(Long Island, NY) People knew the snow was bad, but when the Long Island Rail Road ground to a halt, people started realizing that this wasn’t just another winter surprise. The snow took just about everyone by surprise, including the pilot of a Turkish Airlines jet, whose plane skidded off the runway at JFK.
The LIRR situation angered many of those who were stranded in railway waiting rooms for ten or more hours. Imagine the conversations that must have been going on as these poor folk waited to get home. “Hasn’t LIRR seen heavy snow before?”
People pacing up and down hoping the situation would change quickly were soon disappointed as the ordeal was dragged out for many hours.
The average rider has too many questions in a situation like the blizzard of 06, questions that may or may not get satisfactory answers. “Airplanes have heating elements on them to melt the snow and ice,” one frustrated passenger probably mused to another, “why can’t the LIRR do the same for the rail system? A little heat, what’s the big deal?”
What is the real problem here? Is it the same as any other big city service; a failure to plan ahead, to ask the probing questions? “What happens if we get a huge snowfall?” Is the LIRR really sitting with its head in the sand refusing to think about the possibilities?
Somehow I doubt it. These weather related questions MUST have come up at some point in the continued development of the railroad. Even so, there are two possibilities that we’ll never get satisfactory answers on. It would be typical corporate cost cutting if LIRR planners thought long and hard about it, and decided that it was worth the risk to have people stranded for a long time because the fix was too expensive. It’s happened before, why should this be any different?
Of course, there’s another possibility, a scenario where LIRR execs thought long and hard about it, did research and studies and in the end simply couldn’t find a realistic solution to the problem. “Just live with it, that’s all we can do.” Who is to say? Maybe heavy snowfalls just aren’t something that can be dealt with until they start melting off the rails.
It would be nice to hear the LIRR side of the story on this one. Not simply what they are planning to do now that everyone’s upset and wanting a fix after the fact, but also what was considered in the past before the huge snowfall. This is called accountability and there doesn’t seem to be enough of it going around these days. Not in local or state government, not in the House or the Senate, and certainly not from the White House where wiretaps and surveillance seem to be going on willy-nilly on U.S. citizens with a nod and a wink from the President. This is a golden opportunity for LIRR to do a far better job than the White House, Congress and the Senate all at once. Will they?
File what follows under the “asking for waaaayy too much” department:
Just once, it would be nice to have an official come on television, take the microphone and tell it like it really is. Imagine the credibility of the LIRR as the representative announced, “Sorry, folks, we looked at it from every angle and there is just nothing we can do. Sometimes a blizzard is going to shut things down the same way it does at the airport and on the highway. It’s a BLIZZARD, what do you expect?”
This will probably never happen. Everybody wants to put spin on these public statements instead of just coming out and telling it like it is. Too bad, we could use some straight talk from SOMEWHERE. Instead we will probably get the usual song and dance about “making customers happy” and “we’re doing everything we can to make LIRR a safe and enjoyable ride”.
Spin or no spin, one thing is for certain; sometimes you are at the mercy of Mother Nature, and no amount of cursing and swearing will help you. In times like these, many of us find ourselves grateful for cell phones, wireless laptops and vending machines. For those who don’t have these niceties, the waiting is far more frustrating. Maybe public transportation facilities in areas with heavy snowfall should look into the option of including a wide variety of public communications kiosks—more pay phones, internet booths and televisions—to make the wait more bearable.
Or they could get some heated rails so the snow doesn’t pile up and shut down the system. Just a suggestion.
