Railroad riders react to MTA schedule changes

A number of Malverne residents angry about changes to Long Island Rail Road service are fighting back. They're petitioning the MTA to avoid additional service cuts that they claim could drastically complicate their morning commutes.

Following announcements by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in April of eliminations of weekend service and at least one morning train on the LIRR's West Hempstead Branch, Long Island commuters were angry. With the agency's recent schedule changes, some of those commuters are furious.

One such commuter is Robert Powers, a Malverne resident who takes the westbound 7:23 a.m. train at the Malverne station every weekday morning. He reached out to the Herald upon learning about schedule changes, expected to take effect in mid-September, that would eliminate the 7:23 a.m. westbound train and replace it with trains running at 7 a.m. and at 7:44 a.m.

"The loss of this train will mean that the majority of the riders will have to get on the earlier train to get into work by 9 a.m.," Powers told the Herald. "This will cause scheduling problems with parents who have day-care drop-offs and baby sitters for their children. If we switch to the 7:44 [a.m.] train, we would never get into the office by 9 a.m. and would have to change [our] work schedules."

Powers said he and two other Malverne residents decided to start a petition to let the MTA know that schedule changes are "really a big inconvenience to all riders." The petition also address the MTA's proposal to add a 9 a.m. train in lieu of the earlier trains. It asks, "Why not keep the 7:23 [a.m. train] and not add the [9 a.m.] train after everyone is already in work."

The 100 or so people who've already signed the petition understand that the MTA has to make cuts, Powers said, but they don't understand why the MTA is "cutting a train that is well-used and needed, and adding another one?" The decision to eliminate this train, Power added, was "made without any input or notification."

Visit mta.info/lirr for schedule changes and more information.