Witness Claims LIRR Engineer Let Passenger Drive Train

Photograph of the LIRR by ultraclay! on Flickr

Uh oh: Newsday reports, "A Long Island Rail Road engineer has been suspended without pay following accusations that he allowed a passenger to operate a train as it traveled west of Hicksville earlier this month and law enforcement authorities are investigating." The MTA Police Chief, Michael Coan, said they are working on developing a criminal case against the engineer and passenger, "We know somebody was in the cab. We don't know what happened there. We also know that it ran smoothly and nobody was injured."

Apparently a witness let the MTA know about spotting the passenger at the helm of the train on July 2, on the 6:45 a.m. train from Port Jefferson. The train usually arrives at Hunters Point Avenue in Queens at 8:30 a.m. and the passenger apparently oversaw the Hicksville-Hunters Point stretch. Newsday adds, "MTA police are trying to identify and locate the passenger who allegedly operated the train. Coan said he does not believe the engineer"—identified as Ronald Cabrera—"knew the passenger's name." Coan hopes the person will come forward.

The LIRR says, "These allegations are extremely serious and troubling. The LIRR moved immediately to safeguard the public following receipt of the complaint against the employee, who faces disciplinary charges up to and including termination." Last year, the engineer in a fatal Metrolink crash in Los Angeles (25 were killed) was found to have sent a text message 22 seconds before the crash; apparently he often let teens/rail enthusiasts ride along.

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By Jen Chung in News on July 17, 2009 11:36 AM

Comments [rss]

the3rdbridge

HOLY SHIT THIS IS AWESOME!

hogger

As dramatic and sensationalistic that it sounds in the Newsday article, here's the most likely truth:

It probably wasn't just any old passenger.

That "passenger" operating the train was most likely a fellow LIRR engineer on his way to work on the same train.

The original engineer may have had to go home early, and asked his fellow co-worker to take the train to the end of the line for him.

LIRR engineers don't wear uniforms, and may indeed looked like an ordinary citizen to the person who reported him.

After getting "busted", the original engineer didn't want to rat out his fellow co-worker (the "passenger") who helped him. So he lawyered up, and kept silent about who was operating the train.

I seriously doubt the train was ever in a complete stranger's untrained hands for even a second.

NannyState

He let a passenger drive the train? Why, he must have some sort of disability. Oh dear, off to the golf course with him...

Tower18

Not 2 days after the incident in DC last month, I saw an R train operator with a woman (not hot) in the cab, just chatting with the door open during his route. His control of the train was terrible and he almost overshot the platform twice. I'm thinking "all this right after the thing in DC? Nothing wrong here?"

Steven

This is what any railfan would die to do!

AHT

I've been up in the cab, but only watching. That happens a lot -- engineers will let friends sit in the other seat and yak at each other while he's driving. I have to wonder if the passenger was actually touching the controls or just hanging out, and the witness had no damn clue what the difference was.

That being said, this is why I don't sit in the front cars anymore. If some yahoo commuter like me really is driving the train I'd rather not know.

jaycjay

"I have to wonder if the passenger was actually touching the controls or just hanging out"

If the allegation is true, just "hanging out" would be worse, because it mean no one was at the controls. Supposedly the passenger was alone in the cab.

But one thing comes to mind... how do we know that the unidentified "passenger" wasn't a fully qualified operator who happened to be off duty? Still, no doubt, against policy but then not a dangerous violation.

Felix Hoenikker

I thought everyone might like to know that 'rusty trombone' has its own page on wikipedia.

Felix Hoenikker

Ten minutes to Wapner.

s0me_g0d

I hope you guys never get accused of anything. What happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Wza

Yep, she had to be hot.

negtive

Pics or it didn't happen.

Papercutninja

i do hope you're being ironically sarcastic. Being a "railfan" is one thing(i.e., creepy) but driving a train is absolutely dangerous and negligent.

silver

How is this dangerous?

The damn thing can only go forward and backwards. No pedestrians to run over. Track signal speed limits are 15mph, 30 mph, 40 mph, 60 mph, 70 mph or 80 mph. Go faster than the track speed limit and you grind to a halt. Only problem is, there is no 0 mph signal, if there is a train ahead the speed limit is 15mph, but thats crawling, and you should easily be able to stop when you visually see the train ahead at 15 mph unless your suicidal.

This isn't middle of nowhere freight railroad in Kansas where you have a red or green signal and a voluntary non electronically enforced "speed limit 60 mph" sign on a post next to the track. You can't kill yourself on LIRR driving a train, the most you can do is wind up in a hospital after a 10 mph crash into the next train.

This is probably a case of goombah union train engineer getting a BJ from an overtanned blonde while driving the train.

Papercutninja

Really? You're debating the merits of having someone other than a train operator drive the train? Really? So a train can't be derailed due to poor operation? Too fast or too slow around a curve will derail a train.

A train(weighing hundreds of tons) traveling at 10 mph and crashing into ANYTHING is no joke.

jaycjay

"This is probably a case of goombah union train engineer getting a BJ from an overtanned blonde while driving the train."

While he wasn't even there? The allegation is that the unidentified passenger was alone in the cab.

PTG in nyc

exactly what I was thinking!

Although b/c this is the LIRR, she might have just had strong perfume and misleading hooch hoops.

CR

How hot was she?

Geoelh

another blow for rail enthusiasts. when will this nanny state be quiet?

valeriob

Another blow for Cabrera. Zing!

whitecastlerock

I hope the passenger was paid union wages

schadenfreudian mensch

You're mistaken. It's the other way around and Cabrera got better than union wages. He got a "rusty trombone" from his passenger.