Political Leaders Say Harlem Line Crash Was Preventable

Washington lawmakers held a press conference this afternoon at the Commerce Street intersection where six people died Tuesday in the fiery collision of a commuter train and an SUV on the tracks.

U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Representatives Nita Lowey and Sean Patrick Maloney were in Mount Pleasant. They had met with members of the National Transportation Safety Board’s forensics team and been given a tour of the wreckage.

“They were caught in a conflagration that was hideous and horrible,” said Blumenthal (D-CT). “To see the twisted chunks of metal, the blackened soot-stained car, the seats that were twisted remains of what they had been—what horror that car must have held for those innocent lives that were lost. This accident is heartbreaking and gutwrenching and mindbending in how it could have occurred.”

Schumer said he had learned from the chief NTSB investigator how rarely a train v car collision results in injuries or deaths to people on the train.

“So the looming question is why did it happen here?” Schumer said.

He read the names of the dead: Joseph Nadol, 42, of Ossining; Chappaqua resident Robert Dirks, 36; Tomar Aditya, 41, of Danbury; Bedford residents Walter Liedtke and Eric Vandercar; and Edgemont resident Ellen Brody, the driver.

“You read their bios,” Schumer said. “They seem like all-American people, the average wonderful folks that live in New York and Connecticut and America.”

The lawmakers talked about the more than 2,000 grade crossing accidents in 2013 that killed 288 people and injured more than 760.

Lowey and the others called for legislation to fund better technology at crossings, higher penalties for circumventing gates, and additional support for the work of Operation Lifesaver, a national nonprofit that offers rail safety education programs.

“This could have and should have been prevented,” said Blumenthal.

PHOTO: NTSB investigator Kristin Poland sets-up 3D Laser Scanner to create a virtual 3D model of the damaged rail car involved in Metro North accident/NTSB

HARLEM LINE TRAGEDY:

• Harlem Line Tragedy: Safety Systems at Crossing Were Working, Investigators Say
• Phone, E-Mail, Twitter: NTSB, Metro-North Reach Out
• Ossining Resident Joseph Nadol Among Victims in Metro-North Tragedy
• Deadly Train Crash Puts the Spotlight on Metro-North’s Recent Safety Record -- Again
• Harlem Line Tragedy: Engineer Credited With Saving Lives
• Chappaqua Resident Robert Dirks Among Victims in Metro-North Tragedy
• Bedford Hills Resident Walter Liedtke Among Victims in Metro North Tragedy
• Edgemont Resident Ellen Brody Among Victims in Metro North Tragedy
• Danbury Resident Aditya Tomar Among Victims in Metro-North Tragedy
• Funeral Services Announced for Ellen Brody, Edgemont Woman Killed in Metro-North Tragedy
• Update: Last Three Victims ID’d in Deadly Feb. 3 Crash
• Chaos, Sadness and Prayers: A Commuter’s Train Ride When Tragedy Struck
• Bedford Resident Eric Vandercar Among Victims
• 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