LIRR Crash Compared to Pascack Valley: NY Governor

A Long Island Rail Road train smashed through the end of its track Wednesday morning at Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, but the consequences were minor compared to the Pascack Valley train crash five months ago, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

Cuomo said the basic question about the incident is the same as the question about the Pascack Valley train incident, which killed one person at the Hoboken terminal.

"Hoboken was a much worse situation. I was in Hoboken. And obviously it was worse, not just in terms injuries, we had a loss of life in Hoboken," Cuomo said. "But there was extensive damage in Hoboken and that train was coming in much faster, did much more damage, hurt many more people. This is minor compared to what happened in Hoboken. But the same question — why did the operator not stop the train before it hit the block?"

The LIRR crash occurred around 8:20 a.m., an FDNY spokesman told Patch, when a train that was supposed to stop at a bumper ran through it instead. At least 103 people suffered nonlife-threatening injuries, the New York City Fire Department said. Cuomo, who visited the scene of the accident, said the most serious injury suffered was a broken leg.

The train went through the bumping block at the end of Track 6, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast said in a press conference with the governor. The train is supposed to stop before it hits the bumper, which is just there as a precaution, he said.

There were no delays to the morning commute as a result of the incident, and no delays are expected during p.m. rush hour service.

That's another difference between the two incidents.

One person died and 110 more were injured when the 400-foot long Pascack Valley train failed to stop, overrode a bumper, and struck a wall of the terminal.

Orange and Rockland County commuters put up with a jury-rigged system of buses, ferries and temporary stops for weeks after the Sept. 29, 2016, accident.

Prendergast and Cuomo said the Long Island Railroad train was supposed to be traveling at a slow speed, but they did not say what the speed limit was or what speed the train was going.

Prendergast said at the point at which the crash occurred it is primarily the locomotive engineer's responsibility to control the train.

"There’s a signal system that controls it coming in at limited speeds," he said. "But when you’re getting to the end it’s the locomotive engineer’s responsibility. And the train’s brakes have to work. All those things have to be looked at in the investigation."

RELATED:

• Pascack Valley Line Train May Have Been Speeding
• Pascack Valley, Port Jervis Commuter Train Lines Inch Toward Normalcy

The MTA has been in contact with the Federal Railroad Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board is en route.

Patch editor Marc Torrence contributed to this report.

PHOTOS via FDNY, NTSB