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Fair Freeporters coping with LIRR delays
Dropping her book bag on the concrete floor, Freeport resident and City College student Hazel Leon looked down at the rain-drenched Long Island Rail Road track last Thursday. With a sigh, she looked up at the digital display counting down the minutes until her westbound train to Manhattan would arrive. Maybe today it would arrive on time — 9:36 a.m. — she said.
Maybe.
Leon lives a mile from the train station. On days she has class at the City College campus in Harlem, she walks to the LIRR station off Henry Street and Benson Place, north of Sunrise Highway, and takes a Babylon Branch train to Penn Station. At Penn she boards the A train subway to 145th Street and school. On a good day, her commute takes an hour and 20 minutes, but in recent weeks and months, she has often been late to class by hours because of train delays.
“Because of the New Jersey derailment, [my commute] got a little crazy. We had to stop at Jamaica and then take a different train” back to Freeport, Leon said. ”Sometimes I was late getting to class for, like, an hour, which was kind of annoying. Overall, I love and hate my commute because I don’t have to drive and sit in traffic. I get to study on my laptop or listen to music, but I do wish I lived in the city.”
Similar sentiments can be heard on train platforms across Long Island these days. The most recent problems occurred on Tuesday morning, when most LIRR lines were delayed or canceled. Thousands of riders were held up as a result of ongoing Amtrak third-rail issues in one of the East River Tunnels, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. At 11 a.m., the Babylon line was still delayed.
Regina Gomes, a New York City court reporter and Roosevelt resident, said she prefers driving and parking her car in Freeport on weekdays and then boarding the LIRR into the city. Though she said she has been fortunate to miss most of the delays, she is angry about recent ticket price increases.
“The hike in the prices is ridiculous,” Gomes said. “Every time there is a hike, then the service is delinquent. Taking the LIRR is a choice because you can also take the bus to Jamaica and then get on the train, but it’s longer … I don’t know what I would do if train changes do occur here. I don’t know if I would drive to another station, take another line or take the long way into the city — the N4 or the N6. I don’t know if I’d get up an hour or two early. I don’t know.”
Amtrak, the MTA and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have announced plans to repair the aging Penn Station. But that work is expected to cause delays throughout the summer.
In April, Amtrak partnered with the Federal Railroad Administration for a joint inspection of all of Penn’s infrastructure and a review of its maintenance practices. The MTA also released a new LIRR branch timetable addressing the track work and construction projects.
On the Babylon Branch, one or two tracks will be taken off line on weekdays, affecting the westbound express trains that usually depart from Babylon at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon and 2 p.m., according to the new MTA schedule. They will depart six minutes later and will not stop in Freeport.
The trains will make added stops in Lindenhurst, Copiague, Amityville, Wantagh, Bellmore and Merrick. Local trains previously leaving Babylon at 9:48, 10:48, 11:48, 12:48 and 1:48 p.m. will now start in Freeport.
According to the new timetable, the eastbound express trains from Penn Station will not stop at Freeport. These trains will include the 9:22, 10:22, 11:22 and 1:22 p.m. trains. They will instead stop at Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh, Amityville, Copiague and Lindenhurst. However, trains departing Penn Station at 9:38, 10:38, 11:38 a.m., and 12:38 and 1:38 p.m. will end at Freeport.
How long the track work will take is unclear, and calls to the LIRR, MTA and Long Island Regional Economic Development Council were not returned as of press time on Wednesday.
“I don’t commute in the summer as much as I do in the school semesters, but I can definitely see how [schedule changes] can be chaotic for me,” Leon said. “If it’s going to be crazy, I don’t see any other option versus the Babylon line. I don’t want to take a bus to go to Mineola so I can take my train into the city. Sometimes I’m late for work or for school, and it ruins my day. If this continues into the fall, I may have to take time off from school to avoid dealing with this.”
