Grade Crossing Accident at Central Islip 6/11/2012

Newsday has information on a grade crossing accident on the mainline at Central Islip about 4:30 am this morning. The train involved was the 3:15 am departure from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nass ... -1.3774111

This is just another perfect example as to why LOW PLATFORM TRAPS should be on ALL equipment!
Why set up ladders and all this fancy time consuming stuff when you can just lift a trap and exit safely to the ground.
I hope the Crew is alright.

Of course they would've helped evacuate passengers, but at the same time could've left the crew in a more dangerous position upon collision.

Damage to the SUV obviously was pretty bad.

How much damage to m7 do people think there is? or is this our write off.

Are there any statistics re train vs. road vehichles in the era when the LIRR had manually operated crossing gates operated by corssing guards?

One stst I read was this division of the LIRR employed about 800 people.

The LIRR issued a statement on it's website Monday explaining Monday morning's incident:

LIRR wrote:LIRR Statement on June 11, 2012 AM Rush Hour Ronkonkoma Branch Service Disruption
...At approximately 4:30 AM, LIRR service between Ronkonkoma and Farmingdale was suspended in both directions after an eastbound train struck an unauthorized vehicle at the Route 111 grade crossing in Central Islip. There were 31 customers onboard the train but no passenger injuries were reported and all were safety evacuated from the train. The driver of the vehicle did not survive the accident. There was extensive damage to the vehicle and to part of the train. The events leading to the collision remain under investigation by the MTA police. Passengers onboard the train involved in the accident were offered water. Third rail power was shut off to protect responders and LIRR personnel. Customers were then evacuated, train-to-ground, and provided with bus transportation to complete their journey.

Repair crews worked continuously throughout the morning to make repairs to more than 200 feet of the third rail and its protective cover that was damaged. The signal gate mechanism was destroyed, necessitating a replacement. LIRR personnel responded to the impacted stations to assist customers. Half hourly LIRR service was provided west from Farmingdale to help accommodate Ronkonkoma branch customers. Limited busing was established but not enough buses are available on such short notice to accommodate all Ronkonkoma customers. Customers also were advised to use other branches...

The statement continues saying,

LIRR wrote:...The LIRR asks all to be aware of the dangers of being on or near LIRR tracks and never to cross when the gates are down. Many, especially children, are unaware that LIRR trains are deceptively quick and surprisingly quiet and may be traveling at high speeds.

Unauthorized people should not be on or around LIRR tracks anytime, anywhere, for any reason. It is illegal and extremely dangerous. The third rail carries 750 volts of electricity and is always on, even when no trains are in the vicinity.

Throughout the incident, the LIRR used all of its communication tools to keep customers informed, including issuing 47 customer email alerts and providing updates to our website as well as to traffic reporting agencies and the media. The LIRR apologizes to customers for any inconvenience caused by this morning’s accident...

See the full statement on the MTA's website here

The fire damage looks pretty bad. Anyone know which car this was?

I thought I saw in a picture somewhere it was 7033/7034

Well, looks like that pair will be out of service for at least a month, or if it's one car of the pair, split it, and mate it with another half of pair in this case 7285/7088 are still mated together as of yesterday afternoon being the rear pair of Train 2061 at Ronkonkoma!

This car will be gone for a while, not just a month...

Does the RR go after the insurance companies of the cars/owners in cases where the car intentionally went around a gate?

I know that NYS goes after people's insurances to repair poles/signs if they are knocked down in an accident.

How many M7s are OOS due to accidents? Is that 7200 series car from the derailment like 2 years ago?

Not to be morbid, but that picture would be an excellent one to show at an operation life saver seminar. Theres no surviving that kind of accident and its a wake up call picture.

Prayers for the driver and the family.

It's a shame there can't be more graphic public service announcements and ads to try to discourage walking and driving around gates at crossings, and just trespassing in general on railroad tracks. Very graphic images are used to attempt to discourage smoking. Why can't railroad safety programs use images that graphic. Every trackside memorial represents someone who thought "it can't happen to me".

At the same time, the railroads have been around for 200 years, and people still don't know how to be safe around trains. It's not 100% preventable. We all have a little bit of lemming in us, but some it stands out more than others.

If there is one thing on the railroad that is a pet peeve of mine, it's people who ignore the railroad warning devices. For crying out loud the Herricks Road accident in Mineola should have been a wake-up call. Those 2 pedestrian accidents in Massapequa Park during it's grade crossing elimination project, and especially the bakery truck incident 13 months ago at the Executive Drive grade crossing at the Deer Park LIRR station should be wake-up calls.

SlackControl wrote:It's a shame there can't be more graphic public service announcements and ads to try to discourage walking and driving around gates at crossings, and just trespassing in general on railroad tracks. Very graphic images are used to attempt to discourage smoking. Why can't railroad safety programs use images that graphic. Every trackside memorial represents someone who thought "it can't happen to me".

I agree with Mr. Control. They should have advertisements like the graphic smoking commercials, which seem to be working.

The MTA made a somewhat-graphic advertisement a while back as part of their T.R.A.C.K.S. campaign. It was posted on their website, but I have never seen it on TV. I'm not going to post the link to it here, but if you go to YouTube and search "Long Island Railroad Safety Commercial" it will be the first one listed there. (the scene in that commercial was fake, the person was edited into the commercial, not actually struck by the train)