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Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) today announced service updates that will go into effect Monday, March 13 to enhance service and increase frequency. Four trains that serve Grand Central Madison will be rerouted to serve Penn Station instead. The LIRR is also extending four morning peak trains on the Ronkonkoma Branch to serve two additional stations.
These changes are in addition to modifications made March 6 and 7, when rush hour service to Brooklyn was increased, reducing time between trains to between 7-8 minutes. Trains serving Penn Station were lengthened, and cars were added to all trains that had exceeded capacity the previous week. Riders also saw 30 more customer service staff throughout Jamaica station to assist riders and ease the transfer experience.
“We are pleased with the progress we’ve made this week and we are going to continue to make adjustments as we go,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “From day one, we knew that there was going to be a learning curve. We are especially focused on what we can do to give riders a better understanding of their options, both through the TrainTime app, and also via announcements and signage. We are moving to a place where the system is achieving its goals and is working much better.”
“The Long Island Rail Road team is all over the rollout in terms of looking for trends, what ridership is looking like, what trains are popular and adjusting accordingly,” said Long Island Rail Road Interim President and Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi. “This is a very dynamic process and we are going to be continuously making adjustments based upon ridership and loading data. We look at it every single day.”
The week of March 6 saw the two highest days of LIRR ridership for 2023. On Tuesday, March 7, the LIRR carried 205,500 passengers, representing the second highest ridership day since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, March 8, 203,000 customers rode the LIRR. From Monday, March 6 through Wednesday, March 8 the LIRR carried 595,000 customers, an 8.2 percent increase over the previous week.
Beginning on Monday, March 13, the following service changes will be implemented:
Morning – Peak Direction
The 5:42 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Grand Central Madison will shift to operate to Penn Station, where it will be scheduled to arrive at 6:55 a.m.
The 7:54 a.m. train from Long Beach to Grand Central Madison will shift to operate to Penn Station, where it will be scheduled to arrive at 8:44 a.m.
Morning – Reverse-Peak Direction
The 7:31 a.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Hempstead will shift to originate at Penn Station at 7:30 a.m.
Afternoon – Peak Direction
The 5:27 p.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Babylon will shift to originate at Penn Station at 5:28 p.m.
Four trains with added stops:
Four trains that currently originate at Brentwood will be extended to originate at Ronkonkoma, and will also stop at Central Islip.
• The 5:16 a.m. train from Brentwood to Penn station will now have added Ronkonkoma and Central Islip stops leaving Ronkonkoma at 5:06 a.m.
• The 5:48 a.m. train from Brentwood to Penn station will now have added Ronkonkoma and Central Islip stops leaving Ronkonkoma at 5:38 a.m.
• The 6:03 a.m. train from Brentwood to Penn station will now have added Ronkonkoma and Central Islip stops leaving Ronkonkoma at 5:53 a.m.
• The 7:57 a.m. train from Brentwood to Penn station will now have added Ronkonkoma and Central Islip stops leaving Ronkonkoma at 7:47 a.m.
Beginning on Monday, March 6, the following service changes were implemented:
LIRR Lengthened Trains
The LIRR lengthened seven trains to Penn Station for the morning rush hour and ten trains for the afternoon rush hour. This change addressed any train that reached or exceeded capacity based on data collected last week. For the list of trains with added cars, see below.
Subsequently, when these trains turn from either their Long Island destination or Penn Station to operate in the opposite direction, an additional eleven trains no have added cars, benefitting customers as well as a result of the previously described targeted increases.
The railroad has been adapting to address concerns from the public as quickly as possible, which included lengthening of trains. As such, the LIRR went from 16 trains that reached capacity in one day during peak periods to one train exceeding capacity by the end of the week on Friday, March 3, out of a total of 289 peak trains.
Brooklyn Service
Brooklyn service increased beginning Monday, with one additional trainset operating between Jamaica and Atlantic Terminal and a second trainset placed into service on Tuesday.
The addition of trains March 6 and 7 reduced time between trains to an average of 7-8 minutes for Brooklyn customers during both peak periods. Whenever customers arrive at the platform at Jamaica, there will likely be a train ready to board.
Additionally, to streamline transfers to Brooklyn, the LIRR placed platform controllers to assist customers on the platform serving Tracks 11 and 12, where Brooklyn trains depart. The platform controllers determine the timing of trains departures. When conditions allow, a Brooklyn train will not depart the platform without the arrival of a second train on the opposite track for the morning rush hour and trains are expected to hold up to two minutes for connecting customers transferring from other platforms.
