Today on the LIRR, there was a “minor collision” that occurred during the evening rush. Thankfully nobody was hurt. However, the commute was ruined for thousands of people trying to make it home unscathed for the weekend. 

The LIRR will try to spin this as a minor occurrence that will occur from time to time given the number of trains that move through Jamaica but I am not believing that. This appears to be a major malfunction of the physical rail road.

It appears as if the switch did not function properly. If the trains were that close together (and presumably on the same track) the switch should not have been thrown to allow both trains on the same track. 

Also, since most switching is no longer manually done in Jamaica (since the upgrade a few years ago), the system should be investigated as to why the necessary fail overs were not thrown. Or is there a logical issue in the software that controls the switches for an edge case like this where two trains in opposite directions just happen to be at the same switch while still in motion.

Whatever the investigation finds, it won’t change the fact that YET ANOTHER commute has been ruined by the LIRR. I’m surprised they didn’t blame AMTRAK! HA!

I’m sure there will be more SPIN to come on this one from the LIRR.  The President of the LIRR Patrick Nowakowski said, “Obviously, these trains shouldn’t have collided.” Well no shit about that. 

Just hope the delays don’t stretch into Monday’s morning commute.