LIRR adds or lengthens trains to address issues with new schedule (updated)

NEW YORK — Responding to complaints resulting from the first week of its massive schedule revision, the Long Island Rail Road is adding morning rush-hour shuttle trains to Brooklyn’s Atlantic Terminal and lengthening trains on some other routes as of Monday, March 6.

In a Twitter thread posted Friday, the LIRR said it would add shuttle trains to Brooklyn departing from Jamaica at 6:45 a.m., 7:29 a.m., and 8:09 a.m., and will add cars to some rush-hour trains on the Babylon, Long Beach, Port Washington, and Ronkonkoma branches. It later posted a correction noting there is already a 6:45 a.m. train; one of the new trains is at 7 a.m.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a Sunday press release that the LIRR would add one trainset to Atlantic Terminal service on Monday and another trainset on Tuesday. As of Monday, the release said, the peak-period wait time on the Brooklyn branch would be reduced to 8 to 9 minutes, and that figure will be further reduced Tuesday.

Hochul’s release also said four morning peak trains were lengthened last week, and provided a list of those to be lengthened as of Monday. Those trains are:

Trains 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

• 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

Atlantic Terminal passengers have been upset about the loss of through service from the Far Rockaway, Hempstead, and West Hempstead branches, the website NY1 reports. The MTA has said that the shuttle operation from the Jamaica hub provides more frequent service to and from Atlantic Terminal.

The LIRR introduced a new schedule Feb. 27, adding 41% weekday trains overall while introducing full service to its new Grand Central Madision station. The first week of the new schedule saw reports of overcrowding on trains to Penn Station, as capacity to that terminal was reduced with New York service split 55%-45% between Penn and Grand Central Madison [see “First week of new LIRR schedule brings crowding, complaints,” Trains News Wire, March 3, 2022]. Hochul had said last week that the MTA would add cars to some trains to address the overcrowding issue, while LIRR Interim President Catherine Rinaldi had promised the railroad was “making adjustments.”

— Updated at March 6 at 7:20 a.m. CST with details from Hochul press release.