LIRR schedule changes take effect after Grand Central Madison’s chaotic opening week

NEW YORK — Long Island Railroad implemented a series of schedule changes on Monday intended to address the crowding and confusion that dominated the first week of service at Grand Central Madison’s highly anticipated new station.

The station had been touted as the antidote to these scourges, but many LIRR users say the very infrastructure meant to help them has made their journeys more chaotic.

The railroad acknowledged the bumpy first week and said growing pains are expected as part of the $11 billion station opening and historic expansion of rail lines to Grand Central Terminal.

Specifically, LIRR and Metro-North President Cathy Rinaldi blamed the overcrowding on new schedules that shortened trains to Penn Station and Brooklyn. Rinaldi admitted that his team reduced the number of cars on some trains based on data analysis. Transit officials thought many of those people would want to get to Grand Central instead.

Monday’s changes are intended to quickly adapt to the reality of daily travel. Governor Kathy Hochul also ordered the MTA to modify the service to improve the experience for travelers. He wants more rush-hour service to Brooklyn, more cars on trains serving Penn Station to ease overcrowding, and more cars on any trains that exceeded capacity last week.

The governor also called for better communication and a more comprehensive customer service experience at Jamaica Station, where passengers described an epic nightmare, one that involved three track changes and people going up and down escalators. to get to where they needed to be last Thursday. night.

Hochul also asked the MTA to continue to monitor the situation in real time to determine if any further schedule changes might be necessary. Rinaldi says that has always been the plan. She said data shows LIRR riders saved a combined 38,051 hours of travel on the East Side compared to travel time using Penn Station during peak periods last week despite early headaches and l Agency will continue to assess capacity and ridership in the future.

“We said we were looking at every train and every line to assess where customers weren’t getting the level of service they and we expected,” Rinaldi said Sunday. “These changes are steps to ensure a better experience in the future while continuing to provide broader service to more New York City terminals than the LIRR has ever had before. We will continue to monitor the trends in traffic and load conditions and will make the necessary adjustments.

LIRR changes you need to know about

The LIRR is increasing rush-hour service to Brooklyn by adding an extra train on Mondays and a second extra train on Tuesdays, reducing the time between trains on the Jamaica-Brooklyn Monday shuttle to an average of 8-9 minutes at peak times. peak, with even higher frequency of service starting Tuesday, Hochul said.

It is also lengthening 17 trains that serve Penn Station, adding cars to each train that exceeds capacity. A total of 32 trains added cars from Monday March 6, including four trains that were already lengthened last week and 11 peak trains resulting from planned increases. Check the app for new Jamaica – Atlantic Terminal options.

MORNING PEAK TRAINS WERE LONGER LAST WEEK

• The 6:26 a.m. train from Far Rockaway to Penn Station
• The 7:07 a.m. train from Jamaica to the Atlantic terminal
• The 7:15 am train from Babylon to Grand Central Madison
• The 7:28 am train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station

PEAK TRAINS WITH WAGONS ADDED FROM MONDAY

• The 5:29 a.m. train from Port Washington to Penn Station
• The 5:42 am train from Ronkonkoma to Grand Central Madison
• The 5:49 a.m. train from Long Beach to Grand Central Madison
• The last 5:54 a.m. train from Huntington to Grand Central Madison
• The 6.15am train from Wantagh to Penn Station
• The 6:31 train from Babylon to Penn Station
• The 6.54am train from Wantagh to Penn Station
• The 7:19 train from Farmingdale to Penn Station
• The 7:28 am train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station
• The 7:31 train from Babylon to Penn Station
• The 7:54 a.m. train from Port Washington to Penn Station
• The 8:20 am train from Little Neck to Penn Station
• The 8:25 am train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station
• The 8:31 train from Babylon to Penn Station
• Last train 3:23 p.m. from Penn Station to Babylon
• Last 3:38 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon
• 3:48 p.m. tr from Penn Station to Long Beach
• 4:01 p.m. train from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma
• Last 4:10 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon
• Last train 4.37pm from Penn Station to Wantagh
• Last 5:07 p.m. train from Penn Station to Port Washington
• Last train 5:16 p.m. from Penn Station to Babylon
• Last train 5.19pm from Penn Station to Wantagh
• Last train 5:52 p.m. from Penn Station to Port Washington
• 6:03 p.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Hempstead
• 6:57 p.m. from Penn Station to Babylon
• 7:04 p.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Huntington
• 7:35 p.m. from Penn Station to Port Washington

System-wide service on the first day of the weekend under the new schedules had a consistent performance of 97.85% on time, the MTA said. It was then that 697 trains were running, 28% more than the previous schedules. The previous Saturday, based on the schedule above, punctuality was 97.98% with 544 trains in circulation, according to the railway.