WASHINGTON — Predawn low-light conditions made it impossible for the operator to stop in time to avoid hitting a downed tree, the National Transportation Safety Board says in its final report on the Oct. 14, 2024, collision that killed the operator of an NJ Transit River Line light rail train.
The train’s operator was later identified as 41-year-old Jessica Haley, who worked for Alstom, the contract operator of the River Line. The NTSB had said in its preliminary report that she was killed when a tree branch penetrated the cab of the light rail vehicle [see “Tree branch that penetrated windshield …,” Trains.com, Nov. 7, 2024].
According to the NTSB report, the train was rounding a right-hand curve at track speed (65 mph) when the operator initiated emergency braking at 5:58:56 a.m. Investigators on scene determined that the braking began about 340 feet from the point of impact; a reenactment found that the tree would have become visible from 350 feet. Braking tests conducted in 2003 by Stadler, which manufactured the diesel light-rail trainset, determined that a train would need 499 feet to stop from a speed of 60 mph under ideal conditions, meaning the tree was within the train’s stopping distance from the moment the tree became visible. The train traveled some 880 feet after the point of collision…