Thursday Morning's Service Disruption

The Long Island Rail Road wants to apologize to our customers who experienced unusually long delays this morning.

At 7:22 AM a broken rail was reported on the Main Line east of New Hyde Park affecting westbound trains from Ronkonkoma, Oyster Bay and Port Jefferson/Huntington.  Westbound trains were rerouted to the lone remaining track, which meant eastbound trains from Jamaica had to be held. The Hempstead Branch was also affected as train traffic along the Main Line between Queens Village and New Hyde Park became congested.

The broken rail also interrupted the signal system along the track, causing the crossing gates at New Hyde Park Road, Covert Avenue and 12th Street  to go to the down position for safety.  MTA Police Officers were dispatched to each of these crossings.  Trains also were required to proceed at a reduced speed.

The broken rail resulted in delays ranging from 15 to 50 minutes during the morning rush hour.  Early on, delays were in the 15 to 20 minute range, but as the rush hour progressed and the schedule of trains increased, the track capacity in the area was strained, and delays were as long as 50 minutes on trains westbound into Jamaica.  Trains leaving Jamaica to go east to Ronkonkoma, Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson and Hempstead were also delayed as they had to wait for westbound trains to clear before they could move east. The LIRR had buses in place at Ronkonkoma and Huntington to accommodate eastbound customers who missed their train connections.

The LIRR immediately dispatched crews to fix the problem.  The broken rail was repaired by 10:40 AM and the LIRR was back on or close to schedule by noon.