(Newsday circulated the following article by Jennifer Maloney on November 21.)
NEW YORK — While the state probe into Natalie Smead’s death focused solely on the circumstances surrounding the Aug. 5 incident at Woodside station, others will look at the broader issue of gaps throughout the Long Island Rail Road, some of which stretch as wide as 15 inches, according to Newsday measurements.
“With this tragic death of Ms. Smead, there was a discrete set of circumstances at that moment in time on the Woodside platform,” said Thomas Madison Jr., board chairman and commissioner of the state Department of Transportation.
The state Public Transportation Safety Board is expected this spring to issue findings from its examination of gaps throughout the Long Island and Metro-North railroads. That report could include technical recommendations to the MTA or policy recommendations to the New York State legislature, Madison said. State railroad law sets a minimum gap of about 7 inches, but does not set a maximum.
Meanwhile, Assemb. Richard Brodsky (D-Hartsdale), chairman of the Assembly’s Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, said his committee would hold a hearing on the gap issue before the end of the month.
At the federal level, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating Smead’s death and has taken measurements at about 85 LIRR stations, according to NTSB spokesman Paul Schlamm. That investigation could take up to a year.
A task force of the Federal Railroad Administration’s Railroad Safety Advisory Committee also is studying the gap issue, and could recommend new federal standards. That study likely will take several months, according to the administration.