MTA Long Island Rail Road crews will be out in force along the Babylon Branch on the weekend of April 22-23 to replace concrete railroad ties between Rockville Centre and Merrick. As a result of this proactive work to renew the railroad’s infrastructure, the LIRR will need to reduce service on the Babylon Branch from half-hourly to hourly during certain hours of the day on Saturday and Sunday. Similar service changes may also be in effect for the following several weekends as work progresses.

 

Details are below:

 

Trains that depart Penn Station at 6:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. will terminate at Jamaica. Customers seeking to travel to all stations from Rockville Centre through Babylon should board trains that depart either 30 minutes earlier or 30 minutes later or should consider traveling on alternate branches.

 

Trains that depart Babylon at 12:23 p.m., 5:23 p.m., 6:23 p.m., 7:23 p.m., 9:23 p.m., and 10:24 p.m. will instead originate at Jamaica at their normal departure times. Customers seeking to travel from all stations from Babylon through Rockville Centre should board trains that depart 30 minutes earlier or 30 minutes later or should consider traveling on alternate branches.

 

 

The LIRR encourages customers to sign up for train service updates. Information about this service change and all planned service change is available via many channels.

Email and text message service updates – Customers are encouraged to sign up to receive the alerts by visiting MyMTAAlerts.com. To avoid unwanted messages, a user can tailor the messages to the specific branch, and the specific times of day.

MTA.info – The rail tab of the “Service Status” box at the left side of www.MTA.infois always the definitive source for the latest status for each branch, updated every minute. In addition, customers can visit www.mta.info/lirrto see special service notices in the upper center of the page.

@LIRR on Twitter – Twitter users can follow @LIRR to receive updates of a similar nature to the email and text alerts, shortened to fit Twitter’s format.

LIRR Train Time app – Customers who use the LIRR Train Time app will see up-to-the-minute status for each upcoming train at each station. As a caution, trains that start out their trips on time may experience delays en route.

 

The above communications channels can be accessed while at home or on the go. For customers who are located at stations, the LIRR will post the latest service updates on digital signs at station platforms and will make audio announcements over public address systems, and on-board announcements made by train crews.

 

For those who prefer the telephone, information is available from the LIRR’s Customer Service Center by calling 511, the New York State Travel Information Line, and saying: “Long Island Rail Road” Those who are deaf or hard of hearing can use their preferred service provider for the free 711 relay to reach the LIRR at 511.