VALHALLA, N.Y. – Metro North restored its Harlem line service for the first time in two days Thursday after the most deadly crash on the Metro North railroad in history. Six people died in the crash, including five passengers and the driver of an SUV that the train hit on the tracks in Valhalla, NY. One of the victims is identified as Aditya Tomar, 41, from Danbury.
Mark Boughton, the Mayor of Danbury, said that about 600 residents from Connecticut take the Harlem line into New York City everyday. Many of them were on the train involved in the crash.
"I just thought something was mechanically wrong with the train," said Justin Kaback who was on board. "They came on the intercom and said that the train struck a vehicle that was on the track. They gave us no other information."
Also on board was Jamie Wallace, a passenger from Ridgefield. "It felt like we just jammed on the breaks and slammed hard. There was quite a lot of rumbling and a lot of scraping feeling underneath the wheel so I actually thought that we had perhaps gotten off the track, maybe one of the wheel of the train had gone off the track and we were bumping along on railroad ties."
Mayor Boughton said this is obviously a tragedy for everyone involved. Metro North re-opened the Harlem line on Thursday, but delays could pop up as trains will go slowly through the work zone at the accident site.