LIRR President Apologizes After Memorial Day Weekend Derailment

EAST END, NY — The president of the Long Island Rail Road has offered an apology to riders after a derailment put the brakes on many Memorial Day weekend plans for those heading to the Hamptons and Montauk Saturday.

“We are aggressively investigating this and will apply any lessons learned to prevent a repeat occurrence," LIRR President Phil Eng said in a statement. "We apologize to the customers who were inconvenienced by this and thank everyone for their patience. Given the extent of the damage, that we were able to restore service as quickly as we did is a testament to the hard work of our employees, who took action immediately and worked throughout the holiday weekend.”

(Lisa Finn)

All service was restored by Memorial Day on Monday, with the cause of the derailment under investigation, the LIRR said.

LIRR officials offered alternatives, including buses and shuttles, for passengers through Sunday as work to repair the derailment Saturday that cut off all service on the Montauk line east of Patchogue continued.

Service was interrupted after a Montauk bound train that left Penn Station at 1:09 a.m. Saturday, due in Montauk at 4:09 a.m., sideswiped a non-revenue train east of Speonk as part of a passing maneuver, according to the LIRR. The non-revenue train was on a side track, and the Montauk train was traveling at approximately 30 mph.

According to the Eastport Fire Department, the collision led to a "large fuel spill;" environmental crews arrived to begin the offload of the remaining fuel and cleanup of the spill, the Eastport Fire Department said.

The engine of the Montauk train and the last car of the non-revenue train derailed. While there were 32 passengers on the Montauk train, there were no injuries to passengers or LIRR employees, but damage to the tracks was "extensive," the LIRR said.

Service east of Patchogue, including to the Hamptons and Montauk, was suspended all day Saturday — and customers were told they should not go to Penn Station, Atlantic Terminal, Jamaica or their local stations expecting service to resume east of Patchogue.

(Lisa Finn)

Regular service to Patchogue and Riverhead remained in effect, and the LIRR dispatched additional personnel to major transit hubs to provide information as it became available and manage potential crowding.

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman was at the scene of the derailment Saturday.

"Thankfully there were no injuries involved," he said, commending the LIRR's emergency response teams for their hard work to get services restored expeditiously.