, law enforcement, and even motorists who drive over the more than 200,000 railroad crossing across the country every day, said Administrator Sarah Feinberg of the Federal Railroad Administration.

SEE ALSO:

• Harlem Line Tragedy: The Front Car Filled with Smoke
• Political Leaders Say Harlem Line Crash Was Preventable
• Ellen Brody’s Family to Sue Metro-North over Crash
• UPDATE: Officials Revise Count of Dead, Injured
• UPDATE: Federal Investigators Begin Probe
• On Twitter: News and Reaction to the Harlem Line Tragedy
• 19-year-old Heroine of Valhalla Train Crash

PHOTO: Reps. Nita Lowey and Sean Patrick Maloney, and Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut toured the scene of the deadly Metro North train crash Feb. 6, 2015 with Robert Sumwalt of the National Transportation Safety Board/NTSB