WPCNR THE FEINER REPORT. By Paul Feiner, Supervisor, Town of Greenburgh. December 21, 2004: I have received a number of comments in response to the letter I received from Peter Cannito, President of Metro North regarding the Hartsdale train station overpass construction problems. Commuters are angry because they feel that their safety is at stake. The following are excerpts from letters I have received….I will be meeting with the President of Metro North in January and will work very hard to try to get Metro North to address concerns that commuters have.
PAUL FEINER, Greenburgh Town Supervisor
EXCERPTS FROM COMMUTER LETTERS………………….
“I’ve noticed that they’ve begun to stop further south so that the Fenimore stairs are closer to the middle of the train than the back. But that also creates a very hazardous condition, which is that several cars worth of commuters are let out into the very narrow sidewalk under the overpass. A couple of weeks ago, on an icy, wet night, that sidewalk became so crowded that people were having a difficult time getting off the train as the doors were beginning to close.”
“The platform under the Fenimore Road bridge is quite narrow. The increased use of the south stairs (everyone who uses Pipeline and both Hartsdale Ave parking structures must now use these stairs) combined with the normal flow south to the parking area to the east of the station has created a very dangerous situation. I have seen commuters pressed against the standing train as well as commuters trying to squeeze by while the train is in motion as well as after the train has left the station. Your proposal to route the trains at the height of the rush hour to the south bound platform has quite a lot of merit.”
Re: the covers on the south stairs that were recently erected. “So far, they have provided almost no shelter (on Monday they had snow in them) from the elements and have made the metal handrails unusable. The wooden handrails that have been installed also go unused- they seem too high.”
“”Not only is it taking forever to complete the overpasses at both Hartsdale and Scarsdale, their lack of attention to the weather makes the handicap ramps as well as the stairs treacherous. This Monday after the dusting of snow and ice we had, the platforms as well as the ramps and stairs were largely untreated at 8 AM. This is a serious threat to public safety.”
“The one stairway off the platform on the north side backs up into a people traffic jam during peak hours. It is exhausting to have to stand in line to get off the cold platform after a day of work.”
“The stairwells down to the tracks from Fenimore/Hartsdale Ave are now enclosed on the sides and the top. When one walks down the stairs now, one can’t see any activity on the platform until the last few steps. That is, you can’t see if people are lurking at the bottom of the steps, especially at night.”
Your input is welcome. E mail: pfeiner@greenburghny.com.
