The Long Island Rail Road will continue work this weekend to upgrade switches at Mineola by preparing them for the future third track between Floral Park and Hicksville. Under the LIRR Forward Plan, the Long Island Rail Road has upgraded 23 switches including the recently replaced Nassau Switch. Nassau Switch is one of the most highly trafficked areas with over 200 train traverses every day. These switch upgrades, among many other initiatives, have resulted in 43% fewer cancellations, 22% fewer short trains, and 30% fewer trains delayed over 15 minutes.

This upcoming weekend’s switch installation will improve reliability along the corridor and provide the capacity needed for the third track construction. As a result, there will be no train service between New Hyde Park and Hicksville, Sat. Nov. 16 to Sun. Nov. 17. Special weekend timetables will be in effect for all branches.

There will be no train service at New Hyde Park, Merillon Avenue, Mineola, Carle Place, or Westbury. Oyster Bay trains will operate between Oyster Bay and East Williston where connecting shuttle bus service will take customers to/from Hempstead for train service. 

NICE Bus will cross-honor LIRR tickets for customers traveling between Mineola and Hicksville in both directions on N22/N24 routes and on the N40/41 routes between Mineola and Hempstead.

The LIRR advises customer to consider traveling on alternate branches. To help customers travel during the outage, the LIRR is doubling service on the Hempstead Branch. Trains will operate at normal service intervals, but on adjusted schedules on the Babylon, Far Rockaway, Long Beach, Montauk, Port Washington and West Hempstead Branches, and between Ronkonkoma and Greenport.

For Service East of Hicksville on the Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma Branches

Customers traveling westbound from all stations east of Hicksville will travel by train to Hicksville, change to a shuttle train to Babylon, then change to a special train from Babylon to Penn Station, stopping at Jamaica for connections to Atlantic Terminal, Brooklyn.

Customers traveling eastbound to all stations east of Hicksville will be able to board trains to Babylon for a connecting train to Hicksville, then change again for continuing service to points east.

All service to and from Bethpage Station will be provided by shuttle trains between Babylon and Hicksville. The shuttle will be a diesel-powered train with bi-level cars. Electric trains will not stop at Bethpage Station.

Special timetables can be found at these links:

Port Jefferson Branch

Ronkonkoma Branch

Oyster Bay Branch

Trains will operate between Oyster Bay and East Williston only.

Eastbound customers traveling to all Oyster Bay Branch stations will be able to ride Hempstead Branch trains to Hempstead to transfer to a free LIRR-provided shuttle bus for service to Mineola and East Williston, where connecting Oyster Bay trains will run every two hours. NICE Bus will cross-honor LIRR tickets for customers traveling on the N40/41 routes between Mineola and Hempstead.

Westbound customers from all Oyster Bay Branch stations will be able to change at East Williston for a free LIRR-provided shuttle bus to Mineola (there is no train service at that stop) and Hempstead, and then take half-hourly westbound trains from Hempstead to westbound locations.

A special timetable is available at this link.

Hempstead Branch

Service is increased from hourly to half-hourly, alternating between Penn Station and Atlantic Terminal. Special Hempstead Branch timetables showing additional service on the branch are available at this link.

Port Washington Branch

Service will operate normally on the Port Washington Branch except for two trains. The eastbound train that normally departs Penn Station at 6:48 p.m. will leave Woodside one minute later than normal. The train normally departing Penn Station at 11:21 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays will depart one minute earlier and will arrive at all stations east one minute earlier than normal. A special timetable listing that train is available at this link.

All Other Branches

Trains on all other branches will operate on adjusted schedules and have affected connections on Saturdays and Sundays. For detailed timetables please click on the link below.

Babylon Branch

Far Rockaway Branch

Long Beach Branch

Montauk Branch

West Hempstead Branch

Many Ways to Stay Connected

Information about the planned schedule change 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, which is optimized for smartphone screens.

MYmta app & MTA.info – Customers who use the new, comprehensive MYmta app will see real-time travel information for the LIRR and connecting services all in one place, with push notifications when service is not operating normally. 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. The rail tab of the “Service Status” box at new.MTA.info is always the definitive source for the latest status for each branch, updated every minute.

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.

@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.