Man struck and killed by LIRR train near Sayville station
A Riverhead man was killed by an LIRR train near Sayville station, forcing a 99-minute Montauk Branch delay before service resumed around 9 p.m.
A 45-year-old Riverhead man was struck and killed by a Long Island Rail Road train just east of Sayville station, cutting service on the Montauk Branch and forcing riders to wait through a 99-minute delay. The train was heading from Hunterspoint Avenue to Montauk and carried more than 600 passengers when the collision happened at about 6:15 p.m.
MTA Police said the man was not authorized to be on the tracks. Suffolk County Police pronounced him dead at the scene a few minutes later, and investigators later found no indication of criminality after reviewing video and witness statements. No crew members or passengers were injured.
Bayport Fire Department members assisted MTA Police at the scene as officials worked to secure the right-of-way and clear the line east of the station. The incident rippled quickly through the branch because Sayville is a key Suffolk County stop on the Montauk line, where even a single track emergency can disrupt travel toward Patchogue, Oakdale, Riverhead and farther east to Montauk.
Service on the Montauk Branch east of Sayville was restored around 9 p.m., after the disruption had already affected a busy summer travel period and the start of the holiday weekend. The LIRR had announced Fourth of July service adjustments for that stretch, underscoring how quickly an emergency can complicate a schedule that is already carrying extra riders.
The broader context is stark. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the Long Island Rail Road carries an average of 301,000 customers each weekday on 735 daily trains, and the agency describes it as the busiest commuter railroad in North America. That scale means a single track intrusion can affect not only one train, but a chain of connections for hundreds of riders across Suffolk and the city.
The MTA has tried to reduce those risks through its Track Trespassing Task Force and the T.R.A.C.K.S. safety outreach program, which focuses on the hazards of entering the railroad right-of-way. MTA Police, created in 1998 from the consolidation of the former Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North railroad police departments, is the agency that typically responds to these incidents with local fire and county police partners.
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