By Michael V. Cusenza
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber on Friday visited the site of the Long Island Rail Road derailment in Queens and provided an update on the agency’s response.
LIRR and Metro-North Railroad crews worked together through the night. As of approximately 1:20 p.m. on Friday, all eight train cars had been rerailed, Lieber noted.
“Tremendous progress has been made in recovering from this major accident,” Lieber said. “Shout out to the LIRR wrecking crew and Metro-North wrecking crew who came from White Plains, so we were able to have two cranes to lift these cars much more quickly. Amazing one MTA operation recovering from this.”
LIRR Train 722 departed at 10:43 a.m. on Thursday from Grand Central but derailed east of Jamaica at approximately 11:10 a.m. It was due in Hempstead at 11:37 a.m.
Photo Courtesy of Marc Hermann/MTA
“Shout out to the LIRR wrecking crew and Metro-North wrecking crew who came from White Plains,” Chairman Lieber said.
“First of all, I note it’s an eight-car derailment, appears to be all eight cars of the train derailed. Long Island Rail Road personnel were on the scene within minutes coming from both Hillside Maintenance Facility and Jamaica. So, from both ends, you had Long Island Rail Road personnel on the scene, and they assisted the train crew in dealing with passengers. The commissioner will speak to the injuries. But there were some injuries, some folks who were shaken up and they were quickly attended to. We had water on the train and the conditions, obviously the temperature is moderate, and the conditions were maintained pretty good for the passengers while they waited for the rescue train,” Lieber said on Thursday. “Approximately 90 minutes later, the rescue train was able to, with the assistance of the FDNY, to take them back to Jamaica, where there were folks on hand from the FDNY team to deal with their conditions.”
The derailment snarled Thursday evening and Friday morning rush hour commutes. Eastbound Hempstead Branch trains bypassed Hollis and Queens Village. New York City Transit cross-honored on the Q2, Q3, Q8 and Q110 buses for service between Jamaica and Queens Village.
