MTA Long Island Rail Road is planning to operate a normal morning rush hour schedule on Friday, April 7, pending Amtrak’s successful completion of track repairs following this week's derailment of a NJ TRANSIT train at Penn Station. The service restoration is also contingent on Amtrak’s promise to allow overnight access to tracks throughout the Penn Station area in order to ensure LIRR can pre-position trains and crews needed to run a full schedule.

 

“The LIRR is working around-the-clock to prepare and pre-position trains for the morning rush hour and to perform all required safety tests in order to restore full service as quickly as possible,” said LIRR President Patrick Nowakowski.

 

Amtrak has said it plans to fully return tracks to LIRR by 4 a.m.

 

LIRR normally operates 144 westbound morning rush hour trains, 98 of which are destined for Penn Station. In recent mornings, the LIRR has been required to cancel 10 morning rush-hour trains, terminate three at Jamaica and divert one to Hunterspoint Avenue, for a total of 14 trains directly affected by the continuing Amtrak track work – approximately 10 percent of LIRR’s morning service.

 

In the event Amtrak's overnight track work takes longer than currently anticipated and train cancelations are required, the LIRR will publish real-time information across all information streams. Details on these information sources are below.

 

 

The LIRR urges customers to stay alert for train service updates.

 

Email and text message service updates – Customers are urged 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.info is always the definitive source for the latest status for each branch, updated every minute. In addition, customers can visit www.mta.info/lirr to 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.