Wyandanch LIRR train injures pedestrian

A man pushing a shopping cart across the Long Island Rail Road tracks in Wyandanch Friday was injured when a passing commuter train struck the cart and threw the cart into him, a railroad spokesman said.

The man, in his 50s, was trying to cross the tracks at the Straight Path, just west of the Wyandanch Station about 5 p.m., according to Sam Zambuto, the LIRR spokesman.

He was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip where he was treated for a head laceration, and was expected to be released by the hospital, Zambuto said. The man has yet to be identified.

"The gates were down, lights were flashing and the train sounded its horn," Zambuto said, but he still tried to get the shopping cart, containing scrap metal, across the tracks.

The eastbound train that struck the cart, originally due in to Ronkonkoma at 5:16 p.m., was delayed 70 minutes, Zambuto said.

There were other delays or cancellations as a result of the accident, Zambuto said, the longest being an 80-minute delay of a westbound train, but all trains were back on schedule by 7:30 p.m.