(The following article by Joie Tyrrell was posted on the Newsday website on October 12.)
NEW YORK — The Long Island Rail Road will restore some of its cleaning budget next year after hearing from unhappy riders who said the trains were unclean and uncomfortable, railroad officials said.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman Peter Kalikow and executive director Katie Lapp asked railroad president James Dermody last week to create a program that would make the trains cleaner during the day. The railroad had cut its cleaning budget by more than $625,000 this year, eliminating traveling cleaners who picked up the trains while on routes and extending the interval for extensive interior cleaning from 60 to 90 days.
“The chairman, Peter Kalikow, was concerned, as well as Katie Lapp, of the concerns expressed by the riders regarding the interior of trains,” LIRR spokesman Brian Dolan said.
Exact details of the cleaning program have not been set, but Dolan said the railroad will likely hire more cleaners and that the railroad’s president is looking at shortening the interval between extensive interior cleanings. Also, cleaners may be added at Penn Station to pick up trains that arrive during the day. The railroad had 450 cleaners in 2002 compared with 400 this year.
“The president is going to take a look at where we can get the most effective use of the resources,” Dolan said. “He wants to be practical and effective.”
The railroad also plans to restore the right-of-way cleaners, who pick up debris along tracks and under platforms, in the 2006 budget by 14 workers. They were cut from 25 to 14.
“They cut so much that it is filthy,” said Michael J. Canino, general chairman of the LIRR’s United Transportation Union, which represents cleaners.
“The right-of-way looks like Shea Stadium after a rock concert. You can’t let the infrastructure go down, you can’t raise fares and cut back on the cleanliness. I’m happy that they are going to restore these cuts before it got worse.”
Riders at the Hicksville train station yesterday echoed Canino’s concerns. ” two hundred dollars a month I’d like a clean train,” said Scott Gaetta, 45, of Levittown, who takes the train from Hicksville to Manhattan. “Sometimes you sit down and it’s right under your feet and you’re kicking garbage out of the way so you can put your feet on the ground.”
Dolan said the plan will be finalized by the end of this year and implemented in the 2006 budget. The railroad had announced the cuts to the cleaning budget in 2004 when the MTA was facing a potential billion-dollar plus deficit in 2006. But MTA officials recently announced a surplus that tops $833 million, thanks in large part to an influx of real estate taxes. The railroad had raised fares an average 5 percent this year and 25 percent in 2003.
The railroad has a “Clean Train Campaign” where conductors make announcements reminding riders to pick up their trash. Some commuters say riders ignore the advisory.
But Canino said the dirty trains didn’t help.
“Everything is perception,” he said. “If you get on a train that’s filthy, people don’t think twice about leaving stuff behind.”