LIRR Delays Expected For Tuesday's AM, PM Commutes
NEW YORK (CBS 2/ 1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- Service on all Long Island Rail Road lines resumed with limited service Monday evening following a signal problem east of Jamaica Station caused by a electrical fire.
However, customers of all branches -- with the exception of Port Washington -- should expect canceled trains and delays for Tuesday's morning and evening rush.
Check the LIRR website for the very latest information
In a release Monday night, the MTA said that LIRR crews "have been assessing the extent of the damage to the [switching] tower's switching board and they have been working round-the-clock on repairs."
But the MTA says repairs are likely to take "several days" because over 200 wires need to be checked for possible fire damage.
LIRR officials say 33 of the 144 city-bound trains for Tuesday morning's commute will be canceled.
As a result of the on-going repair work, LIRR officials say the following contingency plans will be put in place.
Tuesday Morning's Commute:
LIRR service on the Port Washington Branch will operate normally. However, the Tuesday AM Rush service plan includes cancellation of 33 westbound AM rush hour trains, or 25 percent of the 144 trains that normally operate. As a result, there will be residual delays from added station stops and scheduled connections will not be available at Jamaica Station to Penn Station, Flatbush Avenue-Brooklyn, Hunterspoint Avenue, and Long Island City. Customers will be able to transfer between trains at Jamaica.
LIRR station personnel will be available at Jamaica to assist customers with service information. The modified plan also includes service changes for the eastbound AM Rush.
There will be no train service between West Hempstead and Valley Stream – bus service will be provided for train service at Valley Stream.
There will be no westbound train service from St. Albans, bus service will be provided between St. Albans and Jamaica.
The AM peak service cancellations are as follows:
The 6:38 AM Huntington train due in Atlantic Terminal at 7:36 AM
The 7:12 AM Huntington train due in Penn Station at 8:10 AM
The 7:28 AM Cold Spring Harbor train due in Penn Station at 8:25 AM
The 7:04 AM Ronkonkoma train due in Penn Station at 8:19 AM
The 7:19 AM Ronkonkoma train due in Penn Station at 8:28 AM
The 6:57 AM Farmingdale train due in Penn Station at 7:48 AM
The 6:57 AM Freeport train due in Penn Station at 7:40 AM
The 7:29 AM Freeport train due in Penn Station at 8:13 AM
The 8:08 AM Freeport train due in Penn Station at 8:50 AM
The 8:25 AM Freeport train due in Penn Station at 9:08 AM
The 6:15 AM Babylon train due in Atlantic Terminal at 7:27 AM
The 8:16 AM Babylon train due in Penn Station at 9:31 AM
The 8:35 AM Babylon train due in Penn Station at 9:37 AM
The 5:18 AM Wantagh train due in Penn Station at 6:08 AM
The 6:25 AM Hicksville train due in Penn Station at 7:11 AM
The 8:03 AM Long Beach train due in Penn Station at 8:54 AM
The 6:54 AM Long Beach train due in Atlantic Terminal 7:49 AM
The 6:58 AM Hempstead train due in Penn Station at 7:52 AM
The 6:21 AM Hempstead train due in Atlantic Terminal at 7:08 AM
The 8:45 AM Hempstead train due in Atlantic Terminal at 9:34 AM
The 8:03 AM Valley Stream train due in Penn Station at 8:42 AM
The 8:10 AM Far Rockaway train due in Penn Station at 9:05 AM
The 7:18 AM Far Rockaway train due in Atlantic Terminal at 8:11 AM
The 7:12 AM Speonk train due in Hunterspoint Ave at 9:11 AM
The 5:59 AM Port Jefferson train due in Hunterspoint Ave at 7:41 AM
The 6:45 AM Port Jefferson train due in Hunterspoint Ave at 8:30 AM
The 6:29 AM train from Oyster Bay due in Jamaica at 7:24 AM
The 7:41 AM train from Oyster Bay due in Hunterspoint Avenue at 8:55 AM
The 5:37 AM train from West Hempstead due in Valley Stream at 5:52 AM
The 6:53 AM train from West Hempstead due in Atlantic Terminal at 7:41 AM
The 7:16 AM train from West Hempstead due in Atlantic Terminal at 8:03 AM
The 7:36 AM train from West Hempstead due in Penn Station at 8:29 AM
The 8:28 AM train from West Hempstead due in Atlantic Terminal at 9:16 AM
Tuesday Evening's Commute:
LIRR officials say contingency plans for Tuesday's evening rush will be the same as Monday. 60 percent of the LIRR's regular 120 trains will be departing Manhattan between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Customers should expect canceled trains, delays and no scheduled connections at Jamaica Station. MTA police will also be regulating the number of people entering the LIRR section of the terminal, allowing customers in trains as they become available.
The LIRR will be offering Hempstead and Far Rockaway-bound trains only from Atlantic Terminal in downtown Brooklyn, which can be reached by subway. There will be no Hempstead and Far Rockaway service from Penn Station.
Regular service will be offered to Port Washington, so customers may want to consider taking that branch if they can make alternate arrangements for the remainder of their trip home.
Aside from the regular Port Washington service, the evening rush hour service from Penn Station will consist of dedicated trains making local stops to Huntington/Port Jefferson, Ronkonkoma/Greenport, Long Beach, Babylon and Montauk.
LIRR customers were also advised of service changes if heading for the following destinations:
-Oyster Bay: Travel to Mineola for connections to all Oyster Bay branch stops.
-West Hempstead: Travel to Valley Stream where buses will be available to take them onto to their home stations.
-Patchogue, Speonk and Montauk: Customers can connect to those trains at Babylon.
Customers said they didn't have many options aside from waiting and being patient Monday evening.
"You have to get home and there is no other way to get out to Long Island without depending on LIRR," one commuter told CBS 2′s Sean Hennnessey, "this is our lifeline."
"What can you do," another woman asked, "there's nothing you can do so you just make the best of it."
Honestly I'm going to be patient and just deal with it as it comes. I'm not going to be you know in an uproar or angry, said another commuter, "I understand these things happen."
No one was injured in the fire.
The commuter rail system carries about 265,000 daily riders.
For up-to-date travel service information, customers can also contact the LIRR's 24-hour Travel Information Center in Suffolk County at 631-231-LIRR, in Nassau County at 516-822-LIRR or in New York City at 718-217-LIRR. The Travel Information Center's TDD telephone number for the hearing impaired is 718-558-3022.
