Service restored on Montauk branch after fatality, LIRR says
The LIRR said a person was struck and killed by a train in Sayville at around 2:45 p.m. on Friday, May 26, 2017. Credit: James Carbone
The Long Island Rail Road said service has been restored in both directions Friday afternoon through Sayville after it was suspended when a train struck and killed a person on the tracks.
Full service was restored between Babylon and Patchogue in both directions, the railroad said in an alert to riders at 5:45 p.m. Friday.
Around 4 p.m., the LIRR announced it had restored some eastbound service through Sayville using one of two tracks, with residual delays averaging 45 minutes. One train, from Babylon to Patchogue, was reported as operating 80 minutes late.
LIRR spokesman Aaron Donovan said the fatal incident was reported around 2:45 p.m.
Shortly before 3 p.m., the railroad announced the Montauk branch suspension in both directions, which it attributed to “an unauthorized person on the tracks being struck by a train at Sayville.”
The LIRR canceled several trains Friday afternoon because of the fatality. The Cannonball — an express train that travels from Penn Station to the Hamptons in 95 minutes — was running 28 minutes late by the time it reached Westhampton because of the fatality investigation.
Shortly before 3:30 p.m., the LIRR reported that MTA police and Suffolk County police were at the scene. A Suffolk police spokesman declined to comment, referring questions to the MTA.
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.
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