LIRR: Full service to be restored Thursday

The Long Island Rail Road aims to have full service on all 11 lines by Thursday afternoon, having pumped out, cleared away and powered back up following Tropical Storm Irene.

Gradual restoration of the railroad's operations after its weekend shutdown continues Wednesday morning, when the LIRR expects to have service to Port Jefferson.

Service to Montauk should be back by Thursday morning and to Greenport by Thursday afternoon, if not earlier, LIRR President Helena Williams said Tuesday.

"I have confidence that we're going to meet that schedule or do better," said Williams, who emphasized that restoring service to the East End over Labor Day weekend is critical for the LIRR and the Island's economy.

"Our goal is to bring back whatever we can whenever we can," she said.

The nation's largest commuter railroad -- along with the entire Metropolitan Transportation Authority system -- shut down Saturday afternoon in preparation for Irene. By Monday morning, the LIRR had restored some service on six lines.

By Tuesday evening, trains were running to Babylon, Far Rockaway, Hempstead, Huntington, Long Beach, Oyster Bay, Port Washington and West Hempstead. Trains on the Port Jefferson line were going as far east as Smithtown, and on the Montauk line as far east as Speonk.

Service Tuesday morning on the working LIRR lines had only minimal disruptions following widespread and lengthy delays during the Monday morning commute, officials said. So-called "slip-side" problems caused by wet leaves on rails had been largely resolved.

Delays and cancellations still were expected on the Oyster Bay Branch, which came back online Tuesday afternoon, officials said. Only one of two tracks on the line was being used.

By Tuesday, the LIRR had cleared away downed trees, utility poles and other debris, but the railroad still was struggling with electrical outages across the 700 miles of track that kept crossing gates from functioning.

Flooding problems on the Long Beach line were not resolved until Tuesday afternoon.

Tracks at the Island Park station were under corrosive salt water. The station is in a "low area" prone to flooding, according to Island Park Mayor James Ruzicka, who said he was not bothered by the delay in restoring service on the line.

"Everybody's just drying out," Ruzicka said, adding that usual LIRR riders "weren't going to work anyway."

Even where electricity was restored to the third rail, signal systems and grade crossings, several LIRR stations still suffered the effects of outages that knocked out power to ticket machines, station lights, public address systems and electronic messaging signs.

Williams said the LIRR stepped up its efforts Tuesday to inform customers of the electrical problems through email alerts and deployment of more customer-assistance personnel at affected stations.

Still, LIRR Commuter Council chairman Mark Epstein said the agency's communication efforts were "once again . . . a total failure." Epstein, citing inadequate announcements on trains and at stations, and problems with email alerts, said commuters are "confused, frustrated and angry to the point where many wonder if maybe they should just give up using the LIRR."