Nov 19, 2008 5:35 pm US/Eastern
MTA Karma? Thousands Stuck After LIRR Trains Bump
QUEENS (CBS) ―
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Two LIRR trains bumped outside a station in Jamaica.
CBS
A day before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was expected to announce it would be slashing hundreds of jobs and getting rid of several train lines and routes in New York City, thousands of passengers got an early taste of the inconveniences to come when a packed train collided with another during Wednesday morning's rush.
Home video shot by a CBS 2 employee showed the collision from inside the 6:42 Long Island Rail Road train out of Babylon.
The jam-packed train with more than 500 commuters on board was sideswiped by a train out of Port Washington. Both trains were leaving Jamaica heading into Penn Station at the time of the accident.
It couldn't have happened at worse time – during the height of the morning rush hour just after 7:30 a.m. Making matters worse was thousands of LIRR commuters on trains right behind those two were stranded when service was shutdown in both directions.
"[They weren't] making any announcements as to what the problem is, derailment or collision. We heard it on the news," said Bobby Malon, one of the stranded commuters.
Maria Dondero, another stranded commuter told CBS 2 she was stuck for more than two hours.
And Athena St. Juste, a student, told CBS 2 the delays caused her to miss her class. "My day is ruined basically," she said.
Meanwhile, LIRR officials don't know what caused what they're calling a "minor bump."
"We need to investigate the cause. Clearly we should not have two trains headed toward the same track. There was a bump, similar to a sideswipe," said Helena Williams, LIRR President.
The MTA cross-honored all LIRR tickets on subways to try and ease the pain for passengers, but it didn't help too much. As LIRR passengers scrambled to take subways the rest of the way into Manhattan, there was anger and frustration with the LIRR because so many people were delayed for more than an hour.
"If people who are running it actually rode the trains, maybe it would be a little bit better," said Lori Gladstone, a Hicksville commuter.
By noon, all trains were back to running on time.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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