Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 2, 2016

The Valhalla train crash occurred on the evening of February 3, 2015, when a commuter train on Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line struck a passenger car at a grade crossing near Valhalla, New York, United States, between the Valhalla and Mount Pleasant stations, killing six people and injuring fifteen others. The crash was the deadliest in Metro-North's history, as well as the deadliest such crash in the United States since the June 2009 Washington Metro train collision had killed eight passengers and injured eighty. The driver of an SUV was caught inside the crossing gate when it descended, wedging itself into the rear of her vehicle, then apparently attempted to rectify the situation by crossing the tracks instead of backing up. She, along with five passengers on the train, died when her vehicle was struck by it. The impact tore loose more than 450 ft of third rail. Since grade-crossing accidents typically do not lead to fatalities on board the train, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were particularly interested in determining why the fatalities occurred.