2 times • JUNE 16, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com A year after a fiery train and truck crash in Maspeth, one lawmaker demands answers BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport What are the results? That is what one Queens politician wants to know from the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) investigation into New York & Atlantic Railway’s (NYA) safety culture and management practices after a speeding train crashed into a tractor-trailer in Maspeth on July 8, 2015. Congresswoman Grace Meng is calling on the FRA to release the findings from their nearly yearlong study of NYA’s procedures. Last week, the congresswoman wrote a letter to Sarah E. Feinberg, administrator for the FRA, requesting the findings be released. “I am alarmed that after a year since this crash occurred, we are still without the answers needed to improve the safety of this railroad crossing, which is one of the most frequented grade crossings on the most active railway in my Congressional district,” Meng said. “Thankfully, the specific train crash that prompted this investigation resulted in no fatalities. But appropriate safety measures must be in place to prevent an incident like this from occurring again. The FRA must quickly release the data and recommendations resulting from its probe. Every day that lingers without these crucial safety improvements is another day where lives are at risk.” The FRA inspected a bevy of NYA’s operating departments and practices including engineer and conductor certifications, grade crossing diagnostics, operation control center procedures and rail traffic controller training methods, and others. Community leaders are coming out in support of Meng, wanting to know the results of the investigation. “LIRR Long Island Rail Road needs the FRA report now … to protect communities and commuters by implementing the report’s recommendations,” said Mary Parisen, chair of Civics United for Railroad and Environmental Solutions (CURES). According to the investigation of the 2015 crash, the train was traveling at 20 mph, five miles above the 15 mph area railroad speed limit. The speed of the train did not allow for the safety gates to drop in time, allowing the truck to make its way onto the tracks as the train approached. In response to the crash, a stop sign was placed near the intersection of Maspeth Avenue and Rust Street — the site of the crash — in January 2016. Paul Victor, president of NYA, is an unaware of the findings from the study and declined to comment to QNS on Meng’s request to release the findings. Photo by Robert Stridiron Congresswoman Grace Meng wants the results of the Federal Railroad Administration’s study into New York & Atlantic Railway’s safety procedures. Loud & smelly freight trains are making life unbearable for some Middle Village residents By Suzane Monteverdi editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com @RidgewoodTimes Middle Villagers continue to express health and quality-of-life concerns regarding the freight line activity taking place in the area. “It’s bad enough we have the Long Island Expressway in our backyards,” said Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA) president Robert Holden at the group’s monthly meeting on June 9. “It’s bad enough that we have all this traffic and diesel fuel from the locomotives.” Freight rail lines run through areas of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale; operations are based out of Glendale’s Fresh Pond Rail Yard, which is operated by the New York and Atlantic Railway (NYA). Railway workers transfer cars of municipal waste and construction debris along tracks in Middle Village and Maspeth operated by national rail operator CSX, which picks up the cars for shipment out of the city. “It is really ridiculous DEC Department of Environmental Conservation did not put this in their plan to make railroads cover this waste,” Holden said. “Because what train workers do is they overload it, and it spills all over the tracks.” Holden presented attendees with photos of the overloaded freight cars, as well as images of one railroad worker doing the assigned job of exiting the locomotive and directing traffic himself. “There’s a guy that jumps off the locomotive, and he runs ahead to the railroad crossing, and he puts out his hand to stop traffic,” Holden said. “This is happening every day.” Referencing the collision of a locomotive and tractor-trailer at a railroad crossing in Maspeth which occurred last summer and sparked a safety review by the Federal Railroad Administration, Holden cited this practice as another example of hazardous procedures conducted by NYA. “New York and Atlantic, who contracts with the Long Island Rail Road, is not doing their job in protecting the crossing, nor protecting the people of this neighborhood,” Holden said. “They’re not good neighbors.” Holden and members of Civics United for Railroad Environmental Solutions (CURES) recently attended a hearing by the DEC in Long Island City to voice their concerns and suggest an increase in regulations, including mandated closed-top cars and expanded safety measures at rail crossings. “We’re going to fight,” concluded Holden. “This kind of thing just cannot happen in the 21st century.” QNS/Photo by Anthony Giudice The railroad tracks behind Atlas Park Mall in Glendale could soon see new life, as an engineering study has been funded.
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