Westbury Wreck 02/26/2019

There was a bad one at Covert AVE (main Line), New Hyde Park back in the 1990's where the driver waited, then directly drove in the path of the train to commit suicide. It always surprised when they have one way out east where there are only one or two trains a day. Are the Westbury station facilities fully repaired (stairs, railings, light poles, platform); if so that was really fast considering how long it takes for cement to dry. Perhaps they used pre-fabricated slabs and cylindrical base supports.

The damaged part of the east end of the platform has been removed, and the end of the usable platform is temporarily barricaded. Original plat. length was twelve cars, now it will be ten cars until reconstruction of the east end is done, whenever that may be.

Credit to Edward Hand right here. He said the length that was destroyed was 7 panels in length, so now it looks like it can only platform a 10-car train at its maximum, and a 6-12 MU sign is present at the barricade on the Westbound platform. Amazing though that they replaced the power pole to the right, yet the pole closest to him wasn't even damaged in the incident and didn't need to be replaced!

I don’t understand how Long Island Newsday has these 3 guys painted as martyrs in the Westbury wreck? From initial reports they broke 2 laws by leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident. Leaving the accident scene and going around activated crossing gates for another traffic violation. There are also reports via video footage of them arriving/leaving a bar in that time span. That would be a third infraction if operating a vehicle under the influence. That’s Newsday reporting though with today writing about the 1982 Herricks Rd Incident with the 9 teenage kids in a van.

Seems to me some bias of Newsday to state these were family men just leaving their job and in turn getting struck by 2 trains at a local crossing near their place of employment. They probably caused damage into the millions and also injuries to people on the WB Ronkonkoma train.

people died dude, it's not exactly their fault

The driver is to blame. The other two were not in control. We shouldn't lump them all together.

Actually it’s 100% their fault. The train didn’t swerve out of the way again right?

I mostly agree with freightguy . The true victims here are the crew members of the two trains and some passengers who luckily only received minor injuries. And also the thousands of commuters who were inconvenienced over the next forty-eight hours because of one idiot, possibly drunk driver. Newsday could maybe say that the two passengers in the car were victims of the driver's bad judgment and violations of law. But to portray all three young men as victims? Give us a break! Next they'll be blaming the LIRR for having trains speeding thru the crossing on the tracks that they own.

First things first; Newsday should only be used to line your bird cage. Their extreme bias and lack of anything intellectual has been the trend for many years. Most media outlets named the victims well before they did. Freightguy brings up some solid points. You take a serious gamble running around the gates, and in this case fleeing the scene of an accident. I hope the crew members involved are doing well and my hats off to all associated personnel who played an intricate roll in getting the plant back up and running in the time they did. It disgusts me when certain rail enthusiasts care more about updating their rosters, detours, or speaking about electrifying the central branch. This is someone’s worst nightmare having to deal with a grade crossing accident. Show a little bit more respect to those who are in this line of work.

I agree with Slippy too that the LIRR's work crews did an excellent job. And surprisingly even Newsday gave them some credit in today's edition. They got almost full service restored in under forty-eight hours. That's pretty good considering the amount of damage. I hope they earned some well deserved overtime $$$ too.

And I still think the Central Branch should have been electrified long ago. It would have helped the LIRR maintain better service during any and all service disruptions, including those caused by weekend infrastructure repairs and construction.

LB wrote:There was a bad one at Covert AVE (main Line), New Hyde Park back in the 1990's where the driver waited, then directly drove in the path of the train to commit suicide.

LB Provide the following nice info material on this 12/16/1990 wreck: http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirrwr ... wrecks.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
70% down the page.

Head-end View wrote:I mostly agree with freightguy . The true victims here are the crew members of the two trains and some passengers who luckily only received minor injuries. And also the thousands of commuters who were inconvenienced over the next forty-eight hours because of one idiot, possibly drunk driver. Newsday could maybe say that the two passengers in the car were victims of the driver's bad judgment and violations of law. But to portray all three young men as victims? Give us a break! Next they'll be blaming the LIRR for having trains speeding thru the crossing on the tracks that they own.

Is this another example of Fake-altered news as to not report objectively? Therefore paint the big corporate machine (the LIIRR, in this case) as the bad guy to suit some narrative?

Slippy wrote:First things first; Newsday should only be used to line your bird cage. Their extreme bias and lack of anything intellectual has been the trend for many years. Most media outlets named the victims well before they did. Freightguy brings up some solid points. You take a serious gamble running around the gates, and in this case fleeing the scene of an accident. I hope the crew members involved are doing well and my hats off to all associated personnel who played an intricate roll in getting the plant back up and running in the time they did. It disgusts me when certain rail enthusiasts care more about updating their rosters, detours, or speaking about electrifying the central branch. This is someone’s worst nightmare having to deal with a grade crossing accident. Show a little bit more respect to those who are in this line of work.

Nicely stated. Thank you.

Chuck Schumer is calling for an investigation into the PTC delays on the LIRR as a result of this wreck...

From my Babylon Branch train yesterday evening and this morning, spotted 7425-7426 at the West side of the Hillside Complex. I think they were on track 6. 7425 caught my eye with the open front door and damage. Have they been evaluated already as to the damage?