Did mother-of-three not realize she had crossed into train's path? Witness says SUV driver may have been confused when she stopped on tracks in the dark and caused fiery train crash that killed herself and five others

• Ellen Brody, 49, has been identified as the driver who caused deadly train crash in Valhalla, New York Tuesday night
• A witness at the scene says Mrs Brody may have been confused, since it was dark, and may not have known she was parked on a set of tracks
• Mrs Brody parked her car when the crossing gate slammed down on the back of her vehicle and she got out to investigate
• She got back in her car and then attempted to continue on through the intersection only to collide with the passing train which was going about 58mph
• Mrs Brody was killed in the crash along with five other passengers on the northbound Harlem line train

By Louise Boyle For Daily Mail Online and Ashley Collman For Dailymail.com

Published: 00:27 EST, 5 February 2015 | Updated: 00:30 EST, 5 February 2015

Married mother-of-three Ellen Brody was identified as the driver of an SUV who caused a deadly train crash on Tuesday in Valhalla, New York when she stopped her vehicle on the tracks

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board arrived in Valhalla, New York on Wednesday, the morning after a deadly train crash killed six - including the married mother-of-three whose stalled SUV caused the train to crash and burst into flames.

Among the top priorities of the investigation is to figure out why the Jeep Cherokee manned by 49-year-old Ellen Brody was in the train's path Tuesday evening, NTSB Vice Chairman Robert Sumwalt told reporters on Wednesday.

Early accounts indicate that Mrs Brody was driving across the tracks when the signal gate hit the back of her car, suggesting an oncoming train. Instead of continuing through the intersection though, she got out to inspect the back of her car. She was hit after getting back into her car and trying to continue through the tracks.

'The big question everyone wants to know is: Why was this vehicle in the crossing?' Sumwalt said. 'For reasons not precisely known at this time, but for reasons that we intend to find out, the SUV was stopped on the tracks.'

Friends of the jewelry shop worker have expressed complete shock that the careful driver caused the deadliest accident in Metro-North history.

Mrs Brody's longtime friend Paul Feiner said she wasn't 'somebody who was careless - not risky when it came to her safety or others.'

Witnesses who saw the collision play out were just as perplexed as to why Mrs Body stopped her car instead of getting out of the intersection immediately.

Rick Hope was in the car directly behind Mrs Body and says he backed up, thinking she would reverse. But instead, she drove straight and was then hit by the passing train.

'It looks like where she stopped she did not want to go on the tracks but the proximity of the gate to her car, you know, it was dark -- maybe she didn't know she was in front of the gate,' Hope told My Fox New York.

The impact caused the train to explode into flames, fueled by the gasoline in Mrs Brody's SUV. The fiery collision resulted in the death of six so far, with more than a dozen injured.

In addition to Mrs Brody, five others were killed - all riding on the northbound Harlem line train at the time. Those victims have now been identified as 53-year-old Eric Vandercar and 69-year-old Walter Liedke, both of Bedford Hills, 41-year-old Tomar Aditya of Danbury, 36-year-old Robert Dirks of Chappaqua and 42-year-old Joseph B Nadoll of Ossining.

Doctors at Westchester Medical said on Wednesday that one patient remained critical, one was in a serious condition, six others were fair/good and four of the injured had been discharged.

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National Transportation Security Board officials arrived at the scene of the crash Wednesday morning to determine what caused the fiery collision which has resulted in the deaths of six people - including Mrs Brody

The top priority of the NTSB investigation is finding out why Mrs Brody's Jeep Cherokee was in the path of the track to cause the collision

Mrs Brody's friends and coworkers have spoken out to describe her as a careful driver. A witness who saw the crash play out also found it strange that Mrs Brody got out of her car when it was hit by the crossing gate

The six victims have now all been identified, and include Mrs Brody and five passengers on the northbound Harlem line Metro-North Train

Pictured: Two of the six victims of the Metro-North crash. Banker Eric Vandercar, 53, (pictured right) a married father-of-two from Bedford Hills, NY, was named of the first of train passengers who died while Walter Liedtke (left) was a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mr Liedtke was an expert on European paintings. Pictured above in 2009 walking with Princess Maxima and Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands through an exhibition of Vermeer. His colleagues at The Met said on Wednesday they were 'deeply saddened by this tragic loss... Walter Liedtke was a brilliant, respected curator and scholar'

It's believed that the train was travelling at about 58 miles per hour at the time of the collision, below the 60 to 70 limit. According to Federal Railroad Administration standards, there is a strict protocol on when warning systems activate to warn of an approaching train.

Grady Cothen, the former top official with the FRA, told the Wall Street Journal that warning lights and bells, if present, are required to go off at least 20 seconds before the train crosses the roadway, with the crossing 'arms' - the gate that hit Mrs Brody - coming down at least five seconds before.

'These events play out in a matter of seconds,'Mr Cothen said.

