(The following story by Emerson Clarridge appeared on the Newsday website on December 18.)
NEW YORK — Several new interim safety measures intended to help commuters navigate the gap between the train and the platform were put in place at the Syosset station yesterday, where at least 39 people have fallen since 1989, the Long Island Rail Road said.
Railroad employees now are wearing yellow vests to make them – and the assistance they are able to offer – more visible, LIRR officials said. The workers have been posted on the Syosset platforms during peak travel periods for several years.
Commuters who need help getting on and off trains at Syosset also will find new ramps, similar to the metal bridge plates stored onboard trains that are used to help disabled passengers over the gap. The ramps will now be stored at the Syosset station.
Originally, officials said, the platform conductors were posted at Syosset to relay hand signals from conductors on one end of the train to the other. The signals could not be seen because of the sharply curved platform.
“After August 2006, they’ve been instructed also to assist people who need help with the gap,” said Sam Zambuto, a railroad spokesman.
The platform conductors are posted weekdays between 5:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on platform A, which is used by westbound trains, and between 4 and 9:49 p.m. on platform B, used by eastbound trains.
The gap at the Syosset station is 13.4 inches in spots. The railroad announced last week that it was considering extending the north platform eastward by as much as 600 feet.
The LIRR also announced that it plans to erect heated shelters on both platforms at Syosset by the end of January for the employees, whom it calls special platform conductors.
Natalie Smead, 18, while on vacation from her home in Minnesota, fell in a gap at the Woodside station on Aug. 5, 2006, becoming the LIRR’s first gap-related fatality.