Long Island Rail Road derailment clean up under way

After the derailment of a Jamaica-bound Long Island Rail Road train at 175th Street and 95th Avenue in Queens on Aug. 3, the clean up of the area has begun and will continue to impact commuters.

Delays and cancellations were expected on Friday morning on the Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson and Ronkonkomo branches.

On Thursday, the front eight train cars veered off its  tracks at around 11 a.m., according to FDNY officials.

Thirteen passengers have been reported injured, two of which were severe, though none in critical condition.  After roughly 90 minutes, passengers were offloaded and transferred by first responders to a rescue train headed back to Jamaica.

"The investigation is in its early stages but the derailment did take place during what we call hall interlocking, that's the network of signals and tracks that allow trains to switch directions," said Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief executive Janno Lieber. "Our equipment has downloadable data on it (to determine the cause of the derailment) and that's part of our invesigation, but it's still too early to tell." 

While the railway is on the mend, it will take some time before full train service is back online, noted Lieber, though how long is unclear.   

"The restoration process is not merely a matter of rerailing the train, there is damage to the railroad infrastructure that has to be addressed and we'll have to get back to the public on when full service is back in action." 

For further updates on train scheduling, click here.