Results tagged “lirr”

Passengers and LIRR employees are painting a much different picture of Sunday night's arrest of an off-duty NYPD officer who pointed his gun at rowdy Rangers fans. You'll recall that Officer David Hendrick, a 16-year veteran, gave a television interview Monday night insisting that he pulled his weapon in self-defense after the hockey fans reacted violently to his attempts to shush them. But court papers obtained by Newsday tell a different story.

The NYPD cop facing up to 15 years in prison for allegedly flashing his gun at rowdy Rangers fans on the LIRR is no longer talking to the press, after saying way too much to a local news crew. But the Nassau district attorney's office is talking, and tells Newsday, "The allegation is that he was not acting in any legal law enforcement capacity, and he allegedly used his weapon to menace the passengers, so it doesn't matter that he's licensed or a trained professional." But surely the jury will take into account that Officer David Hendrick's alleged targets were Rangers fans from Long Island?

An off-duty NYPD officer was arrested Sunday night after waving his gun at a group of rowdy, belligerent Rangers fans. For some reason, that's a crime, and Officer David Hendrick, a 16-year veteran assigned to the Manhattan Task Force, faces a felony charge of criminal possession of a weapon and a lesser charge of menacing. MTA cops stopped the Ronkonkoma-bound train in Mineola after several frightened passengers called 911 to report that a man had brandished a gun.

Last year, the NY Times revealed that almost all Long Island Rail Road employees who applied for disability got it—for instance, in 2004, 97% of employees who retired after the age of 50, applied for and received disability and some of those "disabled" retired employees are out on golf courses, hitting the links. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo called it a "cottage industry" of fraud and the Railroad Retirement Board, which oversees claim approval, said it would use greater oversight. But it turns out that a staggeringly high number of LIRR employees are still getting approved for disability.

With a criminal trial still pending, the LIRR has fired the engineer accused of allowing a man to drive his train for up to twenty miles during a rush hour trip in July. After an internal investigation, Long Island Rail Road officials decided to terminate Ronald Cabrera for what the Nassau County DA called an "unimaginably reckless act.” Cabrera, who had worked for the LIRR for twenty years, will get to keep his pension. He still insists that hewas always in control of the Port Jefferson train heading into the city that court stenographer William Kutsch is accused of driving through seven car crossings, one pedestrian crossing, and 24 home signals. Cabrera's lawyer says the incident is "a perceived event, rather than something that really happened." He also called the termination an attempt by the MTA to divert attention from its own "fumbling, inefficient and wasteful mismanagement." Both Cabrera and Kutsch could face a year in jail if they are convicted on reckless endangerment charges.

Just a few more days until the return to school comes for students across the city as medical experts anxiously await just how badly swine flu might affect the upcoming academic year. Already at Cornell University in Ithaca, 140 students have come down with flu-like illnesses in the two weeks since school has reconvened.

On the evening of August 5th, Long Island resident Lara Tepper was riding the train from Hicksville to Manhattan to meet friends for dinner. But her plans were seriously derailed after an LIRR conductor accused her of using a counterfeit ticket. Tepper says she purchased the 10-trip ticket for $66 in July, and had already used it four times, but when the conductor came to punch her ticket, "She looked at it, felt it for a couple of minutes, and said it's fake." That's because the ticket was missing the MTA logo hologram "Watch the gap" warning.

Now that a Long Island Rail Road engineer and passenger have been charged with reckless endangerment—the passenger, a court stenographer (pictured), was allegedly allowed to drive a 500-ton train 25 miles—Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice is turning her attention to basic LIRR matters. Newsday reports that Rice's suggestions for the LIRR include "Improving event recorders - or 'black boxes' - on trains to make them record data about the use of the 'dead man pedal,' which must be constantly compressed for the train to operate; installing video and audio recording devices in the engineer's cab; and requiring engineers to wear identification badges and uniforms while on duty." Yes, LIRR engineers are not required to wear uniforms, though conductors and ticket takers are. Rice explains that uniforms "will enable the general public to quickly identify them, particularly when an emergency arises, or when there is some question about their conduct." The LIRR, which is reviewing the suggestions, says that the uniform issue will have to be taken up in collective bargaining with the engineers' union.

