Teen's death puts focus on dangerous gap

Space between train doors, platforms proves risky for riders

 

By FRANK ELTMAN

Associated Press Writer

 

August 19, 2006, 1:57 PM EDT

SYOSSET, N.Y. – One was a young tourist from Minnesota on her way to a Dave Matthews concert. The other was a 67-year-old former Broadway dancer heading home.

They both fell victim to a common hazard along the Long Island Rail Road – the gap between the train doors and platform.

The teenage tourist was killed this month after she slipped through a gap between a car and the platform and was struck by a train going the other way. The former dancer broke her neck and was left paralyzed after suffering a similar fall two years ago.

The death of 18-year-old Natalie Smead has prompted advocates, politicians and others to call for North America's largest commuter railroad to take steps to reduce the number of gap-related injuries. The railroad concedes injuries related to the gap happen about once a week.

Critics say the railroad, which placed yellow "Watch the Gap" stickers on all train door windows in the early 1990s, has never fully addressed the problem or is content that the number of injuries is relatively small compared with the hundreds of thousands who travel safely each day.

"My own take on this is they feel it's probably cheaper for them to defend lawsuits than to actually fix the problem," said attorney Paul Weitz, who has filed a $50 million lawsuit on behalf of Shelly Rann, the former dancer. "They've made a heartless calculation that it's flat-out cheaper than to fix the problem."

A railroad spokeswoman said the railroad does not comment on pending lawsuits.

The incidents

Ms. Rann, who was a Radio City Rockette at 16 as well as a dancer in Broadway musicals, was returning home from a ballet class in October 2004 when she fell through a gap between the train and platform at the Forest Hills station. She is a quadriplegic because of the accident.

Ms. Smead, from Northfield, Minn., fell onto the tracks as she was getting off a westbound train at Woodside on Aug. 5, heading for a concert at Randall's Island. She managed to cross under the platform and was trying to climb up the other side when she was struck by an eastbound train.

Railroad officials said it is the only known fatality attributed to someone falling through the gap, but they concede there have been nearly 130 injuries to commuters slipping through gaps since 2004 – an average of more than one a week at its 124 stations.

It's difficult to determine how that compares with other railroads; Steve Kulm of the Federal Railroad Administration said statistics are kept on passenger injuries, but not on specific incidents of people falling between the gap.

The Long Island Rail Road, a division of the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority, carries an average of 282,400 commuters each weekday on 728 trains, according to the MTA's Web site, which calls it North America's busiest commuter railroad.

Although most stations are on relatively straight stretches, some built nearly a century ago are situated on severe curves, which create gaps as wide as 15 inches between the angled platform and the straight cars.

In response to Ms. Smead's death, Long Island Rail Road president James Dermody said officials would install a $1.5 million closed-circuit television system that will allow the conductor to view both ends of the platform at one particularly curvy station – Syosset. The platform at Woodside, where Ms. Smead died, is relatively straight, and it is still not clear how the young woman fell.

Checking system

Railroad officials also plan to survey the entire system for possible improvements, and said announcements warning passengers of potential gap hazards would be made.

"They warn you before you get on now about the gap, but you have to really take a leap, especially if you're petite, and I'm petite," said Pam Friedlander of Syosset.

She says she once had to pull her 12-year-old son from the gap. "I was hysterical about it. His foot went between the gap and the train, and it was really serious. You have to really watch yourself and be cognizant of what you're doing when you step onto this train."

Judy Jacobs, the leader of the Nassau County Legislature, said cameras are no solution and the remedy is to install so-called "gap plates," devices that electronically extend temporary plates from the platform to train doors. Such devices are used in several New York City subway stations.

Michael A. Harris, a founder of the Disabled Riders Coalition who uses a wheelchair, said the railroad needs to comply with the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, which calls for no more than a 3-inch gap at any station.

"I do a lot of traveling and in most cities the trains line up," he said. "This is really an issue of the Long Island Rail Road choosing to take the cheaper and less reliable alternative rather than actually remedying the large gaps."

SETH WENIG/AP

Officials say gap-related injuries occur about once a week at stations on the Long Island Rail Road in New York.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.