Driver gets stuck at Metro-North crossing in Chappaqua
CHAPPAQUA – New Castle officials reported Saturday that a driver became stuck on the Metro-North tracks between the gates at the Roaring Brook Road crossing and ended up breaking one of the crossing arms when she backed up to get out of the way of a train.
MTA police received a call at 10:53 a.m. reporting that a crossing gate was struck by a vehicle. The driver, Mount Kisco resident Cynthia Parent, told police she was driving west on Roaring Brook Road and tried crossing the tracks when the gate activated and came down on her vehicle, MTA spokesman Salvatore Arena said.
Parent, 67, told police she backed up and broke the gate, which landed her a ticket for obstructing a highway-railroad grade crossing, Arena said. It was unclear why Parent was on the tracks when the gate came down, he said, adding that the MTA replaced the gate soon after.
New Castle police also responded after receiving a call reporting that a vehicle was stuck on the tracks and calling the MTA to halt any trains. The town's police and the Westchester County police were dispatched immediately and the MTA police were notified, New Castle Supervisor Robert Greenstein said.
An MTA spokesman said that a conductor reported about 10:50 a.m. that the gate was damaged. The railroad issued a stop and warn order for trains in the area passing over the crossing.
No one was injured in the incident, which occurred not far from where a Harlem Line train headed to Chappaqua hit an SUV that was stuck on the tracks last month. Five people on the train and the driver were killed in the worst crash in the railroad's history.
The Roaring Brook Crossing is in front of the former Reader's Digest building on a short road that often gets backed up with traffic.
Chappaqua child psychologist Benna Strober said Saturday that intersection has long been a problem. On Friday, she said she was heading south and needed to turn left to take her daughter up past the Reader's Digest building to Horace Greeley High School. She had to wait through three cycles of the traffic light to turn because of the traffic.
"It's always backed up there," she said. "They need to do something. It's a big mess."
U.S. Reps. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, and Sean Patrick Maloney, D-Cold Spring, appeared at the same crossing Monday to call for improving safety at rail crossings.
In a statement Saturday, Greenstein said, "The Roaring Brook Road grade crossing is unique because it is tied into a ramp interchange with the Saw Mill River Parkway and lies less than (half a) mile from the Horace Greeley High School in the Chappaqua Central School District. It is clear that improvements to the Roaring Brook Road grade crossing and Saw Mill River parkway interchange are long overdue and urgently needed to prevent another tragedy from occurring."
Staff writer Matt Spillane contributed to this report.
Editor's note: Cynthia Parent's hometown was incorrect in an earlier version of this article.
Twitter: @JaneLernerNY