(The following article by Joie Tyrrell was posted on Newsday?s website on November 5.)
NEW YORK — A freight train derailment yesterday morning complicated the commute for thousands of riders on the Long Island Rail Road’s Ronkonkoma line when service was suspended in both directions for nearly 12 hours.
Eastbound rush-hour service resumed by the afternoon, and buses were provided in the evening for westbound riders to the Hicksville station. This morning’s commute should be back to normal.
The cause of the derailment is under investigation, said LIRR spokesman Brian Dolan. It happened at 4:03 a.m. yesterday when a New York & Atlantic Railway freight train was dropping off and picking up cars at Southern Container in Deer Park.
Dolan said the train derailed on a privately owned siding to the south of the LIRR main track. At least one car did not have wheels on the track when the train pulled away.
“The crew did not realize the wheels were off the rail,” Dolan said.
The train pulled onto the main track and at that point, the derailed train traveled forward, striking a a 20-foot signal bridge and destroying it.
“The signal bridge came down and the train operated another 40 to 50 feet and came to a stop,” Dolan said.
By then, two cars had jackknifed on the main track.
No injuries were reported.
LIRR crews worked throughout the day yesterday, repairing the track and erecting pedestal signals after the bridge was destroyed. Both cars had to be removed from the track. Service was suspended in both directions and systemwide, 35 trains were late, Dolan said.
The railroad offered limited bus service east of Farmingdale and urged commuters to travel to other stations if possible.
Fedhia Gaillard of Centereach and her daughter, Farah, 10, were waiting in the mist on the Farmingdale platform for the 12:39 p.m. train after taking the bus from Ronkonkoma. They were hoping to make a 1:30 p.m. doctor’s appointment in Manhattan but realized they would probably be late.
“We got to the station and they said there was a derailment and you had to take this bus,” Fedhia Gaillard said. “It was a comfortable bus, a coach bus.”
But, her daughter said, “I would rather take the train.”
Marvin Hines was traveling from Brentwood to Penn Station to work and took the bus to Farmingdale. Hines works as a subway driver.
“When these things happen, there is nothing you can do,” Hines said. “You just have to deal with it.”
Up to 6,000 commuters from Ronkonkoma were forced to find other ways to get to work. In addition to coach buses, the railroad provided school buses to ferry commuters to the Farmingdale station. The first train to travel on the line left Penn Station at 3:14 p.m.
New York & Atlantic Railway officials could not be reached to comment yesterday.