It has been a year since the local mom Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, 34, was struck and killed by falling debris from the Sept. 29, 2016 train crash at Hoboken Terminal. Since then, the National Transportation Safety Board has been investigating the incident, and the de Kroon family has filed a wrongful death suit against NJ Transit.
An attorney for the de Kroon family said last week that Fabiloa de Kroon’s husband and toddler daughter do not plan to return to Hoboken, after they moved to Brazil last year.
Fabiola de Kroon had dropped her daughter off at day care the morning of the crash before heading to the train station to go to work. That day, de Kroon’s husband was on a business trip. He was notified of the crash and came home to pick up their daughter. They soon flew to Brazil to join Fabiola de Kroon’s relatives, where they have stayed since.
“I can speak for Daan [de Kroon] that this has been a difficult and emotional week for him and his family,” said attorney Tom Kline of Kline & Specter, on Thursday. “The eve and the day of the first anniversary of the crash is no easier than it was the day after her death.”
Kline added, “Fabiola Bittar de Kroon’s parents and family are in Brazil. He has a support system helping him raise their two-year-and-nine-month-old daughter. It is hard for her to be able to understand that her mother is missing, and it’s sad to see she’s not with her mother.”
The family was planning to host a vigil and memorial service in Brazil this past Friday.
Kline is representing the de Kroon family in a wrongful death suit against NJ Transit.
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“The eve and the day of the first anniversary of the crash is no easier then it was the day after her death.”—Tom Kline
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Documents released
Last week the NTSB released over 75 documents pertaining to their investigation so far including several factual reports, inspection reports, their preliminary findings, and interviews.
In February the NTSB will have a board meeting to discuss this crash and is scheduled to release their final report in the first quarter of 2018.
Findings
Among the hundreds of pages of NTSB documents are several interview transcripts, including two interviews with longtime train engineer Thomas Gallagher and one interview with a “concerned citizen,” Kenneth Kassner, who said Gallagher is a former printing client of his.
Kassner describes a phone conversation he had with Gallagher after the accident in which Gallagher allegedly told Kassner he was upset the day of the crash, and wasn’t paying attention.
Gallagher, on the other hand, said in his interview that his day started normally and that he doesn’t remember the moments leading up to the accident.
The NTSB has found that the train was traveling at 21 m.p.h., 11 m.p.h. over the 10 m.p.h. speed limit. The brake was induced less then 1 second before the train collided into the bumping post.
Following the crash, Gallagher was tested and diagnosed for sleep apnea, which may also have played a role in the crash and the NTSB found no evidence he had been tested for the disorder during his 2016 physical.
Litigation
De Kroon’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against NJ Transit in June in State Superior Court.
“This tragedy was easily preventable,” states the suit. “However, NJ Transit failed to utilize the readily available and life-saving technology of Positive Train Control (PTC).”
The complaint asserts that NJT is legally responsible for several failures including the failure of the NJT engineer, and a failure to require more than one crew member in a driving cab or locomotive during a train’s entry into the Hoboken Terminal. The agency now does mandate that two crew members be present in the cab car when pulling into the station.
Kline, the family’s lawyer, said, “We do not believe this is a case that can be defended on an excuse of sleep apnea.”
Kline said court proceedings have not been scheduled yet.
Daan de Kroon, Fabiola Bittar de Kroon’s husband, was unavailable for comment.
“The life of the train operator, the lives of everyone affected, even those injured, goes on but for the de Kroon family,” Kline said, “Fabiola paid the ultimate price caused by the negligence of the transit authority.”
Safety improvements
New Jersey Transit has undergone several safety improvements since the crash, according to Senior Public Information Officer Jim Smith, including continuing to install PTC (Positive Train Control), a set of highly advanced programs designed to make rail transportation safer by automatically stopping a train if the engineer does not take appropriate actions.
PTC was federally mandated to be complete by December of 2018 and is estimated to cost NJ Transit $320 million.
Over the past year, NJ Transit has also begun to replace all stub end tracks at Hoboken Terminal with new sliding friction bumper blocks as well as a speed control system for trains entering Hoboken Terminal. They have also enhanced sleep apnea screening and testing and reduced speed limits for entering the station.
Damage to the terminal itself is still not completely repaired. Smith said it is expected to be complete by mid 2019.
Trump controversy
Six weeks ago, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Federal Railroad Administration withdrew a March 10, 2016 advance notice of a proposed rulemaking that would have required rail engineers and truck and bus drivers to be tested for sleep apnea. The agencies stated in their notice of withdrawal that they believe “the current safety programs and FRAS’s rulemaking addressing fatigue risk management are the approporiate avenues to address OSA [obstructive sleep apnea.”
Last week, members of Congress said they would push a bill that would mandate the testing, including Sen. Cory Booker, who cosponsored the legislation with Sens, Robert Menendez, Charles Schumer, and Kirsten Gillibrand.
“We simply cannot stand idly by and wait for the next tragic incident,” Booker said in a press release.
Marilyn Baer can be reached at marilynb@hudsonreporter.com.
