(The Associated Press circulated the following article by Frank Eltman on February 7.)
SYOSSET, N.Y. — Travelers on North America’s largest commuter railroad have been required to traverse gaps — more than a foot wide at some stations — to board or exit trains for many decades. But it wasn’t until a Minnesota teenager died after falling through a gap last summer that the problem came under a spotlight.
On Thursday, state legislators will interrogate Long Island Rail Road representatives and others about what steps are being taken to remedy the dangerous situation.
“We’re looking to get some answers,” said state Sen. Carl Marcellino, who organized the Senate Transportation Committee hearing. “We want to know what they’re doing to address the problem and what has been done already.”
Although 19-year-old Natalie Smead’s death at an LIRR station in Queens is the only known fatality linked to the gaps, a review by Newsday found the railroad has logged almost 900 gap-related incidents since 1995. Until last year, the review found, the railroad apparently did little to prevent falls except post “Watch the Gap” warnings on trains.
Since Smead’s death and the uproar over the gaps, the railroad has announced improvement plans at 100 of its 262 platforms, which stretch from Manhattan to Montauk. It also has realigned at least 25 tracks at 17 stations, added platform conductors at some stations and installed the wooden boards at other stations.
“I just want to demonstrate my commitment to solving the problem and be out in front of it,” Acting LIRR President Ray Kenny has said. Kenny and Elliot G. Sander, the new head of the railroad’s parent organization, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, are among those expected to testify at the Senate hearing.
Senators also will interview the manufacturer of mechanical gap fillers used at three New York City subway stations, Marcellino said.
The hearing is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Syosset High School auditorium at 70 South Woods Road. Comments will come from invited participants only; there will not be an opportunity for members of the public to speak, Marcellino said.