JAMIE MORRIS: Long Island's KJoy 98.3. Good morning. "Jamie and You" are now joined by Long Island Railroad president Phil Eng.  

PHIL ENG: How are you Jamie?  

JAMIE MORRIS: I was just reading your piece in the Long Island Herald about how proud you are of the MTA staff. 

PHIL ENG:  You know, the workforce here at Long Island Rail Road, I couldn't be more proud of what we're doing and what they're putting in, day in and day out, even before the virus. But even now, more so than ever, they are heroes and they are moving heroes, and the fact that they're doing what they do during this stressful time makes me even more proud of working with them. 

JAMIE MORRIS: So what has riding the Long Island Railroad been like these last couple of weeks and what is working on these trains been like the last couple of weeks? 

PHIL ENG: Well, you know, what's ironic is because over the last two years we've seen ridership grow month after month, and we had record ridership. Then towards the end of March, as we saw new measures being put into place, the ridership starts to drop. It's very eerie. It's sort of out of,  it's things that you would only think would happen in a movie, but at the same time, it's real life. And while we're running this essential service plan, and it's a robust plan, it's 70% of our normal trains carrying 10% of our typical ridership. It's probably some of the most vital trips we're making because getting these folks safely to their jobs, whether they're healthcare workers, whether they're first responders, whether they're utility workers, or even our own transportation force, they are essential to helping New York get through this. And I think without Long Island Rail Road doing what they do, without the men or women who come in every day, it would be a much harder task and take much longer to get through 

JAMIE MORRIS: How has the spread of the virus affected your staff? 

PHIL ENG: So on Long Island Rail Road we've had 127 positive test results, but I'm also proud to say that we've had 290 to return to work. So we are starting to see people recover from this. I think what is really stressful is the unknown and the uncertainty for them in their performance of their jobs, but also the uncertainty for how the virus could possibly affect their family. So we are working together with our labor partners to make sure that our workforce is as informed as possible with regards to what we're doing, why we're doing it, but also what we're doing to protect them. And from day one, we've been sanitizing not only public facing areas, stations and cars on a frequent basis, we're sanitizing the work areas, we're sanitizing their crew locations and sanitizing shops and yards. And we're providing them with all the tools that they need to protect themselves, both physically and mentally. That's from hand sanitizers and gloves and mask and all the things that give them protection but also protect the public because social distancing is important. And while we want them to be protected here at work, we want our employees to be safe at home as well. 

JAMIE MORRIS: It's "Jamie and You" and we're speaking with Phil Eng, the president of Long Island Rail Road. Have they been getting a lot of feedback from riders? What are the current essential workers who are riding the train, what do they think about the new schedule? What do they think about how everything's being handled? 

PHIL ENG: Well, the new schedule is working well. The first few days we made some adjustments, we added 12 peak hour trains to our schedule. And we're seeing that the public is is able to spread out. They're spreading out on platforms and spreading out in the cars, and our workforce is doing what they need to do with regards to, you know, how they're handling it and they're stepping up and rising to the challenge. It's a true testament to their commitment to this and everyone is proud of what they're doing. The public has been acknowledging these efforts, they've been thanking them personally when they see them on the trains and they've been thanking them on social media. We've seen some that have said that they miss Long Island Rail Road and that's a great thing to see. And, you know, I miss the old days of folks being concerned about perhaps a broken gate or a signal that is malfunctioning. Those things are It seems so minor now as we're dealing with this pandemic, and it's about people's personal safety which has always been the core of our efforts.

PHIL ENG: There is a culture and there's something about New York and Long Island that is why we all live here. I think we want to talk about how our lives are different from others, and that's what makes us unique. Whether you're traveling into a job or you're even traveling to places of recreation -- those are all types of things that are part of our normal life that we all hope to get back to. And we know that you know the new normal will be, I think, taking a lot of lessons learned from this pandemic. But at the same time we all yearn for those days again and we're going to get through this together and I know that our workforce is here to support this effort. You know, these are trying times and everybody is anxious in terms of getting through this, but the railroad will be here now helping you get through it. And the railroad will be here once we are hopefully getting out of this, sooner, rather than later. We're committed to providing safe service. New York, Long Island and that workforce are actually stepping up and showing the character that we have. And so those that are suffering right now, and for those who have had losses, including some of our own MTA family, my heart goes out to them. These are challenging times, but the railroad is stepping up and I'm proud of our workforce for doing that.