LIRR gets heat from disabled riders group

A group for riders with disabilities has called on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) to reduce gaps between trains and platforms and make the railroad more accessible after performing a month-long study of public records of the gaps and laws that govern them.
From their study, the Disabled Riders Coalition found the LIRR to be responsible for the death of 18-year-old Minnesota-native Natalie Smead, who fell through a gap at the Woodside station of the LIRR in August 2006 and rolled in the way of an oncoming train.
In November 2006, the Public Transportation Safety Board had concluded that alcohol had played a part in Smead’s death and that the LIRR was not responsible for the teen’s death. A LIRR spokesperson said that they could not comment on the recently released report because of the pending litigation brought by the Smead family. The Smeads are seeking $5 million in damages from the LIRR for their daughter’s death.
The disability group’s study also blasted the LIRR for using “static” measurements to examine platform gaps, through which measurements are taken when the train “positioned” instead of being taken as the train arrives at a station as usual, and for not using maximum gap sizes as set by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 as guidelines.
“When we first began exploring this issue, we expected to find some minor flaws,” said Coalition Campaign Coordinator Michael Harris. “We never thought we’d find such blatant and rampant violations of the ADA and negligence on the part of the LIRR.”
Harris said that the organization would look into filing suit against the LIRR should it not begin work to make the railroad “readily accessible to and usable by people with disabilities by July 26, 2010” as required by a section of the ADA, which calls for all inter-city rail lines to be made accessible. In addition, the group made a series of recommendations, calling on the gaps to be reduced and for plans of future trains and platforms to take into consideration gap safety.
At the press conference, Harris also cited two injuries at LIRR stations, which the victims attributed to gaps - that of Sheila Rann, who was paralyzed at the Forest Hills station, and that of coalition member Robert Schoenfeld who fell in June 2006.
Schoenfeld, 65, said that he fell while trying to get off a train at the Jamaica station, where he said there was a 13 to 14 inch gap between the train and the platform. Schoenfeld was exiting one of the train’s rear cars when he tripped, landing hands down on the platform while his right leg slammed into the platform ledge. “I was worrying that I had broken my foot,” he said, explaining that he has osteoporosis. But Schoenfeld said that he had luckily not broken any bones during the fall, and now he has become very cautious when taking the train with his wife, Pearl, 63, who is disabled.
The Schoenfelds know to call over a conductor, who places a removable bridge plate between the platform and railroad car. The bridge gapping devices are supposed to be placed in one out of every two railroad cars. Still, riders with disabilities complain about the bridge plates because they require riders with disabilities to get the assistance of conductors.
“Riders often report that conductors fail to notice them on platforms, particularly crowded ones during rush hours,” the report states. “This often results in riders with disabilities being left behind. Furthermore, riders on trains often report that conductors forget their desired destination, thus forcing them to bypass their stop and double back.”