Toddler slips through platform gap at Westbury LIRR station

The wide gaps between Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) trains and station platforms claimed another victim Wednesday, this time a toddler in Westbury. A LIRR spokesperson says a 4-year-old boy was stepping

News 12 Staff

Mar 1, 2007, 3:47 AM

Updated 6,408 days ago

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The wide gaps between Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) trains and station platforms claimed another victim Wednesday, this time a toddler in Westbury.
A LIRR spokesperson says a 4-year-old boy was stepping off the 6:57 p.m. westbound train from Penn Station to Huntington, when he slipped through the gap at Westbury station. According to the spokesperson, the boy's family was with the toddler and his father reached down and pulled him back up. Emergency personnel took the boy, who was uninjured, to Nassau University Medical Center as a precaution.
Controversy has surrounded LIRR since a Minnesota teen fell through the gap at Woodside station last summer and was killed by an oncoming train. The state Senate has held hearings about the problem. LIRR is taking steps to narrow gaps at more than a dozen stations, but critics believe the commuter rail is responding too slowly.
Related Information: Commuters outraged over LIRR patting itself on back Latest gap victim blames LIRR for inaction State senators demand answers about dangerous LIRR platform gaps LIRR enacts stopgap safety measure