Governor Kathy Hochul has directed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to modify train service, taking effect tomorrow, Monday, March 6, to improve Long Island Rail Road customers' commutes. At the Governor's direction, the LIRR will increase rush hour service to Brooklyn, lengthen trains serving Penn Station, add cars to all trains that exceeded capacity last week, and ramping up customer service presence at Jamaica to improve commuter communication and prevent rushed transfers.
"The historic opening of Grand Central Madison marked the first expansion of LIRR service in 100 years, and to ensure the new terminal's success, we must be responsive to the needs of our commuters," Governor Hochul said. "Customers deserve a world-class commuting experience, and that's what we are working hard to accomplish with these changes. We are committed to continuing to listen, monitor, and make changes to deliver high-quality service, communication, and consistency to New Yorkers."
The LIRR is increasing rush hour service to Brooklyn by adding an additional trainset on Monday and a second additional trainset on Tuesday, reducing time between trains on the Jamaica-Brooklyn shuttle Monday to an average of 8-9 minutes in peak hours, with even more frequent service starting Tuesday.
In addition, the LIRR is lengthening 17 trains serving Penn Station, adding cars to every train that exceeded capacity. Including four trains that were already lengthened last week, and an additional 11 peak trains that result from the targeted increases, a total of 32 trains listed below will have added cars starting Monday, March 6. This includes trains that were nearing capacity as those that exceeded it. Brooklyn customers are advised to check the TrainTime app to view new Jamaica - Atlantic Terminal options.
The Governor also directed an expanded customer service presence, focused at Jamaica, to assist commuters with real-time communication about transfers, including the establishment of a platform controller who will direct when Atlantic Terminal-bound trains depart to reduce the chance that customers would miss the next departing train. In addition to existing LIRR customer service support, 30 additional employees have been deployed to Jamaica and 10 to Grand Central Madison to assist customers through the transition. The MTA will also continue to inform LIRR customers about changes to the schedule across platforms, through the TrainTime app, social media, the MTA website, its digital screen network, announcements and customer alerts sent via email and text messages
These changes are intended to ensure that during rush hours, the platform at Jamaica serving Brooklyn trains will have a train waiting at the platform with doors open and will not depart until a second train has arrived on the opposite track. During the afternoon/evening rush, a similar system will be in place at Atlantic Terminal.
The LIRR operates a Jamaica Central Control Center (JCC) to closely monitor ridership conditions and operations. This enables real time observations of passenger loading to evaluate and assess what future improvements might be useful. At the Governor's direction, the MTA will continue to monitor overall commuter patterns and make corresponding schedule adjustments to ensure capacity for commuter needs.
"Changes made starting late last week and those scheduled to take effect Monday are data-driven adjustments to reduce wait times and lessen crowding where it occurs," said Catherine Rinaldi, Interim Long Island Rail Road President and President of Metro-North. "We had said we were looking at every train and every line to assess where customers were not getting the level of service they and we expect. These changes are steps toward ensuring a better experience going forward, while continuing to run more overall service to more NYC terminals than the LIRR ever has before. We will continue to monitor ridership trends and loading conditions and make adjustments as necessary."
"We're glad the LIRR is taking commuter complaints to heart and starting to make changes to ease the growing pains of the new service plan," said Chair of LIRR Commuter Council Gerard Bringmann. "Longer trains will begin to help reduce overcrowding in the worst cases, and cutting time between Brooklyn trains should help get riders where they need to go with shorter waits, and without the mass dash we've been seeing. We look forward to working with the LIRR to make additional changes and improvements to address concerns riders have raised."
LIRR to Lengthen Trains
Last week, the LIRR lengthened four trains to address crowded conditions. Beginning Monday, the LIRR will lengthen seven trains to Penn Station for the morning rush hour and nine trains for the afternoon rush hour. This change addresses 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 will 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 will be increased beginning Monday, with one additional trainset to operate between Jamaica and Atlantic Terminal and a second trainset to be placed into service on Tuesday.
The addition of trains will effectively reduce wait times to an average of 8-9 minutes Monday, and even less Tuesday, for Brooklyn customers during both peak periods and means it will be likely whenever customers arrive at the platform at Jamaica, there will be a train ready to board.
Additionally, to streamline transfers to Brooklyn, the LIRR will have 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