On Wednesday, March 17, at 9:48 a.m. a westbound LIRR train collided with a flatbed tractor trailer hauling a trackhoe at the Elm Avenue railroad crossing in Glen Cove. Miraculously, there were no serious injuries either to the driver of the truck, who jumped out of the cab before impact, or to any of the 50-70 passengers and crew aboard the train which did not derail. According to Michael Charles of the LIRR Office of Public Affairs, partial service had been restored by noon, Wednesday, after the LIRR provided commuters headed east or west with bus service between Mineola and Oyster Bay. Mr. Charles said the cause of the accident is currently under investigation and part of that investigation includes a check if the gates at the crossing were working properly and if the engineer blew the train's whistle as he approached the Elm Avenue crossing.

The owner of the C&J Gas Station on Glen Street, Bobby Basile, has plenty to say about the accident. Early Wednesday morning, after reading the newspaper which headlined the Amtrak tragedy, Mr. Basile went to his gas station to begin a day's work. òquot;Someone yelled 'there's a tractor trailer stuck on the railroad tracks, call the police.' As the police were called, I ran out of my gas station, around the side. I saw the train coming and I heard the whistle. He was going slow all the way and was on his horn all the way. Then I saw the impact. He hit the truck and the machine flipped over. I ran around the other side and saw the driver of the truck. He said he was okay and he had jumped off his truck,òquot; said Mr. Basile. Based on his knowledge of construction work and machinery, Mr. Basile thinks that as the driver was going over the railroad tracks and up Elm the lowboy trailer, which was carrying the heavy trackhoe over the incline, could have gotten wedged over the railroad tracks causing the truck to get stuck. Upon impact, the flatbed was pushed about 20 feet past Elm Avenue and the trackhoe tipped over right behind C&J gas station.

Veteran train traveler Mary Ann Mulvihill, of Glen Cove, was a passenger on the train. She was on her way to Manhattan to catch an Amtrak train to New England. When this reporter reached her for comment she said, òquot;We pulled out of the Glen Cove Station and it seemed many of the travelers were headed for the St. Patrick's Day parade in New York. I was just settling in my seat when about a minute later there was a sudden huge smash and we lurched forward in our seats. There was no doubt we had hit and crashed into something. It was difficult to see out the windows. We were told to stay in our seats. A couple of minutes later, Glen Cove Police came on the train and asked if anyone was hurt. The police officers escorted us down off the train along the tracks. The Glen Cove police, EMS and Fire Department all responded very quickly.òquot;

Glen Cove Volunteer EMS EMT Carolyn Willson went on the ambulance call to the scene of the accident with Tania Lada, AEMT, and Robert Gobbo AEMT among others. When they arrived, the truck driver had already been placed on a backboard, which is standard procedure and given oxygen. The shaken driver, who complained of chest pains, was taken to North Shore Hospital in Manhasset because of the severity of the crash.

Back on Elm Avenue, former Glen Cove Mayor Vincent Suozzi, who lives very near the scene of the accident, said his wife noticed a lot of traffic on Elm Avenue on Wednesday morning and wondered what had happened. The couple walked down Elm to see what was going on and then helped out by giving people directions to downtown Glen Cove.

At press time, 3:32 p.m., the Record-Pilot learned at least three cranes were on the scene trying to lift the trackhoe so the flatbed can be moved. The train had been backed up off Elm Avenue. The consensus of opinion is that the close proximity of the Glen Cove station to the Glen Street Station ensures that trains proceed slowly at the Elm Avenue crossing. If the train involved in this accident had been traveling at a high rate of speed, then the situation would have been much more serious.

At 4:10 p.m. Wednesday, Mr. Tom Kelly of the MTA press office said that the cause of the accident was still being investigated, however preliminary findings show that the gates were working and it appears the flatbed was on the tracks when the gates went down. Mr. Kelly said the question is why was the truck on the tracks when the gates were lowered.