With his client facing charges of reckless endangerment in the second degree for allegedly operating a Long Island Rail Road train, LIRR passenger William Kutsch's lawyer said, "Mr. Kutsch is anxious to let this take its course. When the facts and circumstances are known, he is confident that he will be vindicated." Kutsch is accused of being behind the controls of a westbound LIRR train on July 2—and the engineer at the time, Ronald Cabrera, was also charged with second degree reckless endangerment as well as official misconduct.

Mayor Bloomberg is calling for the MTA to eliminate the fare of the most frequently used—and very slow—crosstown bus lines such as the M50 and M14. Perhaps sensing that the campaign season was beginning to get bogged down in talk of neverending term limits and a recent poll that showed challenger Bill Thompson closing the gap among voters, the Bloomberg campaign came out today with a 33-point proposal to reshape the transit system throughout the five boroughs. After largely letting the MTA stew in its own juices throughout the budget crisis, Bloomberg is reminding New Yorkers that he is still the mayor who not that long ago attempted to make congestion pricing his legacy.

Yesterday, the MTA police revealed that, based on a witness's account, a Long Island Rail Road passenger was allegedly allowed to drive the 6:45 a.m. westbound train from Port Jefferson between Hicksville and Hunters Point Avenue. The engineer on duty, Ronald Cabrera, was suspended and that a criminal investigation was opened. Now the witness tells Newsday what he saw, "[The passenger] knocked on the engineer's door and the engineer let him in." When the passenger emerged from the engineer's cab, he asked another ride, "How'd I do?"

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."

The MTA's non-doomsday fare hikes start today, with higher fares on the Long Island Rail Road (fare table here) and Metro-North (table here). WCBS 2's Lou Young spoke to commuters at Grand Central and Penn Station. One woman, who travels from Yonkers into the city, said, "It's a big deal considering nobody has any money. Money is very scarce right now"; she faces an increase of $1.50 per roundtrip—about $30/month (and she rarely has the cash available to buy a monthly). A pair of brothers who commute from Babylon into Manhattan will have to pay another $21/month each on their monthly passes. Another commuter from White Plains was resigned, "It adds up. It adds up, especially when the fares go up all the time. They got a deficit. Wadda ya gonna do?"

Senator Charles Schumer wants Long Island Rail Road commuters to be more productive—and slams the MTA for not providing wireless technology to allow commuters to get online. Schumer, at a press conference at the Ronkonkama LIRR station, pointed out that other mass transit systems, such as ones in Texas, California and Utah, have wireless technology, and said, "Unfortunately, the Long Island Rail Road has been slow to adapt. The technology is ready and waiting and would easily be up and running by the end of the year." The senior Senator added that it would cost $1,000 per train car and that the MTA could take advantage of federal stimulus money if it acted quickly (ha!). Well, it certainly would keep riders quiet...maybe. In other wireless-MTA news, plans to put cellphone technology in the NYC subway system are still languishing.

They may be considered "grease monkeys" by the New York Post, but LIRR mechanics are cleaning up when it comes to overtime pay. One diesel yard in Richmond Hill, Queens saw six of its union mechanics take in $1.5 million in income, mostly from OT and other perks. Leading the way is Ronald Dunne, a car repairman, who made $220k of his $283k in income from overtime and puts him as the fifth highest breadwinner in the MTA. The paper calls the Richmond Hills yard a gold mine, reasonably enough since they mention that Dunne made so much last year that he purchased a set of gold-plated wrenches. A spokesman for the LIRR said, "Antiquated work rules in collective-bargaining agreements have led to excessive earnings at our Richmond Hill maintenance facility by some employees with high seniority," Last year it was revealed that mostly retired LIRR employees have made over $250 million in disability pay this decade.

