(The following article was posted on the New York Times website on October 13.)
NEW YORK — Passengers aboard a northbound Metro-North train at the Ludlow station south of Yonkers were stunned yesterday by the sight of what appeared to be a boa constrictor curled up on the adjacent track.
The conductor of the 4:56 p.m. train from Grand Central Terminal summoned the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police to decide how the snake could be removed, said Dan Brucker, a spokesman for Metro-North.
But the snake problem, which had slightly delayed the train at the station, was resolved, unfortunately for the snake, a few minutes later when another northbound train passed through the station on the adjacent track, Mr. Brucker said.
The snake was sliced in half by the second train, he said.
“He was all curled up,” said one passenger, Edith Lynn Beer. “We couldn’t figure out if it was alive or not. It was very thick. It had those rectangular markings. It was like a brownish gray, and had all these geometric designs.”
Boa or not, it was not a sight expected during the evening commute.
“It was surrealistic,” Ms. Beer said.