LIRR cleans up

The Long Island Railroad (LIRR) has cleaned up a former contaminated two-story rectifier building foundation and a fenced former transformer yard around the current rectifier-building site on Austin Boulevard in Island Park.

According to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) prior to 1979, mercury rectifiers were used at this substation to power the Long Island Rail Road fleet. The DEC believed that the operation and maintenance of the rectifiers caused spills and other contaminating events. In 2000, the LIRR removed six inches to a foot of soil and replaced the soil with poly sheeting and crushed stone.Aaron Donovan, the deputy director for external communications of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and LIRR said the railroad has paved the formerly contaminated site, replaced it with fresh soil, and created 33 new parking spaces.

Raising critical equipment

Donovan said the railroad has installed new metal platforms, with large storage boxes on top. The boxes now house critical communication and signaling systems along the Long Beach Branch, at three stations, East Rockaway, Island Park and Long Beach. The new structures were paid for with insurance and Federal Transit Administration funding.