(Newsday posted the following article by Joie Tyrrell on its website on August 25.)
NEW YORK — When an eastbound Long Island Rail Road train was misrouted in 2004 and had to back up to the West Hempstead station, the reason given for the delay was a simple case of the train wheels losing traction, possibly caused by a wet track.
Unknown to the LIRR personnel behind the move, the inspector general of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was aboard that train and opened an investigation, finding that a slick track was not to blame.
The misroute was caused by human error committed by a train director who had made his second switching mistake in 10 months. The investigation found that LIRR employees covered up the reason for the delay, which “undermines the credibility of all LIRR train performance reports. …
“Perhaps most disturbing is the fact that the various LIRR employees’ efforts to cover-up the misrouting … would have been successful but not for the fact I was riding home on this train,” Inspector General Matthew Sansverie said in the report dated July 28.
In its response to the report, the LIRR president acknowledged mistakes were made and said changes have been implemented, including enforcement of strict penalties for false reporting.
“We agree with your findings that the employees responsible for the misroute mishandled the incident by falsely reporting the duration and the cause of the delay,” LIRR president James Dermody said in a written response to the inspector general.
The investigation’s findings led to employees being disciplined and temporarily suspended, Dermody said in the letter. Also, the railroad’s transportation department has created a plan to prevent falsifying train records.
Commuter advocates said the railroad should take notice.
“If the inspector general wasn’t on that particular train, nobody would know about it,” said Beverly Dolinsky, executive director of the LIRR Commuter’s Council.
The incident occurred November 2004, when Sansverie, then on his way home to Malverne, was aboard an evening rush hour train to West Hempstead with 650 other passengers. The train proceeded down the wrong track and bypassed the entrance to the station traveling eastbound.
The train was backed up to the station, resulting in an arrival delay of 18 minutes. The delay, according to LIRR records, was first categorized as due to a “slip slide,” a railroad term used to describe train wheels losing traction due to wet leaves or snow, and also to mechanical failures on a preceding train.
But investigators found that upon approach to the West Hempstead station, the train should have crossed over two switches to the West Hempstead branch.
But the train director at Valley Tower, James Cooper, failed to align the switches properly to direct the train. Cooper had also misrouted a train in January 2004, investigators found.
The report found that the train was officially reported as 12 minutes late.
Another assistant train director, Richard Cody, admitted he “may have” falsely reported its cause, the report said. Train dispatcher Kevin Kavanaugh told investigators he didn’t receive a report from either employee, and “concluded” that a slip slide was to blame.
Investigators also found that Cody asked Kavanaugh to call him on a non-recorded cell phone line soon after the misroute.
All three were disciplined by the railroad soon after the investigation’s findings. They are still employed there.
Safety was not compromised in the incident, said Sansverie, head of the independent watchdog agency.
“My safety concern is ‘Can we rely on the integrity of the people making these train moves?’ Certainly you have to report the truth if there are any mistakes,” he said.