Weekend Service
On Saturday, March 3, the first weekend day of service under the new schedules, the systemwide on-time performance for the LIRR was a consistent 97.85%, while operating 697 trains, 28% more than under previous timetables. On Saturday, February 25, the last Saturday under previous schedules, on-time performance was 97.98% with 544 trains operating.
Grand Central Madison Service
During peak periods, 114,153 riders commuted last week to and from Grand Central Madison, saving a combined total of up to 38,051 hours of commuting time to destinations on the East Side compared with travel time using Penn Station.
Morning Peak Trains That Were Lengthened Last Week
• The 6:26 a.m. train from Far Rockaway to Penn Station
• The 7:07 a.m. train from Jamaica to Atlantic Terminal
• The 7:15 a.m. train from Babylon to Grand Central Madison
• The 7:28 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station
Peak Trains With Added Cars Effective Monday, Mar. 6, 2023
• The 5:29 a.m. train from Port Washington to Penn Station
• The 5:42 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Grand Central Madison
• The 5:49 a.m. train from Long Beach to Grand Central Madison
• The 5:54 a.m. train from Huntington to Grand Central Madison
• The 6:15 a.m. train from Wantagh to Penn Station
• The 6:31 a.m. train from Babylon to Penn Station
• The 6:54 a.m. train from Wantagh to Penn Station
• The 7:19 a.m. train from Farmingdale to Penn Station
• The 7:28 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station
• The 7:31 a.m. train from Babylon to Penn Station
• The 7:54 a.m. train from Port Washington to Penn Station
• The 8:20 a.m. train from Little Neck to Penn Station
• The 8:25 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station
• The 8:31 a.m. train from Babylon to Penn Station
• The 3:23 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon
• The 3:38 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon
• The 3:48 p.m. train from Penn Station to Long Beach
• The 4:01 p.m. train from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma
• The 4:10 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon
• The 4:37 p.m. train from Penn Station to Wantagh
• The 5:07 p.m. train from Penn Station to Port Washington
• The 5:16 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon
• The 5.19 p.m. train from Penn Station to Wantagh
• The 5:52 p.m. train from Penn Station to Port Washington
• The 6:03 p.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Hempstead
• The 6:57 p.m. from Penn Station to Babylon
• The 7:04 p.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Huntington
• The 7:35 p.m. from Penn Station to Port Washington
Peak Trains With Added Cars Effective Monday, Mar. 6, 2023
• The 5:29 a.m. train from Port Washington to Penn Station
• The 5:42 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Grand Central Madison
• The 5:49 a.m. train from Long Beach to Grand Central Madison
• The 5:54 a.m. train from Huntington to Grand Central Madison
• The 6:15 a.m. train from Wantagh to Penn Station
• The 6:31 a.m. train from Babylon to Penn Station
• The 6:54 a.m. train from Wantagh to Penn Station
• The 7:19 a.m. train from Farmingdale to Penn Station
• The 7:28 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station
• The 7:31 a.m. train from Babylon to Penn Station
• The 7:54 a.m. train from Port Washington to Penn Station
• The 8:20 a.m. train from Little Neck to Penn Station
• The 8:25 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station
• The 8:31 a.m. train from Babylon to Penn Station
• The 3:23 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon
• The 3:38 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon
• The 3:48 p.m. train from Penn Station to Long Beach
• The 4:01 p.m. train from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma
• The 4:10 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon
• The 4:37 p.m. train from Penn Station to Wantagh
• The 5:07 p.m. train from Penn Station to Port Washington
• The 5:16 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon
• The 5.19 p.m. train from Penn Station to Wantagh
• The 5:52 p.m. train from Penn Station to Port Washington
• The 6:03 p.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Hempstead
• The 6:57 p.m. from Penn Station to Babylon
• The 7:04 p.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Huntington
• The 7:35 p.m. from Penn Station to Port Washington
Beginning on Thursday, March 2, the following service changes were implemented:
The LIRR lengthened four trains to address crowded conditions on March 2.
For branch-by-branch service summaries, see here. For train schedules visit mta.info, where pdf timetables are available. These changes will be reflected in the TrainTime app on Friday, March 10.