Rail Safety Megathread. Updated July 23, 2024

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15. NTSB: We can't know why SUV was on tracks before train crash

NTSB: We can’t know why SUV was on tracks before train crash

Originally published July 24, 2017 at 9:25 pm Updated July 25, 2017 at 5:51 pm

By COLLEEN LONG and JENNIFER PELTZ
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal safety investigators said Tuesday they can’t determine why an SUV ended up in the path of an oncoming commuter train, causing a crash that killed six people at a rail crossing in suburban New York in 2015. ... Detailing the results of the nearly 2 1/2-year investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board suggested evaluating the safety risks at some rail crossings and said the design of the train’s power-providing third rail played a role in the toll of deaths and injuries in the crash in the community of Valhalla. The NTSB concluded the SUV driver’s actions were the probable cause of the wreck, but Chairman Robert Sumwalt said those actions remained a mystery.
....

Ellen Brody drove onto the tracks, and when the gate arm came down onto her SUV, she got out and inspected the vehicle before getting back in and driving further onto the tracks. The impact of the crash sparked an explosion, and flames blasted into the Metro-North train, burning out the first rail car and killing Brody and five people aboard the train. More than a dozen others were injured.

Brody wasn’t on the phone, impaired or fatigued, NTSB investigators found. They found all the signals were working properly; the train’s brakes worked and were pulled on time; the warning signs at the crossing worked and were properly marked; the train wasn’t speeding; the engineer wasn’t fatigued or distracted; the track wasn’t faulty; and the emergency exit windows worked. ... Sumwalt hypothesized that Brody wasn’t aware that she had driven into a railroad crossing while inching through traffic.
....

The power-providing rail stayed in one piece, like a 340-foot-long (104-meter) spear, when it was ripped from the ground, investigators said. The rail then sliced through the first passenger car, contributing to the death toll. ... NTSB investigators said the lack of a “controlled failure” mechanism that would split up third rails in such situations was a potential safety problem. The agency recommended that railways that use third rails evaluate the safety risks at ground-level crossings like the one where the crash happened, in the town of Mount Pleasant. The town was weighing whether to close the crossing altogether.
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Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

I've seen photographs of the incident. The SUV was shoved into the third rail (aka, the power-providing rail), which pierced the SUV near its fuel tank. Look at the rear door on the driver's side: