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Parents say LIRR should do more to plug gaps

BY JENNIFER MALONEY AND KARLA SCHUSTER | Newsday Staff Writers

September 8, 2006

Parents who ride the Long Island Rail Road said yesterday that they hold their children tightly when boarding and exiting trains, but the railroad should do more to prevent falls such as that of 4-year-old Brittany Walker, who slipped through a gap Wednesday at Penn Station.

"It's not enough to warn people," Joyce Novick, 49, of Jericho, said at Hicksville station. "You worry about it and you hold on tight."

Christine Kim, 43, waited for a train at Hicksville station with her son, Alex, 6.

"I always hold his hand," Kim said. "I say, 'Be careful. Hold on to Mommy.'"

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so tonight's accident victim was a graffiti "artist". ONLY the NY Times cares! Send his "parents" the bill for tying up working people trying to get home!

Submitted by Tired of it all

9:56 PM EST, Jan 5, 2007

tonights incident is the equivalent of "snow days" in the public school system! viva la mexico! if you see something, say something!

Submitted by Freeport

9:49 PM EST, Jan 5, 2007

one "accident" strands 200,000 commuters in their tracks! Makes you feel REAL confident about the homeland security & evacuation plans we continue to pay for!!!!

Submitted by Freeport

9:47 PM EST, Jan 5, 2007

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At Penn Station yesterday on Track 18 - where Brittany fell while boarding a train to Huntington - a Babylon-bound train chugged to a stop shortly before 3 p.m., leaving gaps from 6 inches to more than a foot between the train and the slightly curved platform.

Newsday measured five spots along the track yesterday afternoon, finding the largest space - just over 12 inches - at the back of the train, where the platform curves most noticeably. Near the front and middle of the train, the gaps measured between 6 and 8 inches.

Some passengers at Penn Station yesterday, even those riding other rail lines such as New Jersey Transit, said the latest incident spooked them. Brittany was rescued with only minor injuries.

"It's a little scary," said Simone Butler of Montclair, N.J., who carried her 16-month-old daughter Isabella in one arm and a stroller in the other. "I had never thought about that as a possibility before."

But Sheila Hernandez, 43, of Roosevelt, who came off a train with her 6-year-old son, Kaymal Branham, said, "It doesn't bother me a bit. We've been boarding those trains forever. Just so long as you hold onto your child, you're fine."