New York train crash news: 6 dead after NY commuter train crashes into SUV

VALHALLA, N.Y. — A commuter train crashed into a stalled SUV that was on the tracks Tuesday evening, killing six people including the driver and injuring at least 15, making it the deadliest accident in Metro-North railroad history. Now investigators are collecting recording devices from the site, which is located between the North White Plains and Pleasantville stops north of New York City.

The Black Jeep Grand Cherokee had been stuck on the tracks underneath the railroad crossing gates at about 6:30 p.m. when the train rammed into it at about 60 mph, pushing it 10 car lengths down the tracks. Soon afterwards, the Jeep's gas tank exploded, covering both car and train in flames.

"It looks like where she stopped she did not want to go on the tracks, but the proximity of the gate to the car, you know, it was dark," eyewitness Rick Hope, who was in the car behind the victim, told WNYW.

"Maybe she didn't know she was in front of the gate," he added.

Passengers aboard the train further back said that they felt a hard bump as the collision occurred, but weren't informed of what actually happened until minutes later. Meanwhile, commuters further forward struggled to break the emergency glass windows to avoid flames and wreckage.

"I was horrified – the crash and the flame," Devon Champagne told The New York Post. "I thought I was going to die for a minute. It was the scariest moment of my life."

Fortunately, most of the 650 passengers were able to leave the back of the train.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators are expected to spend the next week or so gathering evidence from the scene of Tuesday night's crash and interviewing witnesses, board member Robert Sumwalt told reporters at the site on Wednesday.

Sumwalt said the highway signals, rail signals and the crossing arms at the intersection and the train itself all have recording devices that should contain useful information about the lead-up to the crash near the suburb of White Plains north of New York City.

One passenger remains in critical condition and another passenger in "serious" condition on Wednesday afternoon at the local trauma hospital, Westchester Medical Center officials told Reuters.

The hospital was treating four other passengers for less serious injuries. Dr. Joseph Turkowski, the burns unit director at Westchester Medical Center told reporters that some of the injuries treated overnight "weren't as severe as they could have been."