So far, NTSB investigators say there's nothing to suggest that the signals and gates at the intersection weren't working at the time of the crash - but its' something they will be looking into during the investigation which is expected to take about a week.

'This kind of horrific, terrible crash was preventable - that's the lesson here,' Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal said Wednesday. 'It was preventable with the right kind of equipment, functioning properly, and the right kind of behavior on the part of either the driver of the car, the driver of the train, and others involved.'

Sen Bumentahl also said that 'clearly, if a driver recklessly or needlessly crossed that guard at a time when it was indicating that there was a danger in doing so, we need to know about it, so others will be educated and made aware about those dangers.'

Mrs Brody is survived by her husband, author and journalist Alan Brody, and their daughters Alexa, a junior at Edgemont high school; Julia, a University of Delaware student; and Danielle, a graduate of that same institution. All three are in their late teens and early 20s.

When she was killed, Mrs Brody was on her way home from the jewelry shop where she has worked for the past 15 years.

Mrs Brody's co-worker Virgina Shasha says she was one of the last people to talk to her before the fatal accident.

'The last thing I said to her was something like "See you tomorrow," and we talked about bringing yogurt for our diets,' Ms Shasha told the New York Daily News. 'I always used to invite her for dinner, and it will always haunt me that I didn’t (Tuesday) night.'

Not long after, Ms Shasha received a call from her co-workers grief-stricken daughters about the accident. Ms Shasha sat with the girls by the TV all night, waiting to hear if Mrs Brody had survived the accident.

What happened? The National Transport Safety Board said on Wednesday that they planned to move the burnt-out train to preserve evidence after emergency personnel had made an initial inspection

Horrific: At least seven people have been killed and a dozen seriously injured after this Metro-North train carrying hundreds of commuters crashed into a car in New York and burst into flames, officials have said. Above, emergency crews are pictured beside the train's front car

The train, running northbound on the Harlem line, smashed into the black Jeep Cherokee as it was traveling through Valhalla in Westchester County on Tuesday. Above, the Jeep, which was pushed around 150 yards up the tracks, is pictured underneath the train

It was when Mr Brody returned around 1:30am Wednesday morning that they learned she passed.

'It was like a nightmare in slow motion,' Ms Shasha said of the moment Mr Brody delivered the news to his daughters. 'The girls just collapsed and I did my best to comfort them.'

In a post on his Facebook page, South Africa-born Mr Brody thanked 'those who shared their condolences for the terrible tragedy that took my beloved wife, Ellen, whom so many of you knew.'

He added that her funeral was scheduled for Friday morning at Chabad of the Rivertowns - the same synagogue where Mrs Brody had been so active in past years.

'She was definitely the connector,' Chabad of the Rivertowns Rabbi Benjy Silverman said. 'She was passionate about Judaism, she was passionate about her kids, and she did a great job of fulfilling the values that were important to her.'

Friends, co-workers and family of the other five victims have also started to speak out to media about the loss of their loved ones. Two of the victims included a prominent banker and a curator for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Victim Eric Vandercar, 53, was senior managing director and head of municipal funding in the international sales and trading department at Mesirow Financial, according to the company's website, and had joined last year. With an MBA from NYU, he had previously worked for Morgan Stanley for three decades.

The 53-year-old, along with his wife Jill, was an avid music fan, sharing live concert tapes with online archives. Many fellow music lovers, in particular of the bands MOE, Phish and the SpinDoctors, posted tributes in his memory. The band MOE also released a statement, which read: 'We've lost a very good friend.'

Victim Walter Liedtke, 69, of Bedford Hills, leaves behind his wife Nancy, who teaches math in the Katonah-Lewisboro school district, according to lohud.com.

Throughout his distinguished career, he wrote half a dozen books on European art history.

In a statement to Daily Mail Online, The Metropolitan Museum of Art said: 'We are deeply saddened by this tragic loss. Walter Liedtke was a brilliant, respected curator and scholar of Dutch and Flemish paintings who was part of the Met family for 35 years.

'He organized dozens of major exhibitions that brought the works of Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and many other great artists to millions of our visitors.

'He will long be remembered for his vast knowledge, his wit, and a passion for art that inspired all who came in contact with him.'

One passenger, Christopher Gross, who was sitting in the front of the first carriage, described the gruesome scene just moments after impact. Mr Gross told Today that he was not able to brace for the collision and landed on the floor where he saw flames shooting up several yards from his head.

A man who had been sitting in front of him was missing his leg from the knee down and screaming in pain while another passenger had a compound fracture, Mr Gross said.

Another passenger's hands were badly burned but he managed to elbow a safety catch and people began to escape from the carriage. The man with the burns leapt from the train and stuck his hands in the snow, Mr Gross said.

Emergency crews were seen working to remove the car from the front of the train, which had traveled from Grand Central Terminal

Evacuation: Following the crash, the first three cars of the train - which was carrying between 800 and 850 passengers - were evacuated via ladder. Many were crying and screaming. Above, a man from a car toward the back of the train is helped out of it by emergency crews

Location: The train, which had left Grand Central Station at 5.45pm, crashed just outside of Valhalla in Mount Pleasant, Westchester County

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the crash was the deadliest accident for Metro-North, the second largest commuter railroad in the United States.

