At Hicksville, not everyone got the word
Nadir Waheed stands at the LIRR train in Hicksville. Credit: Newsday/David Olson
Nadir Waheed ran on the Hicksville LIRR platform Tuesday to catch what he thought was an LIRR train leaving for Penn or Grand Central Station.
“It stopped, but they didn’t open the doors,” he said.
Waheed, 48, saw two men board another car on the train, so he stayed on the platform awaiting another. “Maybe they’re MTA employees.”
Waheed had Googled Monday night for information on the strike and read it was settled, so he drove to the train station Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, at the staffed ticket counter inside the station, every few minutes someone arrived to buy a ticket for a morning train, only to be told trains won’t be running until noon.
In the station parking lot, there were waiting shuttle buses to Howard Beach. But Waheed said he would return home and take a train to his office in Midtown on Wednesday. The long bus and subway rides would be “too difficult,” he said.
“I prefer to go home and get a cup of coffee,” he said.
David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.
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