DOT hearing on railroad safety

Sister Ave Clark was in her tan, Toyota Corolla riding along Metropolitan Avenue near the train tracks returning from a retreat with 8th grade girls. In an instant, she was being tossed around in her car and remembers thinking, &#8220What in God's…”
Then nothing.
The next few weeks of March 2004, are a blur for Clark, a St. Dominic's nun. She remembers waking up in an Elmhurst hospital and being told what had happened to her.
She learned a runaway train had crashed into her automobile and part of her car's motor smashed into her foot. She needed to have surgery on her arm and leg as a result.
Three years later Clark has become an advocate for improving safety on the rails and for pedestrians near the rails. She, along with other members of central Queens communities spoke at a Department of Transportation (DOT) hearing last week. Many voiced their concern over the Bushwick Branch section of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) where several accidents have occurred.
&#8220Queens drivers should not have to be on the lookout for runaway trains,” Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall said in her testimony.
There was the runway train in 2004 and twice this year cars carrying propane overturned on the tracks forcing evacuations of the nearby communities.
&#8220Certainly I am not bitter,” said Clark, who has flashbacks and nightmares of the accident. &#8220The railroad companies need to put safety first, not last.”
After the first incident in 2004, signs and street markings were added to warn drivers and pedestrians. However, Clark said the signs are hard to see with the parked cars in the area.
DOT officials did not return phone calls seeking comment. A DOT judge who presided over the hearing will make recommendations for safety changes to the department in the coming months.
&#8220I believe it is a combination of years of neglect by the MTA and the LIRR,” Queens Community Board 5 chair Vinnie Arcuri said.
Arcuri said he wants to see crossing gates at all stops, adding the LED lights the DOT has suggested added would not be effective.