Feds Issue Report On Train Crash That Killed Bucks Co. Woman

Crime & Safety

Feds Issue Report On Train Crash That Killed Bucks Co. Woman Jessica Haley of Levittown was killed while operating the River Line train near Florence, N.J., on Oct. 14.

—A National Transportation Safety Board report has found that a tree was on the tracks when a NJ Transit train operated by a Bucks County mother of three struck it and killed her.

The NTSB report released this week stated that at 6:02 a.m. on Oct. 14, 41-year-old Jessica Haley of Levittown was operating the southbound New Jersey Transit light rail vehicle (LRV) 207 when she was killed when the train struck a tree that had fallen across the tracks of the River Line at milepost 24.53 near Florence in Burlington County, N.J.

The train had two railcars carrying 41 passengers in addition to Haley, the report stated.

The train was traveling at 64 mph through a curve in a wooded area of the River Line from Trenton to Camden when it encountered the fallen tree.

Haley activated the track brakes and the emergency brakes, causing the train to decelerate for about 430 feet before striking the tree.

A branch of the tree penetrated through the windshield of the cab and fatally struck Haley, the report states. Her family has hired a law firm in the incident.

The train came to a stop about 880 feet past the point of impact, the report states.

Twenty-three passengers were injured, transported to a nearby hospital for treatment, and released.

NJ Transit estimated damages to equipment to be about $194,000.

At the time of the accident, visibility conditions were dark with the LRV's headlights providing the only illumination; the weather was 60°F with no precipitation, the report states.

While on the scene, the National Transportation Safety Board inspected LRV 207, examined the track at the accident site, reviewed NJ Transit operating procedures, conducted sight distance observations, secured LRV 207's event recorder for data retrieval, reviewed video recordings from the outward-facing camera of an LRV that approached the accident site shortly after the collision, and completed interviews.

The National Transportation Safety Board's investigation is ongoing.

Future investigative activity will focus on NJ Transit's right-of-way maintenance and inspection practices, dispatcher reporting procedures, and the crashworthiness of the LRV's design.