Driver of SUV in crash has funeral
VALHALLA, N.Y. — Friends and family of the woman who died when the SUV she was driving was hit by a suburban commuter train were to gather today to mourn her loss.
Ellen Brody’s funeral service was scheduled for this morning in Dobbs Ferry. The 49-year-old mother of three was killed along with five rail passengers on Tuesday night, when a commuter train crashed into her vehicle on the tracks at a railroad crossing in Valhalla.
According to investigators’ preliminary findings, Brody’s car was in the danger zone inside railroad crossing gates for about half a minute before the train hit.
Brody got ahead of the crossing gate in inching traffic, then got out of her car to examine it after the gate came down and hit the back of it, a witness has said. But then she got back in, seeming unhurried, and advanced onto the track, the witness told news outlets and investigators.
The train’s engineer also told investigators that he saw the car moving onto the tracks.
Data recorders also show the Metro-North Railroad train’s engineer hit the emergency brakes and sounded the horn as the train bore down on the Valhalla crossing, traveling 58 mph in a 60 mph zone, National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Robert Sumwalt said.
Flashing warning lights at the crossing illuminated 39 seconds before the crash, and the gates came down a few seconds later, Sumwalt said. That would leave about 30 seconds that the SUV was inside the gates.
Investigators haven’t found any problems with the warning signals or the nearby traffic lights, which are synched to let drivers clear the crossing when a train is coming, Sumwalt said.
