Man, 92, falls through LIRR station gap

A 92-year-old man was injured Sunday night when he exited a Long Island Rail Road train and fell into the gap between the car and the station platform in Great Neck, authorities said.

The man and his wife had boarded the 8:19 p.m. train leaving Manhattan. He was hurt about 9:01 p.m. after the train stopped in Great Neck, said LIRR spokesman Aaron Donovan.

The train was delayed for 13 minutes as staff members helped the man and called for an ambulance, Donovan said. He was taken to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, where his condition was unknown. Authorities did not release the man's name or the nature of his injuries.

The LIRR has spent millions to reduce the space between trains and station platforms since a 2007 Newsday series exposed hundreds of injuries suffered by passengers who fell into that gap.

Sunday night, it was not known whether Great Neck's station platform had undergone work to fix any gap-related problems. Donovan said LIRR staff inspected the train and the platform and "didn't notice any problems."