After an earlier incident knocked out 10 of the LIRR’s 11 train routes, the MTA announced this evening that partial service has been restored on all routes. The authority says that “very limited service” through Jamaica has been restored but that trains do not have the ability to switch from one track to another east of that station. There are no regularly scheduled transfer at Jamaica tonight, and the MTA advises of us of the following service changes:
- Far Rockaway and Hempstead Branch customers must catch their train from Atlantic Terminal, Brooklyn.
- Customers for all other branches please depart from Penn Station.
- Montauk Branch customers, please take a Babylon Branch train and change at Babylon.
- Oyster Bay Branch customers, please change at Mineola.
- Port Jefferson Branch customers, please change at Hicksville or Huntington.
- West Hempstead Branch customers, please change at Valley Stream for bus service.
Currently, New York City Transit and MTA Bus routes are honoring LIRR fare tickets, and the MTA does not know how the switch fire will impact rush hour tomorrow morning. City Room has more on the cause and impact of the fire on the switching technology:
The fire occurred around 11 a.m. on Monday after an electrical surge in two or more cables embedded in the tracks near Jamaica Station, officials said. The surge fed into a crucial control tower just east of the station, known as the Hall Tower, and sparked a fire in the ancient equipment that controls the station’s track switches.
That equipment, which was designed in 1913 and requires individual workers to use levers and pulleys to move switches, is scheduled to be replaced this fall with a modern, computerized system.
To restore some service, track workers used mallets and spikes to physically lock the switches into place so that trains could move through the station.
It sounds as though Long Island-bound commuters should just prepare for a leisurely trip home tonight and try to remain as calm as possible throughout this ordeal.
4 comments
It sounds like the worst luck: a fire in obsolete equipment that was one year away from being replaced.
But it was equipment that dated from something like 1923. This tells you the status of the MTA capital program, that a system THAT ancient was still in service (until this morning).
This is almost like a dress-rehearsal for the service cuts coming September 13th
LIRR should do this every f***ing day to see the customers response in their face!
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