News
Gate Malfunction Causes Traffic Backup At LS Train Station
By Sherry Conohan
LITTLE SILVER - A massive traffic jam developed in the area of the Little Silver train station when a malfunction in the gates at all borough railroad crossings occurred that left them in the down position on Friday, Nov. 20.
With the gates down, traffic could not cross the train tracks from west to east or east to west, resulting in long, slow backups on all the roads in the area.
Sgt. Dan Shaffery of the Little Silver Police said the problem with the gates was reported to police at 4:23 p.m. He said borough police were assisted by Little Silver Fire Police and Shrewsbury Police who helped guard the gates on either side of the four railroad crossings in town and to direct traffic.
The crossings are on Sycamore Avenue, Oceanport Avenue and Silverside Avenue in the vicinity of the train station and on White Road closer to Red Bank.
Shaffery said the problem was a malfunction in the gates. He said NJ Transit police arrived at the train station at 4:55 p.m. and were followed shortly thereafter by an NJ Transit crew which corrected the problem by 5:27 p.m. The crossings were then reopened, he said, and traffic slowly recovered. "When something happens to those crossings, it's a nightmare for us," he remarked.
Shaffery said he thought Red Bank also had a problem with gates at its railroad crossings.
Joe Dee, a spokesman for NJ Transit, confirmed that Red Bank did indeed have a problem. He said one gate in the borough was reported to NJ Transit as not working at 4:30 p.m. He said it came back into service at 8:50 p.m.
As a result of the malfunction in the gates, he said, five North Jersey Coast trains experienced delays between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
