(The following article by Pete Donohue was posted on the New York Daily News website on February 16.)
NEW YORK — Transit officials plan a review into why a historic – but well-anticipated – snowstorm crippled the heart of the Long Island Rail Road, authorities said yesterday.
LIRR officials announced the review at an MTA committee meeting after rider advocates questioned the railroad’s preparation for the nor’easter that had dumped a record 26.9 inches of the white stuff in the city by Sunday afternoon.
The LIRR canceled all trains to and from Penn Station for about 19 hours – ending Monday morning – but problems persisted, including long delays and stalled trains.
In contrast, Metro-North continued service at Grand Central, and NJ Transit kept trains rolling to and from Penn Station.
“It’s disappointing because this was a storm everybody knew about,” said Beverly Dolinsky, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, an independent but state-funded MTA watchdog organization. “They seemed to do a lot of advance preparation, but whatever they did just wasn’t enough.”
Before the storm, LIRR officials said they deployed equipment to keep the rails passable across their 700-mile network.
But the four tracks leading into Penn Station were clogged at about 11 a.m. Saturday when a handful of trains lost power in western Queens, officials said. Snow drifts prevented the trains from obtaining power from the electrified third rail.
Meanwhile, the LIRR released a survey yesterday in which riders gave the railroad a score of 6.4 out of 10 for overall service. That’s up from 6.1 last year.