Valhalla crash: Traffic lights a possible factor, NTSB docs say

A faulty traffic control system might have led vehicles to back up at a Metro-North crossing in Valhalla in February 2015, contributing to a crash that killed the driver of an SUV who had pulled onto the tracks and five train passengers.

Nestled in the 1,000-plus pages of documents released by the National Transportation Safety Board in the wake of the commuter train crash is an analysis of two traffic preemption systems — groups of sensors that respond to existing conditions and modify traffic light patterns in response — in place at the Commerce Street-Taconic State Parkway intersection, roughly 100 feet from the railroad crossing.

The NTSB said a preemption system designed to clear traffic from the crossing ahead of an oncoming train had not been set up to take priority over another traffic-control pattern at the intersection, in violation of federal standards, a Journal News review found. The state Department of Transportation is responsible for the parkway and traffic signals at rail crossings.

Phillip Russotti, the attorney for the husband of Ellen Brody, whose SUV was struck by the train, said he expects discussion of the traffic light system's programming to be part of the NTSB's long awaited final report on the fatal train crash, now expected sometime this month.

“This is consistent with one of the things we thought was wrong with this site,” he said. “That’s why cars were backed up across the track."

Alan Brody is suing Metro-North, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Mount Pleasant and the train's engineer, Steven Smalls, for wrongful death and negligence, one of many lawsuits pointing fingers over who or what was to blame for the crash.

Red light, green light

The night of Feb. 3, 2015, Ellen Brody was traveling from her job in Chappaqua to Scarsdale in her Mercedes-Benz SUV. An earlier head-on crash on the Taconic at the Lakeview Avenue intersection had closed part of the highway and, according to a witness statement given to the NTSB by another driver, Michael Mezzacappa, had traffic detoured onto Lakeview Avenue.

Mezzacappa described the traffic after turning onto Lakeview as "complete pandemonium."

Alan Brody believes his wife was confused by the detour and had mistakenly turned right onto Commerce Street, which winds through Gate of Heaven Cemetery and ultimately would have put her back on the Taconic parkway.

Instead of getting around the accident, she ended up eastbound on Commerce Street approaching the crossing, where, witnesses say, her SUV stopped on the tracks as the gates came down, hitting her vehicle. She jumped out of the car, then got back in and pulled forward, according to witness statements. Her SUV was hit by a Harlem Line train and pushed 1,000 feet up the tracks.

PREVIOUSLY: One year later, Ellen Brody remains legal focus of the crash

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32 YEARS AGO: Valhalla crossing the site of 1984 crash

That crossing and the intersection just feet away are controlled by two traffic preemption systems, according to the NTSB.

The first is activated by a sensor on Commerce Street westbound, just before the crossing. If a vehicle stays on that sensor for more than five seconds, indicating traffic is backing up, the lights at the intersection change to red to allow any traffic clogging it to clear.

The second is activated by the railroad, and is meant to allow backed up vehicles along Commerce Street eastbound to clear the rail crossing before a train arrives. When that system kicks in, cars headed in all other directions are stopped by red lights.

According to the NTSB report, the traffic lights at the intersection at the time of the train crash were set up so that when both preemption systems were triggered, the first pattern took priority over the one triggered by a train.

The NTSB says that was in violation of federal standards laid out in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which says the train activated preemption should have received first priority.

The report does not say whether both preemption systems were triggered at the time Ellen Brody's SUV ended up on the tracks.

Whether or not traffic had backed up, it is illegal for a vehicle to stop on railroad tracks. A driver should only enter a railroad crossing when there is sufficient clearance and space for the vehicle to pull fully through the crossing on the other side.

State takes a look

Correspondence between New York State Department of Transportation officials and NTSB officials released by the NTSB indicates that in the wake of the Valhalla crash, the department between April and June 2015 reviewed all downstate crossings with railroad preemption traffic systems.

The review, wrote Maureen Kuinlan, a Department of Transportation engineer working with the NTSB on this piece of its report, was "to ensure all of the intersections have the railroad preemption as the highest priority."

In a statement the DOT said there were eight crossings with the traffic signal preemptions and that two more have been added since the review in early 2015, when all signals were functioning as expected.

"All ten of the systems are consistently reviewed to ensure their effectiveness and to ensure they meet federal standards," the statement read.

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Since the crash, the department has received a $1.34 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration to add traffic signal preemption at seven Metro-North crossings — including the Cleveland Street and Lakeview Avenue crossings in Valhalla, both directly south of Commerce Street. In total, the DOT received $5.2 million in railroad crossing safety grants.

In February, the FRA said the grant money had not yet been given to recipients.

In the two years since the accident, the state DOT said there have been a few safety upgrades at area crossings, including Lakeview Avenue, along with Roaring Brook Road in New Castle, Green Lane in Mount Kisco, Virginia Road in White Plains, plus six in Orange County and two in Rockland County.

Twitter: @coynereports