by railtrailbiker
Exit 38 of the Saw Mill River Parkway and an adjacent railroad crossing were expected to reopen this morning, two days after a commuter train smashed into a truck stuck on the tracks at Green Lane, injuring 29 passengers.
Metro-North Railroad workers spent yesterday rebuilding the crossing's foundations, gate arm, mast pole, motor, lights, signs, cable and electronic equipment, all of which were destroyed in the 8:37 a.m. crash. The repairs are expected to cost up to $100,000, Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker said.
The truck driver, See Singchaichana, 43, of Federal Heights, Colo., got stuck at the crossing when his car trailer failed to clear the grade. He had been driving illegally on the parkway when he exited at Green Lane. He was issued four citations after the accident.
The front two cars of the six-car train that smashed into the car carrier are unsalvagable, Brucker said. The railroad hasn't decided whether to replace them. Purchasing new cars would cost at least $1.8 million apiece. The four rear cars, whose undercarriages were damaged, will be repaired at a total cost of about $100,000, he said.
The railroad was not notified about the disabled truck in its path in time to stop the train before the accident. One man who was at the crossing before the train hit the car carrier said yesterday he first tried to call the railroad's emergency number, posted at the railroad crossing, before dialing 911.
"As I was going over the tracks, I saw this guy's back wheels spinning, with smoke coming off them, and said, 'This guy's stuck,'" recalled Mike Pilotta, who lives in Croton Falls but has a lawn irrigation business on Green Lane. "I backed up, looking for a number, but the call wouldn't go through. I don't know if it was my Nextel phone that did it. So I hung up and called 911. The driver was too busy trying to get the truck off the tracks. He was just trying to move and was in such a panic he wasn't thinking clearly."
Metropolitan Transportation Authority police confirmed a call had been attempted from the area Monday morning, Brucker said. Calls to the emergency number from cell phones and a Nextel phone went through yesterday.
Pilotta said he talked the driver into getting off the truck, explaining that a commuter train would be coming through.
"The next thing I know, I heard the horn blow and the train hit that trailer," Pilotta said. "He ran holding his head screaming when the train hit the truck."
Pilotta said he tried to assist people on the train but left after emergency services arrived.
"I was a little shook up the rest of the day," he said.
MTA police determined that Singchaichana had failed to use his CB radio or call 911 for help, Brucker said. They also learned that he had become lost trying to return to a highway and attempted to turn his truck around on the grade crossing at Green Lane.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/ ... nfolo.html
Metro-North Railroad workers spent yesterday rebuilding the crossing's foundations, gate arm, mast pole, motor, lights, signs, cable and electronic equipment, all of which were destroyed in the 8:37 a.m. crash. The repairs are expected to cost up to $100,000, Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker said.
The truck driver, See Singchaichana, 43, of Federal Heights, Colo., got stuck at the crossing when his car trailer failed to clear the grade. He had been driving illegally on the parkway when he exited at Green Lane. He was issued four citations after the accident.
The front two cars of the six-car train that smashed into the car carrier are unsalvagable, Brucker said. The railroad hasn't decided whether to replace them. Purchasing new cars would cost at least $1.8 million apiece. The four rear cars, whose undercarriages were damaged, will be repaired at a total cost of about $100,000, he said.
The railroad was not notified about the disabled truck in its path in time to stop the train before the accident. One man who was at the crossing before the train hit the car carrier said yesterday he first tried to call the railroad's emergency number, posted at the railroad crossing, before dialing 911.
"As I was going over the tracks, I saw this guy's back wheels spinning, with smoke coming off them, and said, 'This guy's stuck,'" recalled Mike Pilotta, who lives in Croton Falls but has a lawn irrigation business on Green Lane. "I backed up, looking for a number, but the call wouldn't go through. I don't know if it was my Nextel phone that did it. So I hung up and called 911. The driver was too busy trying to get the truck off the tracks. He was just trying to move and was in such a panic he wasn't thinking clearly."
Metropolitan Transportation Authority police confirmed a call had been attempted from the area Monday morning, Brucker said. Calls to the emergency number from cell phones and a Nextel phone went through yesterday.
Pilotta said he talked the driver into getting off the truck, explaining that a commuter train would be coming through.
"The next thing I know, I heard the horn blow and the train hit that trailer," Pilotta said. "He ran holding his head screaming when the train hit the truck."
Pilotta said he tried to assist people on the train but left after emergency services arrived.
"I was a little shook up the rest of the day," he said.
MTA police determined that Singchaichana had failed to use his CB radio or call 911 for help, Brucker said. They also learned that he had become lost trying to return to a highway and attempted to turn his truck around on the grade crossing at Green Lane.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/ ... nfolo.html
