UPDATE: Officials Revise Count of Dead, Injured in Metro North Crash

UPDATE: The National Transportation Safety Board has taken control of the accident scene.

SEE ALSO:

• Federal Investigators Start Probe of Deadly Train Crash
• Metro-North Harlem Line Tragedy: Timeline; Feds Collecting Evidence
• What You Need to Know if You Take Metro-North
• On Twitter: News and Reaction to the Harlem Line Tragedy
• Tough Weather Conditions for Train Accident Investigation

Six people are dead and 15 injured in the deadliest crash in the Metro North Railroad’s history, at an at-grade crossing in Mount Pleasant, NY.

At 6:30 p.m. Feb. 3, a packed commuter train smashed into a Jeep Cherokee that had driven into its path. As the train pushed the SUV about 500 feet down the track a broken segment of the electrified third rail sliced up through the first train car, which burst into flames.

“Everything is melted inside,” said Westchester County Executive Rob Astor after visiting the scene.

“It was completely charred,” he said. “The third rail came up from the tracks through the flooring of the train and through the entire front car.”

Rick Hope, a Yorktown resident, was driving a car right behind the Jeep. He told news reporters what he saw, stopped on Commerce Street at its intersection with the Taconic Parkway, which parallels the tracks of the Harlem Line between Valhalla and Hawthorne.

“All of a sudden the [crossing] gate started coming down and hit the back of the car in front of me, the very very back,” Hope said on FIOS1. “She stops, she gets out of the car, looks at the car, looks at me, I back up to give her room. She grabs the gate, wiggles it a little....she gets in the car and drives forward, right into the path of the train.”

Passengers in the rear cars felt only a bump before the train halted abruptly. It was when they began emergency evacuation that they saw fire and smoke pouring out of the front car.

The county Medical Examiner is working to identify the bodies and will be meeting with the families at 10 a.m.

The express train, which was headed from Grand Central to its first stop in Chappaqua, was probably going about 60 mph, Astorino said.

Metro-North has established a family assistance center at Mount Pleasant Town Hall.

Service has been suspended indefinitely on the Harlem Line. The MTA has established alternatives for rail commuters. Also, the Taconic Parkway is closed in both directions at the scene as the investigation begins.

This is his hometown, his train stop, in fact his intersection when he drives to work down the Bronx River Parkway, Astorino said. “When you get on the train to go home, you open the paper, you listen to your iPod, you expect to get home safe,” he said.

Astorino praised emergency responders for their work rescuing people and putting out the fire, saying they had repeatedly swept both the train and the surrounding area for victims.

The train, an limited to Southeast with its first stop in Chappaqua, would have been going about 60 miles per hour, Astorino said.

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8:46 a.m. Feb. 4

Work is underway to identify the victims of Metro North’s deadliest crash, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said at an 8:30 a.m. press briefing on the site of the tragedy in Mount Pleasant.

“The bodies are all very badly burned and unidentifiable,” Astorino said. Dental records and other methods must be used. There will be a meeting of families of possible victims at the Medical Examiner’s Office at 10 a.m.

Metro North officials announced that the number of fatalities in the Metro-North Railroad accident last night in Valhalla, originally listed as seven, has been revised to six.

“This includes five passengers aboard the Metro-North train and the driver of the car,” said spokesman Aaron Donovan. “The number of passengers being treated for injuries at local hospitals is 15.”

12:45 a.m. Feb. 4

From Metro North: For people who had loved ones who may have been affected by the February 3, 2015, grade crossing accident in Valhalla, Metro-North has established a family assistance center at the Mount Pleasant Town Hall, 1 Town Hall Plaza, Valhalla. Information also is available at 1-800-METRO-INFO. (800-638-7646)

Image: Screen capture from WNBC-TV, @bizzz23/Instagram

Patch Editor Lanning Taliaferro contributed to this report.

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