Agency to Talk Safety with Customers
MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) today announced its quarterly Customer Safety Day Event will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 11, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Penn Station’s LIRR Concourse near the Customer Service Ticket Booth. This event is designed to bring awareness to the various LIRR programs and initiatives that help keep customers and employees safe on a daily basis. The event helps showcase behaviors and best practices for customers while they traverse LIRR property, and board and exit trains.
“Safety is the MTA’s highest priority and community outreach events like this are a great way to get the message directly to our customers and educate them on how to stay safe when riding the railroad,” said LIRR President Rob Free. “It’s especially important during the holiday season when there are so many more people riding the LIRR to all the great events in NYC and Long Island.”
The LIRR will be joined by partner agencies and other internal participants. The safety teams will give away various promotional items, and brochures explaining the T.R.A.C.K.S. Program, which stands for Together Railroads and Communities Keeping Safe. LIRR's Safety Sam is excited to be joined for the first time by Metro-North's TRACKS the Dog.
The T.R.A.C.K.S. Program is a free program and a joint venture between LIRR Corporate Safety Department and the MTA Police Department. The program stresses the importance of safety at grade crossings and the dangers of being on or near the tracks. The objective of our school age T.R.A.C.K.S. Program is to teach basic train safety and to reinforce important points such as staying off the tracks, the dangers of the third rail, platform safety, and railroad crossings. We have programs suitable and customizable for Pre-K to adult and for schools, day care centers, professional driver groups, civic, senior, and fraternal organizations and special needs groups. The programs are supplemented with appropriate videos as well as handouts. The length of the program varies from 30 to 45 minutes. The program can be delivered in a small setting such as a classroom or in a large auditorium, whichever suits the group’s needs.
Additionally, the LIRR engages in Operation Lifesaver events throughout each month and when deemed necessary. Operation Lifesaver is a non-profit organization providing public education programs in all 50 states, in an effort to prevent collisions, injuries, and fatalities on and around railroad tracks and highway-rail grade crossings. LIRR’s Operation Lifesaver Program is authorized by Operation Lifesaver, Inc. The program is committed to working closely with all levels of government as well as school districts, police departments, fire departments and community groups. Its goal is to educate the public and share critical concerns about the dangers of trespassing, the third rail, and driving/walking around lowered gates. The program also addresses using caution at stations and when boarding/exiting trains.