Police officers looking into what may be a sink hole, surrounded by other cracks that may or may not be related to the alleged sink hole.
Photo Credit: A Beacon community member of the Original Beacon Facebook Group.

The call came in to A Little Beacon Blog on Wednesday night at 10:30pm: “There’s a lot of police activity at the train station right now. It’s completely blocked off,” the caller said. While ALBB was asleep and still in a dream at that hour, it was hard to comprehend where exactly the person was talking about, and which parts were blocked off. Tempted to roll out of bed, ALBB took in more information, and then decided that the police had it handled, and that something would percolate up in the morning.

Indeed, photos surfaced at the Beacon NY Facebook group with a resident report that the issue was allegedly a sink hole at the top of the driveway to the train station, Railway Drive, right off Beekman Street, in front of the new townhouses, and down the street from the MTA Police Station. Photos show at least two police officers shining a flashlight into a hole in the pavement in what seems to be late afternoon when Wednesday’s light rain drizzle started, before it was patched soon after.

A crack that may be connected to the alleged sink hole that was patched by Thursday morning.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth

By 7am Thursday at least, the road was cleared and a wide patch set. Traffic was normal. Said one reader and resident who lives in the area to ALBB: “When we went to bed, there were just police blocking the entrance and a barricade up. By the time we woke up to drive to school, it seemed back to normal.”

A wide patch was made, but other cracks surround the area. It is not clear if this area has been patched over time to address the same problem.

Neither the City of Beacon nor the Beacon Police Department posted a notice about a sink hole, nor answered ALBB’s inquires by the time of this publishing.

Beekman Street is slated for a major street rehabilitation upgrade project with a “tentatively awarded $3 million federal grant” announced in last year’s Capital Projects Budget presentation in June 2025, which is for street, sidewalk and crosswalk design and a new bike lane on one side of the street. But that does not necessarily include this Railroad Drive down to the MTA train station. Last summer 2025, residents remember Beekman Street being torn up for pipe replacement “all summer loooooong,” recalled one resident to ALBB.

Photos are below of the patched hole (photo credits Katie Hellmuth). Also below are unanswered questions that ALBB has asked the City:

ALBB’s questions awaiting answered:

Is this indeed a sink hole?
Whose property is Railway Drive? The MTA’s or the City of Beacon’s? Who is responsible for paying for maintaining and infrastructure upgrades in this spot of the entrance road?
Which entity produced the patch on Wednesday night? An outside contractor? The City of Beacon Highway Department? State or County workers?
What are the future plans for addressing the sink hole, if it is a sink hole?

What Is A Sink Hole?

As described in a report produced by CBC/Radio Canada, which described Montreal’s aging infrastructure that was causing sink holes:

“A sink hole is a steep walled hole that opens up when material has been removed from underneath the surface and then the surface collapses into it,” said Christie Rowe, an Associate Professor at McGill University to CBC/Radio Canada. “Normally that process of removal is due to dissolution. Like when rain water runs through cracks and rock. If that rock is dissolving into the rain water as it percolates down, or is lost from the City plumbing systems through leaks in the pipes, that water can move underneath the ground and create voids. Then when it collapses from the surface down into the hole, that creates the sink hole.”