Did Cuomo Consider Railroad Crossings When Planning Hamptons Shuttle Trains?

Last week, Governor Cuomo announced funding for special shuttle trains to go back and forth between Speonk and Montauk during the rush hours next summer.

The idea is that those workers who can’t afford to live in the Hamptons but work here could use these trains to get to their jobs and then get home farther west cheaply. A lot of care and thought is being put into this. For example, there will be “last mile” shuttle busses at the stops to take people from the train stations to downtown destinations.

But has anybody thought about what this will do in terms of safety at road crossings? Motorists are so used to just one train a day back and forth that at many of the road crossings they don’t even glance down the tracks as they go across. Suddenly having six trains roaring through, three out and three back, changes this.

People will be leery at the crossings. Auto traffic will slow and sometimes even tie up. There could be fearful times when the gates don’t work and someone just barrels across but doesn’t make it.

People try to think of everything when they make a change. Has anybody thought about this?