Union faults LIRR for safety issues in tunnel leading to Grand Central Madison

Less than a month after the Long Island Rail Road began running full service to Grand Central Madison, three LIRR employees working in a tunnel leading to the new station “narrowly avoided” being struck by a train that was errantly routed through a work zone, according to union officials.

The incident was followed by another close call less than three weeks later, when four LIRR signal workers got out of the way of a train with seconds to spare, union officials said.

The incidents came to light in a letter recently posted by Michael Sullivan, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen Local 56, on the union’s website. The LIRR, while declining to address the specifics of either incident, said safety is the railroad’s top priority and defended its handling of the two near-misses.

"Recent incidents, in which there were no reported injuries, resulted from human errors that led to trains entering areas without engineers being aware of track work in progress," said Tim Minton, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the LIRR's parent organization. "That is unacceptable, and requires swift corrective measures, which is what happened here."

Sullivan, in his post, discussed how three LIRR signal employees, working in one of the newly opened Grand Central tunnels on March 25, “came as close as it comes to an on-duty fatality.” The employees were working under the protection of “foul time,” where a dispatcher prevents trains from entering an active work zone until it is clear, the union said. Although they “followed all the rules,” Sullivan said in his post that the trio “still barely avoided being struck” after the dispatcher mistakenly sent a train through the area.

In a letter to LIRR management on April 21 addressing the incident, union national vice president Timothy Tarrant said the workers had to climb on top of a ledge five feet above the tracks and “press against the wall of the tunnel and narrowly avoided being struck by the train."

LIRR officials would not say what, if any, disciplinary actions were taken against the employees involved, but Rob Free, the railroad’s senior vice president of operations, said in a statement that LIRR officials “strictly follow federal safety regulations, and we expect all employees of the LIRR to do so as well."

“When rules are not adhered to, we must take action,” Free said.

Sullivan said the three signal workers were taken out of duty, with pay, pending the results of a drug test. Union officials said the signal workers have returned to work, and did not lose pay.

A representative for the Transportation Communication Union, which represents LIRR dispatchers, did not respond to requests for comment.

Making the situation “more troubling,” Tarrant said in his letter, was the fact that an unnamed LIRR signal department foreman, in an email to managers on Jan. 13, warned that without sufficient space in the tunnels for workers to stand clear of a moving train, such an incident was inevitable.

LIRR signal workers repeatedly have raised concerns about Grand Central Madison, which commenced full operations on Feb. 27, after years of delays and cost overruns, as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $11.1 billion East Side Access megaproject.

In November, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen national president Michael Baldwin wrote to the Federal Railroad Administration to voice his concern with a petition from the LIRR for a temporary waiver of a requirement that its train signal system be equipped with hazard detectors that would prevent oversized trains from crashing into the East Side Access tunnels.

Baldwin objected to what he said was the LIRR’s attempt to “circumvent safety practices” and rush the opening of the new station “prior to ensuring it is completely operable.”

The railroad rebutted suggestions that it took shortcuts with safety, and, after getting the temporary waiver, since has complied with the FRA safety requirement.

Robert Halstead, a Syracuse-based railroad safety expert, said Thursday that the close call at Grand Central Madison “indicates … that [LIRR] personnel are not fully familiar with the characteristics” of the new station.

Although there are no federal regulations requiring them, Halstead said he was surprised the new tunnels would be constructed without “niches” — spaces commonly built into rail tunnels in which workers can tuck themselves away from the path of oncoming trains.

“I think it would be safer,” Halstead said. “I would certainly expect it.”

Minton, in a statement, said "speculation that railroad infrastructure, which is highly regulated by the state and federal governments, played a role in these incidents is inaccurate.”

In his letter to union members, Sullivan acknowledged a second incident on April 13, in which a train moving at 74 mph applied its emergency brakes as it approached four signal workers on the tracks near Forest Hills. Sullivan said the workers cleared the tracks “just under 15 seconds” before the train came through. Federal regulations require rail workers to clear the tracks “not less than 15 seconds” before a train passes their location.

Sullivan said the four signal workers were “removed from service” — two of them without pay for nine days. 

Sullivan said LIRR managers, concerned about a reputation for “lax enforcement of the regulations for many years,” are now showing “no leniency … no compassion” for workers who violate rules.

Responding to Sullivan’s message, Free said: “Anybody who says the LIRR is taking safety seriously is absolutely right. It is the LIRR’s top priority.”

The union officials' letters referenced yet another “near-miss” that occurred before both of the other incidents, near Hicksville. The LIRR did not immediately respond to a Newsday inquiry about that incident. 

This story has been updated to correct the name of Timothy Tarrant.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.