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[h=4]NTSB: Train engineer saw SUV, pulled emergency brake[/h]The engineer helped 5 or 6 passengers climb out before the smoke became too thick.
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National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt discusses the lack of audible warning bells at the train crossing in Valhalla. Matt Spillane/The Journal News
The train involved in the fatal Valhalla, N.Y, Metro-North accident is being examined at a maintenance facility.(Photo: NTSB)
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The engineer on a Metro-North train that plowed into an SUV in Valhalla — killing the driver and five commuters on board — told investigators he saw a reflection in front of him and quickly realized it was "the front end of a vehicle" on the tracks.
Steven Smalls pulled the emergency brake and saw the SUV "advance fully" into the crossing, according to Robert Sumwalt, a board member with the National Transportation Safety Board.
Just four seconds later, with the train slowed to 48 mph, the express commuter train plowed into the Mercedes. The train traveled 650 feet after impact before finally stopping.
Smalls did not hear an explosion or "realize the third rail had penetrated his car at this time," Sumwalt said. But smoke began quickly filling the engineer's compartment. He radioed an emergency call and exited his post only to see a fire in the rear of the first train car, behind the bathroom.
Engineer Steven Smalls has worked for Metro-North since 2010 and has been qualified as an engineer since March 2013.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: WNBC)
Sumwalt said the engineer helped five or six passengers climb out before the smoke became so thick he climbed out himself. After getting outside, he saw a passenger crawling toward the door and was able to pick that person up and hand him to a first responder, Sumwalt said.
Smalls told investigators "he tried to go back into the car to rescue someone else but was unable to do so because of the fire," Sumwalt said.
"I think it goes without saying that he's very traumatized."
Sumwalt said Smalls has worked for Metro-North since 2010 and has been qualified as an engineer since March 2013. He worked the Harlem Line about three times a week and was on his fourth and final run of the day when the accident occurred.
The fiery crash left 12 pieces of 39-foot sections of the third rail "scattered throughout" the first rail car, Sumwalt said. One of the rails exited the first car and pierced the next train car near the roofline.
National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt discusses the Metro-North train wreck that killed six people in Valhalla, N.Y.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Matt Spillane, The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News)
Investigators also interviewed the train's conductor, who has not been named publicly. He has been with the railroad since 2007 and a conductor since 2008. At the time of impact, he was in the sixth car of the eight-car train.
He felt the emergency brake kick in and radioed the engineer when he learned what had happened. He announced to the passengers that the train had hit a car, but asked them to remain calm and stay on board.
USA TODAY
6 dead, multiple injuries as train strikes SUV in N.Y.
After checking on passengers and speaking with an emergency responder, Sumwalt said, the decision to evacuate the train was made and the conductor walked forward to the third car — which was as far as first responders would let him go — to ensure passengers had gotten off safely.
Sumwalt said investigators are beginning to learn more about the SUV's driver, Ellen Brody, 49, of Edgemont, who was "not along her usual route from work" when she came to the train crossing.
Brody, who worked in Chappaqua, and other drivers were caught up in traffic from an earlier car crash on the Taconic State Parkway.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., tours the site of the fatal Metro-North collision in Valhalla, N.Y.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Mark Lungariello, The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News)
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who on Friday toured the train's wreckage, said it was one of the worst sights he'd seen.
"It's like looking into a coffin," he said.
Schumer and other lawmakers toured the North White Plains warehouse where the damaged train is being examined and were briefed by NTSB investigators.
The legislators said their own questions include whether the makeup of the third rail, the lack of bells or whistles on the security arm and poor street lighting at the crossing could have contributed to the accident.
Sumwalt on Friday said the NTSB would conduct tests "to determine how far down the tracks a train horn can be heard." He noted the engineer sounded the horn approaching the crossing and sounded it again after braking "all the way up to the point of collision."
He said bells are not required at the crossing "because there is no pedestrian walkway there."
The crossing had undergone a number of upgrades in recent years, but plans were abandoned to install a third set of flashing lights, according to an Associated Press report Friday.
USA TODAY
Last-minute choices haunt commuters after SUV-train crash
The crossing has two sets of flashing red lights that would have been visible to the SUV's driver. State Transportation Department spokesman Beau Duffy said the third set was proposed for a spot 100 to 200 feet up the road that would have allowed drivers approaching around a slight bend in the road to see the warning signals a few seconds sooner.
Duffy said the proposed lighting was a "proactive" step and "wasn't in response to any perceived deficiency there."
The Associated Press said state and railroad officials were unable to explain why that part of the work wasn't done. The unspent money was released last year for other rail safety projects.
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