Commuter Appalled By Brown Water Coming From LIRR Train Bathroom Sink
HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The Long Island Rail Road said it is cleaning sink faucets on all of its trains, after a video posted on Twitter showed brown water coming out of one Tuesday morning.
CBS2's Jennifer McLogan spoke with the passenger who recorded the video. It was taken from the faucet inside the bathroom car of the 1:21 p.m. train out of Penn Station to Huntington.
The video was taken by a web graphic designer.
"Documented to show everyone else the kind of conditions you sometimes experience on this train that is not cheap," she said. "Really disgusted, like absolutely disgusted and disgruntled."
The railroad said it is not toilet water, and its storage system is completely stainless.
The discoloration appears to come from one of the points where the LIRR draws water, in yards from municipal supplies. The car that had the brown water has been taken out of service.
"I was concerned for my health, but I didn't touch it for too long. It was just the initial surprise of
putting my hand in and seeing it come out brown, touch my fingertips," the woman who took the video said, "but I always carry hand sanitizer, so I hope nothing happens."
CBS2's McLogan and her crew rode the rails 24 hours after the brownish sludge came out of the sink. This time, the water was clear.
Still, passengers were appalled at the brown water.
"Completely disgusting and unacceptable," one woman said.
"Aww, that's not right," a man said.
"A lot to pay for having those conditions on your daily commute," another woman said.
But other commuters wanted to give the railroad a break, and wondered if it was weather-related.
"There's a lot of reasons why something might happen, and you know, indicting the enormous Long Island Rail Road system," another woman said.
In the meantime, to ensure that it doesn't happen again, the railroad says it is flushing out all spigots, checking all train cars' water, and draining and refilling supply tanks.
