MTA Long Island Rail Road crews have begun removing undamaged cars of a derailed train from the site of a derailment Saturday evening east of New Hyde Park. While LIRR is hopeful that it will be able to restore some service for Monday's morning commute, customers are urged to consider using the Babylon, Hempstead, Port Washington and Montauk Branches tomorrow morning as alternatives to the Ronkonkoma, Port Jefferson, and Oyster Bay Branches.

 

Crews will continue working around the clock to re-rail the damaged train cars and move them from the site of the derailment, then will assess track conditions and make all necessary track repairs in an effort to restore partial service on that stretch of track in time for Monday morning’s commute.

 

“There is a strong possibility that we may be able to restore one of our two Main Line tracks for passenger trains tomorrow morning,” said Patrick Nowakowski, President of the Long Island Rail Road, who is overseeing the service restoration efforts and track repairs. “However, customers should consider other branches as alternatives."

 

If LIRR can restore service to one track, service would still unfortunately be reduced with a number of canceled trains. Customers could experience delays of 20 to 30 minutes and increased crowding.

 

The LIRR urges its customers who use those three affected branches to gather information about transportation status and options on Monday morning before heading out. The LIRR will update customers in these ways:

 

 

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.