Riders voice concerns as homeless use heated Suffern train station

A homeless man sleeps in the heated shelter at the Suffern train station on March 14. Commuters have complained to NJ Transit that they cannot use the shelter; the agency says it will look into the issue. / Submitted photo

SUFFERN — The frigid nights have returned and so have homeless men sleeping in heated shelters at the Suffern train station.
The presence of one or two men occupying the enclosures has been an ongoing issue for early morning commuters, who are left out in the cold as they wait for their NJ Transit train to arrive. A local caseworker for the homeless says the men lack better housing options.
The men began showing up this month but the situation appears to have changed in recent weeks, said Gedaliah Friedenberg, who catches the 5:17 a.m. train along with 20 or so riders.
He hasn’t seen the men in the shelter on the Hoboken, N.J.,-bound platform but has occasionally spotted them in the northbound shelter, which is some distance away and gets little use in the morning.
After waiting on the platform on a particularly cold morning, Friedenberg wrote to NJ Transit a few weeks ago demanding action, both for the riders and the homeless.
The Journal News/lohud.com wrote about the issue in March after the Spring Valley man and other commuters raised safety concerns.
“Someone needs to help give better options to people who don’t have a roof over their heads,” Friedenberg said Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — whose police patrol the station even though NJ Transit owns and maintains it — said they hadn’t found evidence of people sleeping there on a regular basis.
MTA spokeswoman Marjorie Anders also said the agency was looking into putting its heat lamps on a timer — a suggestion Friedenberg made in his Nov. 6 email to NJ Transit. Metro-North Railroad contracts with NJ Transit to run passenger rail service west of the Hudson River.
“We’re trying to maintain the best possible atmosphere at all of our stations,” Anders said.
NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said the agency was working with the MTA and took its riders’ suggestions and concerns “very seriously.”
Friedenberg said any move to turn off the heat lamps overnight would hopefully encourage those in need to seek out appropriate shelter. He also suggested that the rail agencies put up signs at the station with contact information about where to get help.

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