Longtime business operator calls School Street crossing 'very dangerous'

Annette Farragher wasn’t surprised when she heard about Tuesday’s fatal Long Island Rail Road accident in Westbury.

The School Street crossing has been “an accident waiting to happen” for decades, said Farragher, president of Dependable Acme Threaded Products, which makes threaded rods and nuts.

While running the family business, located on School Street from 1982 through last July, Farragher said she has seen everything from trucks driving on the tracks to cars getting trapped between the crossing gates while waiting for the stoplight.

“That crossing is very dangerous,” she said. Three people were killed Tuesday night after their vehicle collided with two trains.

Last year, there were seven accidents at LIRR crossings on the Island, resulting in two fatalities and three injuries, according to Federal Railroad Administration data. The wreck Tuesday sparked renewed calls from state lawmakers for increased safety measures at grade crossings.

Sen. Kevin Thomas (D-Levittown) on Wednesday introduced legislation to put cameras at railroad traffic crossings that would record the license plates of cars illegally going through crossings. The bill also would allow local government to issue summonses based on the recording of violations.

“It’s literally a red-light camera at a railroad crossing,” he said, referring to the cameras installed at some traffic lights.

Accidents at LIRR crossings

Includes vehicles and pedestrians hit by trains, as well as trains hit by vehicles.

The Assembly version of the bill also was introduced Wednesday and is co-sponsored by members Thomas Abinanti (D-Tarrytown) and David Buchwald (D-White Plains).

The LIRR already has installed cameras as some grade crossings but, unlike with red light cameras, the agency does not have the legal authority to issue summonses based on the recording of a violation.

Thomas said he’s working on getting funding for the cameras set aside in the 2019-20 state budget, which is due March 31.

“It’s very important and urgent to act on this given what happened,” he said. “Having these cameras at the railroad crossing will save lives.”

Similar legislation previously was considered in the State Legislature after a Metro-North train and sport utility vehicle collided Feb. 3, 2015, at a railroad crossing in the Westchester County community of Valhalla, killing the car’s driver and five train passengers.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority since has stepped up its security protocols and taken action along with the state to eliminate crossings by either elevating tracks or sinking roads underneath them.

Of the nearly 300 grade crossings across the Island, just two have been eliminated since 1998, both in Mineola. 

The Westbury crossing is one of seven the agency and state plan to eliminate as part of the Third Track project, which aims to construct a 9.8-mile long third track between Floral Park and Hicksville. The project, which is scheduled to begin in spring 2020, would sink the roadway underneath the tracks.

The Federal Railroad Administration's accident database listed four accidents at the School Street crossing since 1981 — three involved a pedestrian on the tracks, two of which resulted in death, according to the accident reports. The first accident , which occurred on May 22, 1981, involved a vehicle striking a train while moving over the crossing. No one was injured, according to the accident report.

But the crossing’s casualty rate goes back further.

On April 9, 1947, a man, whose vision was impeded by heavy rains, failed to see the red blinking lights and his station wagon was struck by a train at the crossing, killing him instantly, according to Newsday archives. 

Along with the Third Track project, the LIRR also continues to look into and implement other safety measures. Last year, the agency fit out all 296 grade crossings with roadside striping that extends over tracks, and reflective devices designed to more clearly identify crossings.

The LIRR also worked with Google-owned navigation app developer Waze to incorporate information about the LIRR right of way. 

The number of incidents at grade crossings on Long Island in which a train comes into contact with a person or vehicle has declined, falling from 17 in 2017 to seven in 2018, according to the MTA.

While Farragher welcomed the plans to fix the track, it came at a cost to her business, which was one of several uprooted for the project. Her business, which moved in July, now is on Sylvester Street.

Things are going well since the move, she said. It was difficult, but worth it, “as long as they fix that track," she said.