A Boston trolley operator who rear-ended another trolley Friday night because he was text-messaging his girlfriend has ruined cell-phone chatting for everyone at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which has now instructed workers to leave their cell phones at home. 49 people were injured in the collision, which is just the latest example of train wrecks caused by distracted operators—last September a Union Pacific Freight train engineer in California was found to have sent his last text message about a minute before killing 25 people, including himself, in a horrible accident. Now LIRR officials here in New York say they're considering a ban on employees' cell phones, too. Currently, LIRR engineers, who operate the trains, are permitted to bring their personal cell phones on board, but they must be shut off and stowed in a bag. A simpler alternative to an outright ban would be for the LIRR to just hire John Clifford, the famous LIRR cell phone scold, to crack some skulls.

Almost three years ago, a teenager visiting from Minnesota fell through a 6-8 inch gap at the Woodside Long Island Rail Road station. Natalie Smead (pictured) tried crawling across the tracks and was fatally hit by an oncoming train. Now, Newsday reports that Smead's mother Susan Perry committed suicide: "On April 5, three days before the LIRR and Metropolitan Transportation Authority were to cut a $1.5 million check to settle the family's lawsuit over Smead's death, Perry, 50, killed herself in Minnesota, her family has disclosed." While the incident raised concerns about the huge gaps at many LIRR stations, an NTSB report recently blamed Smead's death on her alcohol level (here's the report PDF), noting she had a 0.23 blood alcohol level and that she failed to listen to instructions to stay still. Family and friends say that after her daughter's death, Perry, who used to run triathlons, became depressed and upset. Her family decided to speak out on Perry's death to "highlight the damage they feel was caused by the NTSB report."

Two separate violent incidents across the MTA's system. Early this morning, after midnight, a man was stabbed in the neck on a subway platform at the Newkirk Avenue station. WCBS 2 reports that two suspects fled and the police are still looking for them. The victim is in critical condition at Kings County Hospital. And around midnight at the Huntington LIRR station, two men were shot. The Suffolk County police are looking for two suspects; the victims' conditions are not known.

An East Islip man with cerebral palsy is suing the Long Island Railroad because a conductor repeatedly announced over a public address system that he was in a wheelchair. The incident occurred last August when 22-year-old Anthony Faggiani (be mature; he's handicapped) was on his way home from a Yankees game with his father.

Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Jerrold Nadler have been working with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team and say that NY State "is expected to get $4 billion" from an economic stimulus package. What's more, "most of it slated for mass-transit capital projects in the metro area."

The NY Times follows up its look at how over 90% of Long Island Rail Road employees apply for—and get—disability payments with an examination of the federal Railroad Retirement Board that approves disability. Apparently LIRR president Helena Williams wanted to attend a meeting (after learning about the LIRR employees' alleged abuse of the system), but "The board, with about $34 billion in assets, had not met formally in nearly two years, and no new meeting was scheduled. The three board members, all full-time presidential appointees, rarely met even in private, employees of the agency say." Last year, the board approved 98% of applications. and the NY Times reports the doctor who is meant to monitor the disability grants never ordered capacity evaluations to see if the applicants are truly disabled: "And of the 120 cases she reviewed last year, how many disability decisions did she disagree with? According to board officials: zero."

Reports surfaced yesterday about a new terrorist plan to attack the New York City transit system using suicide bombers. The FBI called the plot "uncorroborated, but plausible" that was allegedly triggered by information obtained from a Pakistani citizen arrested overseas last week. Despite the unsubstantiated nature of the threat, it drew extra attention due to its involvement of top aides to Osama Bin Laden.

