With crews working around the clock to rerail damaged train cars and repair damaged track following a train/motor vehicle collision in Westbury on Tuesday evening, the Long Island Rail Road plans to operate the Port Jefferson Branch and Ronkonkoma Branch on a reduced evening rush hour schedule. The railroad will boost service on the Babylon Branch by adding four additional trains during this time.

 

On the Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma Branches, the LIRR plans to cancel 12 eastbound trains. The specific trains to be cancelled will be announced by the LIRR service alerts on MYmta app, mta.info website, email, text, and social media, as well as announcements at stations. The list of cancelled trains follows within this press release. Westbound (reverse-peak) service on those branches will remain suspended.

 

With the potential for crowding and delays on the Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma Branches, the LIRR continues to encourage customers to travel via alternate branches if possible, including the Babylon, Montauk, Oyster Bay and Hempstead Branches.

 

For this PM rush hour, the LIRR has increased the frequency of trains stopping at Hicksville Station. All Port Jefferson trains will make all stops New Hyde Park through Port Jefferson. All Patchogue trains will make all stops to Patchogue, Speonk trains will make all stops to Speonk, and Montauk trains will make all stops to Montauk.

 

On Wednesday afternoon, crews uncoupled six undamaged cars from the train that remains at the scene of the collision and pulled them away from the scene. This removal will allow crews to concentrate on rerailing the two damaged cars. The rerailing work will resume after the evening rush hour and continue overnight.

 

Inspections have found extensive damage to infrastructure including rails, signal equipment and third rail underneath the train that remains at the scene. Crews caution that there is potentially more damage that may be revealed once the cars are removed.

 

The LIRR will be able to restore full train service after the damaged cars are removed and all track repairs are made.  The status of the Thursday morning rush hour will depend on the extent of the track damage and the difficulty of re-railing the cars.

 

Canceled Trains 

 

These trains will not operate on Wednesday, February 27.

 

The 2:29 p.m. train from Penn due in Hicksville at 3:17 p.m.

The 3:27 p.m. train from Penn due Huntington at 4:35p.m.

The 4:00 p.m. train from Penn due Huntington at 5:07p.m. 2354/2064

The 5:29 p.m. train from Atlantic Terminal due in Huntington at 6:28 p.m.

The 5:33 p.m. train from Penn due in Cold Spring Harbor at 6:46 p.m.

The 5:46 p.m. train from Penn due in Huntington art 6:51 p.m.

The 6:01 p.m. train from Penn due in Hicksville at 6:45 p.m.

The 6:30 p.m. train from Penn due in Huntington at 7:32 p.m.

The 6:35 p.m. train from Penn due in Hicksville at 7:22 p.m.

The 3:07 p.m. train from Penn Station due in Ronkonkoma at 4:25 p.m.

The 4:54 p.m. train from Penn Station due in Farmingdale at 5:56 p.m.

The 6:53 p.m. train from Penn Station due in Ronkonkoma at 8:12 p.m.

The LIRR encourages customers to monitor service alerts for updates.

 

 

Information about the service changes noted in this press release and all planned service changes is available through the LIRR’s real-time service information sources:

myLIRR.org – Customers can see real-time positions of upcoming trains in real time, on a smartphone-optimized map that refreshes every 3- to 5-seconds, by logging into myLIRR.org.

 

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.

 

MYmta app – Customers who use the new, comprehensive MYmta app will see real-time travel information for LIRR and connecting services all in one place. As a caution, trains that start out their trips on time may experience delays en route. The LIRR Train Time app also remains available for customers to access LIRR train information.

MTA.info – “Service Status” on the homepage of new.mta.info, and 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.

 

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.