Car struck by Long Island Rail Road train in East Rockaway

Posted

A non-passenger train struck an unauthorized vehicle on the train tracks just west of the Centre Avenue Long Island Rail Road station in East Rockaway on Monday at about 3:45 p.m., injuring one person and causing several delays to the Long Beach branch.

The East Rockaway Fire Department and other emergency crews responded to the scene. The man inside the vehicle was removed conscious and alert, and taken to a local hospital in serious condition.

The cause of the accident is under investigation. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it believed that the 86-year-old, unidentified man was driving his two-door sedan north on Forest Avenue, parallel to the LIRR tracks, and then made a left turn onto Rocklyn Avenue and drove around the lowered safety gates as the train was approaching. The westbound train struck the car and moved it several hundred feet. When crews responded, they lifted the car off the tracks at about 5 p.m.

Service was suspended in both directions between Lynbrook and Long Beach as emergency crews responded to the scene, but was restored about two hours later.