(The following story by John Valenti appeared on the Newsday website on January 9.)
NEW YORK — There is no legal requirement for fencing along train tracks, and federal and local rail officials said it may not have prevented the death of a Queens boy who police say was hit by a Long Island Rail Road train while painting graffiti on elevated tracks Friday.
After Ari Kraft, 13, was struck and killed in Rego Park, family friends and an elected official expressed outrage that a hole in a fence bordering the accident location allowed the junior high school student access to the dangerous tracks.
But even in areas where fencing is in place, it often is not a deterrent to individuals intent on trespassing on railroad properties — despite the inherent danger.
“People will still climb over or under, or cut through a fence or walk around it,” Federal Railroad Administration spokeswoman DeDe Cordell said yesterday. “Clearly, it’s sad to hear about this 13-year-old. … But sadly, we’ve found it is almost impossible to stop people who are determined to find a short cut, who are in a hurry or who are determined to trespass on railroad property — and who suddenly … find themselves in a … dangerous situation.”
The Long Island Rail Road has 701 miles of track, according to LIRR spokeswoman Susan McGowan. Approximately 100 miles of right-of-way are fenced with 6-foot-tall chain link fence, McGowan said, while another 15 miles are lined with high-security fencing resistant to cutting or climbing.
Still, McGowan said LIRR studies have also found fencing is not always a deterrent.
“We do have fencing in some locations that we have determined are sensitive areas,” McGowan said yesterday. “But we don’t believe fencing is an effective deterrent, because fences can still easily be cut or climbed.”
Since 2003, LIRR records indicate 68 people have been struck and killed by railroad trains. But 47 of those deaths were ruled to be suicides.
It is unclear how many of the remaining 21 deaths are attributable to people crossing or walking along tracks in so-called trespassing incidents, though McGowan said it may be as few as three — including Kraft.
Yesterday, Leigh-Anne Perretta, 25, a mother of two from Holbrook, said the LIRR tracks 200 feet from her home are unfenced — and she is worried neighborhood children who cross those tracks might be struck and killed by a train.
“My fear is that this unfortunate thing that happened to this poor boy might happen to someone else,” Perretta said. “God forbid, I don’t want a death to happen for someone to do something about it.”