The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct a metallurgical examination of the electric third rail in its investigation of the Feb. 3 Metro-North Railroad accident in Valhalla, N.Y., that killed six people.
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The Harlem line train, traveling northbound in Westchester County north of New York City in the early evening, collided with a sport utility vehicle that had stopped on the tracks in the highway-grade crossing. The five passengers killed included Eric Vandercar, a senior managing director in the New York office of Chicago-based Mesirow Financial Inc. and a 27-year Morgan Stanley veteran.
The driver of the SUV, Ellen Brody of Scarsdale, N.Y., was also killed.
According to NTSB's preliminary report, which cited the train's event recorder data, the train was traveling at 58 miles per hour in a 60 mph speed zone. After emergency braking, the train slowed to 49 mph at the time of impact. The third rail detached, pierced the SUV and entered the railcar, igniting and explosion and fire.
"The information in this report is preliminary and will be supplemented or corrected during the course of the investigation," the NTSB said in a statement.
Metro-North Railroad is a unit of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a large municipal issuer with $34 billion of debt. Metro-North officials estimated the damage at $3.7 million.
An MTA spokesman declined comment.