The crash also meant that thousands of commuters faced a snarled journey to work on Wednesday morning.

MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said roughly 45,000 riders take the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line on an average weekday, about 14,000 of whom board north of where the crash occurred and would be directly affected.

Speaking at the crash site on Tuesday night, New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, said: 'You have seven people who started out today to go about their business and aren't going to be making it home tonight. This is a truly ugly and brutal site.'

He added: 'It's a painful reminder to all of us how precious life is, and sometimes how random it can be.'

People self-evacuated from the crash, jumping from the carriages and running in the opposite direction of the explosion, some throwing themselves into snow banks in the freezing cold weather.

The fatal incident, which occurred around 30 miles northeast of New York City, comes just over a year after a Metro-North Railroad Hudson Line train derailed, killing four people and injuring a further 61.

The train was traveling near Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx in December 2013 when it careered off the tracks, claiming the lives of four of 115 commuters and causing $9million worth of damage.

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino made a distinction between that crash, which was the result of a train employee error, and Tuesday's accident. But he said the latest incident was still under investigation.

Passengers who had been on the train expressed their horror on social media and uploaded cellphone footage of the collision, which occurred on train no. 659.

Many videos and images show orange flames and plumes of black smoke billowing out of the front car, while others depict dozens of firefighters attempting to tackle the 'terrifying' deadly blaze.

One passenger on the train, which had left Grand Central Terminal at 5.45pm, posted on Twitter seconds after the disaster, writing: 'Our train just hit a car on the Harlem line just north of north white plains.'

The user, whose identity is unknown, later posted: 'Front of train completely burnt out', before adding: 'Front of train. Talk of multiple fatalities in car.Truly tragic. My thoughts go out to their families.'

Speaking at the crash site on Tuesday night, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (pictured), said: 'You have seven people who started out today to go about their business and aren't going to be making it home tonight. This is a truly ugly and brutal site'

The Metro-North train crashed into a Jeep stuck on the Commerce Street crossing (pictured) as it was traveling north through Valhalla in Mount Pleasant, Westchester County. It initially appeared as though the arm of the crossing barrier came down on the rear of the SUV before the driver tried to move forward and was struck by the barreling train

Following the crash, the first three cars of the train - which was carrying 800 to 850 passengers - were evacuated via several ladders, the New York Post reported. Many were crying and screaming.

Passenger Justin KabackI said: 'I was trapped. You know there was people in front of me and behind me and I was trapped in the middle of a car and it was getting very hot.

'All the air was turned off so there was no circulation so it was definitely scary especially when people are walking by on the outside and they said, the train's on fire, there's a fire.'

Dozens of passengers were pictured walking alongside a graveyard situated beside the tracks in the minutes after the crash. Around 400 passengers were then taken to a nearby rock-climbing gym for shelter.

While at the shelter, some passengers spoke to reporters about their horrific experience. Those in the back reported feeling small 'jerks', while those at the front heard a loud explosion, saw smoke and smelled gasoline coming from the vehicle.

At around 7.30pm on Tuesday, the fire appeared to have been extinguished. However, smoke could still be seen billowing from the train. The Jeep was pictured crushed beneath the vehicle's front end.

The Harlem Line train runs from Harlem, a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, to Wassaic in southeast New York.

Metro-North has been criticized severely for accidents over the last couple of years. Late last year, the NTSB issued rulings on five accidents that occurred in New York and Connecticut in 2013 and 2014, repeatedly finding fault with the railroad while also noting that conditions have improved.

Last March, the Federal Railroad Administration issued a stinging report on Metro-North, saying it let safety concerns slip while pushing to keep trains on time. Railroad executives pledged to make safety their top priority.

A police officer walks in front of a Metro-North train stopped on the tracks around 30 miles outside of New York City where it slammed into an SUV stuck on a crossing

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials photograph the damaged car of a commuter train on Wednesday morning after it struck an SUV stuck on the track in Mount Pleasant, New York around 6.30pm

Battling the blaze: The fatal incident (pictured), around 30 miles northeast of New York City, comes just over a year after a Metro-North Railroad Hudson Line train derailed, killing four people and injuring a further 61

Massive response: Dozens of firefighters rushed to the scene after the Metro-North train crashed into the black-colored Jeep Cherokee

Charred: Shocking videos and images show orange flames and plumes of black smoke billowing out of the front car. Some also depict dozens of firefighters attempting to tackle the potentially deadly blaze

Chaos: Emergency crews stand outside the train, while concerned passengers line up inside one of its cars

Graveyard: Dozens of passengers were pictured walking alongside a graveyard (pictured) situated beside the tracks in the minutes after the crash. Around 400 were then taken to a local rock-climbing gym for shelter