Man sues LIRR to recoup for closure

Kimon Stathakos wants his money back after the LIRR?shut down the Port Jefferson line during winter storms.

A Long Island commuter is demanding that the Long Island Rail Road reimburse passengers when the train tracks are empty.

In a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of winter commuters, Stony Brook resident Kimon Stathakos demanded reimbursement from the LIRR for four days he couldn’t ride the train.

He paid $334 for a monthly pass, he told Metro, which he uses to get to Penn Station for his job in Manhattan.

He said he tried to contact the LIRR to get reimbursed, and after months without response, he filed the suit Wednesday.

“The Long Island Railroad doesn’t consider its customers because we have no alternative,” Stathakos fumed to Metro.

The days he wants reimbursed are Dec. 22, Jan. 12, Jan. 27 and Feb. 2., four wintry days that were hampered with service disruptions due to snow and ice.

A LIRR spokesman declined to comment on the litigation, saying only, “The LIRR successfully kept customers out of harm’s way during each of the storms.”

Fighting the bad treatment

It’s not about the money, Stathakos said.

“The refund would only have amounted to a couple of bucks,” Stathakos said. “It’s how I was treated.”

He continued: “I asked for a refund at a window in Penn Station and they said no. I wrote a letter and they didn’t even bother to respond. They probably figured ‘He’s probably just going to go away,’ if they even read it at all.”