A small town in Westchester County, NY may shut down the railroad crossing where an SUV driver and five train passengers died in a disastrous railroad crossing crash last year.
The Feb. 3, 2015 train crash prompted the town of of Mount Pleasant NY to study whether vehicle traffic should be diverted from the hazardous railroad crossing at Commerce Street.
The town supervisor noted that this type of major accident indicates that the crossing could simply be too hazardous to remain open. An actual closure of the crossing would require New York state approval.
The deadly crash happened during rush hour during the week on Metro North’s Harlem line, which runs from Grand Central Station in New York City into Westchester County. It also continues on into nearby Putnam and Dutchess counties.
The crash occurred when the SUV driver stopped on the railroad tracks after she had been diverted from the Taconic State Parkway after another accident.
After the train smashed into the SUV, the third rail that powers the train pierced the floor of the first train car. Also, 12 pieces of rail tore through the car, which caught fire.
More light has been shed on this crash this month, after the NTSB released many of its investigation documents about the likely cause of the crash.
The NTSB documents revealed that the traffic control system at the railroad crossing that controls stoplights was out of compliance with federal guidelines when the crash happened.
This is known as a preemption system, which is supposed to activate traffic lights as trains approach the crossing. The aim is to clear vehicle traffic from railroad tracks and to prevent accidents.
The system was not properly configured to clear track traffic coming from Taconic State Parkway, according to Steve Ditmeyer, a former federal rail official. Ditmeyer now runs a consulting firm in Virginia, and he recently reviewed the NTSB report at The Wall Street Journal’s request.
He noted that the proper stoplight sequence did not occur when the crash happened, but he was not certain if it played a major role in the crash. Since the crash, the preemption system at that crossing has been changed.
Our Virginia and North Carolina personal injury lawyers have represented the families of many train crossing accident victims over the last decade. This experience has provided us with a detailed grasp of why serious injuries and wrongful deaths happen at rail crossings.
If the families of the deceased in this tragic train/car crash want to collect compensation for their pain and suffering, it is important for them to work with the best railroad accident attorney they can. In Virginia, we often retain former railroad workers–who have retired–as investigators, or retain former federal railroad administration experts, and they conduct thorough investigations of railroad crossing crashes or railroad derailments. This work gives our team unique insights into the causes of these mostly preventable accidents. That type of skilled litigation is what helped us to win a recent $1 million settlement in a Virginia train accident.