(Newsday posted the following article by Jennifer Maloney on its website on April 4.)
NEW YORK — The Long Island Rail Road has narrowed or eliminated about 60 percent of its widest gaps and expects to fix most of the others by September, LIRR Acting President Ray Kenny said.
The railroad also has launched a plan to reduce some moderately sized gaps to as small as 5 inches, he said.
Since the LIRR announced in February that it would target 32 platforms at 22 stations with gaps greater than 10 inches, it has been working to reduce the dangerous spaces by moving tracks, adjusting platforms and keeping certain train doors closed, Kenny said. The stations include Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn and Hunterspoint Avenue in Queens – which had gaps as wide as 15 1/2 inches and 12 inches, respectively – and others across Long Island such as Port Jefferson, which had gaps as wide as 14 1/2 inches.
The railroad also has launched two new gap initiatives:
At 11 terminal stations – such as Long Beach and Greenport – where trains move more slowly, the railroad will reduce its standard gap from 8 inches to 5 inches.
On the Port Washington line, where an absence of freight traffic makes the experiment safer, the LIRR is reducing its standard gap from 8 inches to 7 inches – a modification that eventually could be expanded to the entire system.
The state Public Transportation Safety Board on April 18 is expected to release a report on gap problems on the LIRR and Metro-North Railroad. The study was launched after the August death of a Minnesota teenager and Newsday reports of gaps as wide as 15 inches at some LIRR stations.
In a five-month investigation published in January, Newsday found that the LIRR – which has had about 900 gap incidents during the past 11 years – had known for three decades that gaps posed a hazard to riders.
Metro-North in February acknowledged it had gaps greater than 10 inches on 26 platforms at 17 stations. Metro-North has eliminated some of those gaps since February by keeping some train doors closed and plans to start track work to narrow other gaps beginning next week, said Metro-North spokesman Daniel Brucker.
The LIRR’s 32 problem platforms correspond to 154 spots where train doors open to oversized gaps, officials said. Of those, the railroad has fixed 89 and has developed plans for 47 others. The railroad says 18 of them – 12 at Syosset and six at Flatbush Avenue – cannot immediately be fixed.
Though gaps greater than 10 inches are the top priority, the railroad also has been adjusting less irksome gaps during routine track maintenance as weather and opportunity allow, Kenny said.
Since the Feb. 8 State Senate hearing, the railroad has shifted tracks at three stations, adjusted platforms at two stations and installed wooden platform edge boards at two others, LIRR officials said.
The LIRR has hired a consultant to examine retractable gap fillers – a mechanical solution that could be implemented at Syosset. The $200,000 study is scheduled to be completed this month, said LIRR spokesman Sam Zambuto. The railroad plans to hire another consultant to review alternative gap solutions there. That report should be complete by the end of the year, Kenny said.
Bridging the gap
A look at the LIRR stations that have gaps 10 inches or wider, and the status of solutions.
COMPLETED
A) Penn Station
B) Flatbush Avenue
C) Plandome
D) Glen Street
E) Lawrence
F) Long Beach
G) Syosset
H) Cold Spring Harbor
IN PROGRESS
I) Hunterspoint Avenue
J) Flushing-Main Street
K) Murray Hill
L) Port Washington
M) Babylon
N) Port Jefferson
O) Bridgehampton
PLANNED
P) Glen Cove
Q) Greenvale
R) Garden City
S) Country Life Press
T) Cedarhurst
U) Lynbrook
V) Hicksville
Number of stations targeted for gap fixes 22
Number of platforms found with gaps bigger than 10 inches 32