A broken rail is going to mess up a lot of people’s evening commutes today.
The MTA announced on Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 11, that riders of the Long Island Rail Road should expect train cancellations and delays with their evening commute as Amtrak construction workers repair a broken rail outside one of Amtrak’s East River tunnels, which the LIRR shares.
Amtrak’s East River tunnels connect between Penn Station and the Sunnyside Yards area in Long Island City. Personnel are on site repairing the rail, but they do not expect to have the rail fixed by the start of the afternoon rush.
Starting at 4:30 p.m., westbound trains to Penn Station will be terminated at Jamaica. Commuters can then transfer to the E train to continue to Penn Station. New York City Transit will cross-honor LIRR tickets on the E train at the Jamaica (Sutphin Blvd.-Archer Ave.), Kew Gardens (Union Tpke.) and Forest Hills (71st Ave.) stops.
Trains going westbound on the Port Washington Branch will be terminated at Woodside. At the Woodside station, LIRR tickets will be cross-honored on the 7 train (Woodside-61st St).
Between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m., 13 eastbound trains will be cancelled. Customers will be able to take another train leaving within 5 to 10 minutes of the departure times of the canceled train that will have the added stops of the canceled train. Click here for a complete list of train schedule changes.
