LIRR Enhances Escalator Safety in Year Since Lindy Woman’s Death

It's been a year since 88-year-old Lindenhurst resident Irene Bernatzky lost her life when her clothing became stuck and she fell on the escalator at the LIRR train station in Lindy.

The LIRR’s Joe Calderone told CBS New York that since then 11 older escalators have been repaired and upgraded after her death prompted the LIRR to look at all 19 of its escalators at its Long Island stations.

The escalators - including the one in Lindenhurst, which was back online last September - are now equipped with sensors that prevent them from moving if something is caught.

The LIRR also equipped them with new or refurbished steps, new step chains, break assemblies, and top and bottom comb plates and controllers.

The new parts will allow for remote monitoring and control of the escalators, according to the LIRR.

Newsday reported the escalator at the Lindenhurst station now includes sensors at the sides, every 10 feet, that shut down the system if they detect something is caught in the moving stairs. Previously, the escalator had such sensors only near the top and the bottom

The LIRR also added sensors called "comb plates" at the top and bottom of the escalators. Previously, sensors detected only horizontal pressure - as if something was pushing the plates back. Now they also detect vertical pressure - as if something is caught underneath and pushing them up.

Plus, the LIRR reduced the weight threshold that triggers the sensors from 150 pounds to 60 pounds.

“In addition to that, we created an elevator escalator unit inside the LIRR, and we now have four dedicated employees, and so we’re able to respond a lot faster than we were in the past,” Calderone told WCBS 880 reporter Sophia Hall in the CBS New York report.

The project cost $5 million and most of the escalators that were improved were located on the Babylon Branch, according to the same report.

Calderone also said in the same report the improvements should also make the escalators more reliable and less prone to break down.

Related Coverage:

• LIRR Escalators Repaired in Year Since Lindy Woman’s Death
• Escalator at Lindenhurst Train Station Reopens
• Lindenhurst Train Station Escalator Returning to Service
• LIRR: Lindenhurst Escalator Victim Asphyxiated

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