Long Island Rail Road crews are still working around the clock to repair track and signals damaged when a train derailed at Jamaica Station on Sunday. Though the jackknifed train car was removed, Newsday reports, "LIRR officials say a wealth of damage was left behind, including to signal systems, wiring and hundreds of feet of track - some of which required exhaustive 'inch-by-inch precision' repairs." Like Monday and yesterday, the MTA is canceling a number of trains during the Wednesday AM rush, but will go ahead with the extra eastbound trains for afternoon customers heading home for the Thanksgiving holiday--here's the MTA's LIRR alert page. An LIRR spokesman said, "We're doing our best to make sure we can provide the most amount of service we can while keeping in mind that safety is our first priority."

Long Island Rail Road riders will have to brace themselves for another day of screwed up service. Though MTA repair crews have been working nonstop since Sunday to fix damaged rails and switches after a train derailed just west of Jamaica Station-- forcing numerous cancellations during the morning and evening rush hours and delays (some riders' -- the damage is so extensive that there are also delays and cancelled service for today.

Yesterday, Long Island Rail Road train derailed west of the Jamaica Station, which Newsday reports "caus[ed] major damage to rails and switches"; luckily no one was hurt. Even though repair crews have been working on it through the night, the MTA has cancelled 12 westbound Monday morning trains into Penn Station and Flatbush Avenue and modified other services, telling customers they "should anticipate significant schedule changes and possible delays"--check the MTA's service alert. LIRR Riders Council chairman Gerry Bringmann said, "Thank God this happened on a weekend. The fact that we have two [accidents] within four or five days - that's scary stuff," referring to the Wednesday incident where two LIRR trains bumped at Jamaica Station. The MTA says yesterday's derailment is being investigated but it's "not related to the train sideswipe that occurred in Jamaica on November 19."

Around 7:30 a.m. this morning, two LIRR trains bumped at Track 1--the Port Jefferson train hit a Babylon train. According to WABC 7, this has resulted in "several minor injuries" (passengers were also evacuated from the trains) and WCBS 2 reports, "As a result, there is no service from Jamaica to Penn Station in either direction or from Flatbush to Penn Station in either direction," though some limited service may have resumed. There have also been some delays on the LIRR's mainline, due to signal problems in Queens Village..

Early Wednesday morning, a Seaford resident was killed by a Long Island Rail Road work train. Newsday reports that Patrick Robert Neenan apparently jumped into the tracks at the Bellmore station. An MTA spokesman said suicide was "considered unlikely" (the incident is still under investigation), noting that Neenan's iPod and cell phone were on the tracks, too, "We're leaning toward the idea that he must have been trying to retrieve the items." Neenan, 22, was discharged from the Navy and had been working as a construction worker in Manhattan. His shocked mother said, "He was talking to me about all his plans. He wanted to backpack across Europe, he wanted to go to Alaska. Just so many plans."

When the NY Times reported about the massive number of Long Island Rail Road employees retired due to disability, it noted how many of those retirees were playing golf in state-owned parks. Now the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation tells the Times there was no "legal justification" for retirees using free "passes intended for severely disabled people." The state has given out about 50,000 Access Passes, meant for the "deaf, developmentally disabled, require a walker or prosthetic device for mobility, have been ruled fully disabled by the Social Security Administration." but it's unclear how the LIRR retirees got the passes. There are multiple investigations into LIRR retirees' apparent abuse of disability-- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo called it a "cottage industry of fraud."

After the NY Times revealed a stunning number of recent Long Island Rail Road retirees retired with disability payments (as high as 97% one year), Attorney General Andrew Cuomo held a hearing yesterday about the matter. He was unsparing in his assessment of the disability program, "There appears to have been a cottage industry, if you will, that developed to expedite the granting of disability benefits. It was a bad program design to begin with, and it was totally flawed oversight by the Railroad Retirement Board, by the LIRR, by the MTA."

Two weeks after the NY Times found that virtually most retired Long Island Rail Road employees since 2000 have successfully applied for disability payments--at a cost of $250 million in federal funds--the LIRR president Helena Williams announced she is creating a unit to review disability applications, requiring LIRR workers to undergo ethics training, and asking for legislation to overhaul the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, which approves disability requests.