Metro-North train collides with car at grade crossing

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Well, one M7 looks completely gutted. The second doesn't look damaged to me. Hopefully everyone got out of the lead car.

Until we find out if the grade crossing malfunctioned, I'm going to assume that these were idiots trying to beat the train. It's all too common around here.
 
Article has been updated. Only one car, six fatalities including the car driver

Donovan said in a statement that the crossing gates came down on top of the Jeep, which had stopped on the tracks. The driver got out to look at the rear of the car, he said, then got back in and drove forward, where she was struck.
 
OK, here we go again with the press reporting the Metro North train hit a car. Very rarely trains leave their tracks and hit cars. It was a car on the track at a grade crossing. As said above electric locomotives carry no fuel. Where did the fire get it's start - very likley from the car's gas tank.
 
OK, here we go again with the press reporting the Metro North train hit a car. Very rarely trains leave their tracks and hit cars. It was a car on the track at a grade crossing. As said above electric locomotives carry no fuel. Where did the fire get it's start - very likley from the car's gas tank.
But the train did hit a car that was stopped on the tracks. The sentence is grammatically correct. You can't say the car hit the train because the car was not moving and did not strike the train.

Saying the train hit the car does not imply the train was at-fault, as many people like to believe; it's simply the correct way to phrase the sentence.

Do you say a bat hit the ball or that the ball hit the bat?
 
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Does anyone know for sure, what type of vehicle it was? Some news sources say "Jeep Cherokee", some say "Mercedes SUV", and even CNN headlines "Jeep" but says "Mercedes" in their story.
 
Maybe it is now time to change the "two cars" in the title to "one car", now that we know that with certainty.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/fatal-train-crash-metro-north-history-unfolded/story?id=28717047

Here in Space Coast in Florida, in the land of hundred grade crossings across the FEC main line, which will soon see as many as 36 passenger trains a day in addition to the dozen or so FEC freights, occasionally one sees a dufus stop on the track waiting for a traffic signal to change. But most fortunately that is few and far between. Unfortunately it just takes one to wreck havoc.

All trains here will have lcomotives or power heads leading the train, giving an extra measure of protection.

Perhaps the issue of grade crossings in EMU territory needs to be revisited. The MNRR Harlem line has many grade crossing. Such is relatively uncommon/non-existent on the Hudson and New Haven lines. LIRR has several grade crossings on its main line and the Huntington/Port Jeff branch. Many of those are targeted for elimination via construction of underpasses or rerouting through such. But it takes money to get there.
 
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BTW, haven't seen this mentioned anywhere.... Both the Engineer and the Conductor who were in the full width cab, survived with relatively minor injuries. A passenger who was in a seat in the section between the front quarter doors and the cab, survived completely unscathed. Apparently the major injuries/fatalities were towards the middle of the car where the third rail punctured through the floor. It has been stated in reports that no one was directly hit by the third rail, but the puncture in the floor probably played a role in the fire spreading so quickly within the car.
 
"Around 6:30 p.m., there was a line of cars on Commerce Street leading back onto the Taconic, and a witness watched as Ms. Ellen Brody found herself on the wrong side of the crossing bar as it went down."

You're not supposed to enter the crossing without first ensuring you have enough room to exit the crossing in one continuous movement. I honestly cannot imagine a legitimate excuse for getting "caught" on train tracks. Based on the information disseminated so far I really have a hard time feeling sorry for Ellen Brody. Instead I'm feeling a growing sense of anger and disgust over the loss of life and limb caused by her irresponsible behavior.
 
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What is stranger is that according to some reports, specifically from an interview with a driver in a car that was just behind Ms. Brody's car, that she was caught on the wrong side of the gate but not on the track. She checked for damage to the rear of the SUV and then proceeded to drive onto the track! If that is true that is truly bizarre behavior!
 
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Not excusing her behavior and the public may never know, but perhaps she had a "traumatic" (to her) incident happen that day and she was not of a clear mind.
 
