By Ivan Pereira
An eastbound Hempstead train was switching tracks as it approached the platform around 10 a.m. when its two rear cars collided with two unoccupied rear cars of a Huntington-bound train that was stopped at a platform on another track, an LIRR spokesman said. The Hempstead train slightly derailed and the 19 riders inside the two rear cars were shaken up, but no one was hurt, according the police.
“The passengers in the two cars were evacuated out of the train onto the track since those cars were not on the platform,” said LIRR spokesman Joe Calderone.
Calderone said the two trains' nearly 300 other passengers were evacuated via the platform. The police and LIRR said they did not know what caused the collision and the investigation was ongoing.
An LIRR spokesman said a crane was going to be used to remove the derailed cars.
The accident hampered hundreds of commuters' plans as delays as long as 45 minutes for both east- and westbound trains throughout the city and Long Island were expected to last most of the day.
“I was supposed to be at an interview [in Rosyln, L.I.]. I called my employer and she understood,” said one rider, Mindy, 24, of Springfield Gardens.
See the April 3 editions of the TimesLedger for the full story.
