Federal safety investigators have now joined the search to determine the cause of a triple fatal truck and train crash in North Tonawanda.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has confirmed that it will undertake an investigation into the crash of an Amtrak passenger train into a Dodge pickup truck that claimed the lives of David McMinn, 69, and Olive Geldart, 66, of North Tonawanda, and Ra’Mari Geldart, 6, of Buffalo on the evening of May 17.
FRA’s Office of Railroad Safety is charged with regulating safety throughout the United States’ railroad network. The office employs what it describes as a “diverse staff of almost 400 railroad safety experts” to accomplish that mission.
The federal investigators were expected to arrive in Western New York late last week. It could not be immediately determined if they were on-scene yet.
There has also been no confirmation of whether the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which also is charged with investigating railroad crashes, will assist North Tonawanda Police in its probe of the tragedy.
Western New York Congressman Tim Kennedy (D-Buffalo) has requested that FRA assist in the crash investigation, noting in a letter to the agency that “more than 200 people die each year in these types of accidents, a tragically high number.”
“I’m grateful that FRA has quickly heeded our call and has opened an investigation into this tragedy,” Kennedy said. “Deaths from at-grade crossing collisions are all-too-common nationwide. An investigation is the first step, which will provide us with the knowledge we need to make safety improvements not just at this specific intersection, but on a much wider basis.”
There are currently 18 at-grade crossings in the North Tonawanda area. There have been seven documented incidents at the Felton Street crossing, where the fatal crash occurred.
The previous incidents occurred in 2017, 2013, 2001 — which resulted in one fatality and one injury, — 1997, which resulted in an injury, and 1984.
North Tonawanda police have also received assistance in the investigation from the Niagara Falls Police Crash Management Unit. Falls Police Superintendent Nicholas Ligammari said CMU investigators came to the crash scene to collect evidence and data.
“They requested our assistance,” Ligammari said, “and we helped them with mapping and other data collection.”
The grinding crash left McMinn’s pickup truck wedged underneath the engine of an Amtrak passenger train after it was driven almost 100 yards down the track before coming to a stop.
Witnesses reportedly told police that at around 7:56 p.m., the pickup truck, which had been traveling north on River Road, made a right-hand turn onto Felton Street. North Tonawanda Police Cheif Keith Glass said at that time, a special saturation patrol was underway in the city, with his officers working in tandem with other local law enforcement agencies, including the Lewiston and Lockport Police departments, the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office and the Niagara County Drug Task Force.
Witnesses said that the driver of the pickup truck, after making the turn onto Felton Street, appeared to stop on the first of two sets of train tracks, behind the Lewiston Police patrol car. While the truck was stopped, the Amtrak passenger train, #281, heading north from New York City to Niagara Falls, began approaching the Felton Street crossing.
Police said they didn’t know how fast the Amtrak train was traveling.
Amtrak officials said there were no injuries to any of the 21 passengers and crew on board their train. They said they would work with local law enforcement in the investigation of the crash.
Glass said his department’s detective bureau is leading the crash investigation. The chief has said he expects the investigation to “take some time.”