For some Long Island Rail Road commuters, the rails were not the only thing their train made contact with.
On Tuesday, a train struck a concrete walkway along the tracks. The LIRR said the collision occurred shortly before 7:30 AM and that the train kept on toward its destination and arrived on time. It was not immediately clear why the collision occurred.
MTA officials said the incident was minor and that none of the 386 passengers or crew members aboard the train–the 6:24 AM bound from Hempstead to Penn Station–were hurt. Even so, the incident forced the closure of one of the four heavily used railroad tracks running between Queens and Manhattan for approximately four hours. Amtrak, the tunnel’s owner, conducted an emergency inspection.
Delays rippled across the system and led to a dozen trains getting canceled or diverted to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The MTA credited its $11 billion Grand Central Madison train hall with helping to limit the fallout.
“Thankfully, given the existence of a second Manhattan terminal and set of tunnels at Grand Central Madison, the disruption to service was less impactful to riders than it might have been before,” said spokesman Aaron Donovan.
While the new schedule as a result of GCM’s opening has been a source of frustration, more changes have been enacted in recent days to ease the transition. Two morning rush hour trains to Penn Station are adding stops at Woodside as riders had requested them: the 7:53 AM train from West Hempstead, and the 8:36 AM train from Far Rockaway. In addition, one evening train from Long Beach to Penn Station is now scheduled to depart 18 minutes later at 8:15 PM and arrive at Penn Station at 9:09 PM.
