LIRR Installs Safety Device on Oyster Bay Branch

OYSTER BAY, NY — Four more branches of the Long Island Railroad have received federally mandated safety devices, the agency said. The so-called Positive Train Control system is designed to help prevent human error that can lead to train crashes, derailments and other accidents.

Phillip Eng, president of the MTA's Long Island Rail Road, announced Wednesday that select trains on the Far Rockaway, Long Beach, Oyster Bay and West Hempstead branches are now using the train safety system.

The system prevents trains from speeding and stops them from blowing through stop signals. This helps prevent accidents — like derailments — caused by trains moving too fast and collisions, the MTA said. It also prevents trains from traveling into work zones where crews are operating.

The four LIRR branches are not the first to receive the system, the agency said. The Port Washington Branch was first commissioned to have the system installed in December 2018. Part of the Montauk Branch between Babylon and Patchogue received the technology in April and the Hempstead Branch got it in August.

With the latest additions, 65 miles of route use the safety system, or 21.5 percent of its system, the LIRR said.

"The successful and on-time launch of Positive Train Control on these branches continues our forward progress on this critical initiative," Eng said. "Meeting this milestone reinforces my confidence that we will complete systemwide roll-out of Positive Train Control on time by the end of the 2020."

With the schedule the MTA uses, officials expect to have positive train control installed on all LIRR tracks by the end of next year, which is the federal deadline.