Long Island Rail Road Apologizes for Monday Delays

The Long Island Rail Road posted a lengthy apology Tuesday evening for Monday’s even lengthier delays, pointing to the damage done by a lightning strike.

The Long Island Rail Road apologizes to our customers who experienced significant delays and service disruptions yesterday and this morning as a result of damage sustained to our signaling system from multiple lightning strikes on the Main Line and the Babylon/Montauk branches.

At approximately 2:30 PM yesterday, a series of intense storms suddenly swept through Long Island carrying severe lightning and, at times, hail. While we closely monitor the weather and had additional staffing in place, a direct lightning strike to the LIRR’s Babylon tower, as well as many others along the Main Line between New Hyde Park and Carle Place, caused significant damage to the signal systems in these areas. In Babylon Tower both the main and back up computer systems as well as communication links used to remotely control signals and switches were damaged. Their protective circuits could not withstand the intense surge from the lightning.

Without a fully functioning signal system to safely operate trains, service was temporarily suspended on the Babylon/Montauk branches and the branches on the Main Line – Ronkonkoma, Huntington/Port Jefferson, Oyster Bay and Hempstead – prior to the start of the PM Rush. While the LIRR made every effort to keep customers informed during yesterday’s crisis – including updates of MTA.info – the extent of the signal damage made it difficult to predict with certainty when service could be safely restored.

Many switches along the Main Line and at Babylon had to be manually set – by blocking and spiking the switch in place – for limited, designated routes. This resulted in delays of up to two hours during the PM rush with numerous trains being canceled.

LIRR crews work throughout the day, night and overnight to implement interim repairs to the signal system at Babylon Tower.

While interim repairs were in place prior to the morning rush, additional latent damage from the storm occurred at the start of the morning rush hour when the LIRR’s power system to the Babylon Tower failed – disabling the signal system again for about 45 minutes. 

In addition, a track modernization project on the over four consecutive weekends in August will result in some cancellations and service adjustments on the Huntington-Port Jefferson, Oyster Bay, Ronkonkoma, Far Rockaway and Babylon branches.

LIRR personnel will be installing new running rail, resurfacing and making repairs at the Willis Ave. grade crossing on Saturday and Sunday, August 6 and 7, Saturday and Sunday, August 13 and 14, Saturday and Sunday, August 20 and 21 and Saturday and Sunday, August 27 and 28. The work, when completed, will provide a smoother ride and more reliable service.

Since one of two Main Line tracks will be out of service during the project, the LIRR had revised weekend service on those branches to accommodate the track work.

Over the first two weekends, Aug. 6-7 and Aug. 13-14, the track work will get underway Saturday at 12:43 a.m. and continue until 10 a.m. on Sunday when regular service will resume. Over the third and fourth weekends, August 20-21 and August 27-28, the track work will get underway Saturday at 12:39 a.m. and continue until 10 a.m. on Sunday when regular service will resume.

On Saturdays, the work will affect approximately 24,000 customers traveling east and west of Jamaica. On Sundays, the work will affect about 1,200 customers eastbound and 1,700 customers westbound.