(Newsday posted the following article by Jennifer Maloney on its website on February 9.)
NEW YORK — For the first time Thursday, Long Island Rail Road officials quantified the extent of their gap problem: The space between platforms and trains exceeds 10 inches on 32 platforms at 22 LIRR stations, and officials expect to spend more than $13 million fixing them.
Metro-North Railroad President Peter Cannito said his railroad has similar gaps on 26 platforms at 17 stations, but did not say how much it would cost to narrow them.
At a State Senate hearing in Syosset, legislators criticized the LIRR and its parent agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, for allowing dangerous platform gaps to remain unfixed for decades.
A five-month Newsday investigation found that MTA and LIRR officials knew for more than three decades that platform gaps threatened riders’ safety. And over the past 11 years, gaps stretching as wide as 15 inches caused almost 900 customer accidents.
But until the death of a Minnesota teenager last August, the railroad did little more than warn riders to “watch the gap.”
Much of the legislators’ criticism Thursday focused on one of Newsday’s findings: a 1987 MTA Inspector General report about gaps on Metro-North Railroad. The study, which found that rider education campaigns were not enough to prevent gap falls, was never shared with the LIRR.
“I’m having a tough time understanding that a report like this wasn’t communicated,” said state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick). “We’re talking 20 years ago. But no corrective action was ever taken.”
MTA chief executive Elliot “Lee” Sander replied: “I think it’s probable that there should have been more communication back then.”
LIRR officials did not launch a plan to fix gaps systemwide until the death last August of Natalie Smead, 18, who slipped through a gap at Woodside station and scrambled in front of an oncoming train.
In other testimony, a representative of the LIRR Commuters Council slammed the railroad for losing the confidence of its customers.
“The gap issue is regarded as a symptom of major, systemic problems within the Long Island Rail Road,” said Ellyn Shannon, who spoke for the advocacy group. “Many riders and commuters believe the LIRR has not put the safety of its passengers first.”
Lawmakers took railroad officials to task for ignoring commuter council reports that for more than a decade have complained about dangerously wide gaps.
“A lot of the suggestions they have made have fallen on deaf ears,” said state Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset).
Shannon Thursday asked the railroad to establish a permanent task force — comprising members of different LIRR departments as well as a rider advocate — to work on solving the gap problem.
Sander said he would consider her suggestion carefully. He added that he already was working to improve communication among MTA agencies and encourage them to share “best practices.”
LIRR Acting President Ray Kenny, in his testimony, announced several new developments:
The railroad has formed a customer safety committee to review all gap accidents and ensure that the railroad has accurate measurements and accident reports.
The LIRR will have a strategy to fix the 32 gaps exceeding 10 inches by the end of the month.
Surveillance cameras will be installed on Syosset platforms by the end of the month.
By shifting platforms and tacking on wooden boards that shrink gaps, the railroad has reduced the gap on Syosset’s Track 2 to less than 10 inches. But Track 1 will require more complex measures.
A study on solutions for Syosset, including mechanical gap fillers, will be completed by April.
At some stations, including Lawrence, engineers will stop trains in new locations on the platform to avoid the widest gaps.