Obviously this is what investigations are for, but the painfully obvious question is how could a commuter train striking a passenger car/SUV could result in so many deaths? Yes, the driver of the vehicle is at fault, but this should really have been a survivable collision for those on board the train.
 
Obviously this is what investigations are for, but the painfully obvious question is how could a commuter train striking a passenger car/SUV could result in so many deaths? Yes, the driver of the vehicle is at fault, but this should really have been a survivable collision for those on board the train.
It seems the FRA has been concerned about the survivability of some of the Metro North cars and specifically pointed out the new M8 series as having defective bolts that should ALL be replaced. Of course those were not involved in this incident but it sounds like Metro Northis going to be watched closer than a cat watches a mouse hole.
 
Obviously this is what investigations are for, but the painfully obvious question is how could a commuter train striking a passenger car/SUV could result in so many deaths? Yes, the driver of the vehicle is at fault, but this should really have been a survivable collision for those on board the train.
The deaths on the train seem to have been caused by the third rail coming through the bottom of the lead car. The engineer and conductor were riding in the control cab and came through the accident alive.
 
What is stranger is that according to some reports, specifically from an interview with a driver in a car that was just behind Ms. Brody's car, that she was caught on the wrong side of the gate but not on the track. She checked for damage to the rear of the SUV and then proceeded to drive onto the track! If that is true that is truly bizarre behavior!
Here "out West", the crossing signal lights start flashing and bells ringing several seconds before the arms come down. Wondering if the lights and bells were flashing and ringing (and the arms not yet down) when she began crossing the track thinking she could make it across. She must have known (well, maybe not) a train was coming when she stopped to check for damage.
 
Perhaps we should bring back this railroad crossing just to get the point across?

10959511_609502755850251_8235848535797008043_n.jpg


More seriously, I think that the commuter railroads ought to look at upgrading crossings with a moving block, activated perhaps by vehicle detecting cameras, and trigger the crossing gates far enough ahead of time that the train can stop (or at least significantly slow) before a collision. Longer wait time for cars, but that's a downside worth living with.
 
Perhaps we should bring back this railroad crossing just to get the point across?

10959511_609502755850251_8235848535797008043_n.jpg


More seriously, I think that the commuter railroads ought to look at upgrading crossings with a moving block, activated perhaps by vehicle detecting cameras, and trigger the crossing gates far enough ahead of time that the train can stop (or at least significantly slow) before a collision. Longer wait time for cars, but that's a downside worth living with.
I really like that. It would be even better if the skull's eyes glowed red along with the crossing signals. :)
 
Not excusing her behavior and the public may never know, but perhaps she had a "traumatic" (to her) incident happen that day and she was not of a clear mind.
Then she shouldn't have been driving.
I agree. But just like someone who DUIs, if you're not clear minded you're not going to think clearly about whether you should be driving or not.
 
The two things that I think the investigation's going to focus on are:

1) Why this person was on the track and what more can be done to keep people off the tracks

2) Why the third rail pierced the train car, and what can be done to prevent that

Arguably #2 is more important. Trains hit cars all the time; it shouldn't happen but it does and if you've got hundreds of grade crossings on the line, then the equipment needs to be built for that contingency. Obviously in this case, the track was not. I don't know what the answer is to that - maybe a combination of securing the third rail better, plus burying the ends in the ground? (From what I remember, at grade crossings there's a gap in the rail and so the car probably "caught" one end.)

As for Ellen Brody, I never like to speak ill of the dead but this is a mistake you as a driver just can't make. There's no excuse for being caught on the track when the gates come down. At a lot of grade crossings in this area there are signs to the effect of "do not stop on tracks", but my experience is that a person who doesn't have the common sense to already know that is not going to be persuaded by a little sign. People learn how to drive when they're teenagers and by and large they maintain whatever habits they learn at that time until the day they die. They may slow down a little bit and become more absent-minded as they get older, but they need to be taught the laws and proper driving techniques when they're young or they're just going to keep doing the wrong things because they "never had a problem before". Until they finally do, at which point it's too late both for them and anyone else they inadvertently kill.
 
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