Double Dose Of Delays For Commuters

Long Islander News photo/Jano Tantongco
Huntington commuters in both directions were slammed with hour-long delays Tuesday, adding to mounting frustrations with the Long Island Railroad and Amtrak.

By Jano Tantongco
jtantongco@longislandergroup.com

In a recent trend of hellish commutes for Long Island Rail Road riders, Tuesday’s power outage issues in Manhattan rippled their way throughout the system, prompting frustration and missed meetings for thousands of commuters, including those from the Town of Huntington.

“We deliberately left early because we had meetings out here to try to make these meetings on time. We didn’t make the meetings in the city or the ones out here,” Kevin Ryan, of Northport, said.

Ryan, who works in the IT field, was on his way to Penn Station, hopping on the 7:34 a.m. train from Northport.

However, shortly after, two trains headed to the city from Babylon and Massapequa Park stalled in a tunnel under the East River due to a third track power outage, leading to delays of more than an hour for thousands of commuters.

“The problem is the communication with the Long Island Rail Road. They’re vague, they’re not upfront. They don’t even care, honestly,” Ryan said.

As a lone silver lining amidst the chaos, Ryan became friends with George Gifford, a fellow Northport resident, on the train.

“The positive is we didn’t know each other before,” Ryan said. “It provides comedic relief.”

Gifford, who works in the construction industry, called it a “struggle on the railroad” as he boarded an 8:16 a.m. train in Northport to make a 10 a.m. meeting in Manhattan. Like Ryan, he missed his meeting, arriving at Penn Station around 10:45 a.m.

Adding on to the mess, on their way back home in the afternoon, an “unauthorized person” on the tracks at the Syosset station rerouted them to the Huntington Long Island Rail Road Station. They said they were told there would be shuttle busses waiting for them at Huntington, but there were none when they arrived.

During an interview with The Long-Islander, they were told by MTA officials that there simply would be no shuttles at all.

“I’ve been riding the railroad for 26 years. This month of May has been the worst ever,” Ryan, a monthly ticket holder said.

MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said that school bus company W.E. Transportation assisted in providing buses at the Huntington station to assist with service challenges from 9:10 a.m.-1 p.m.

At 12:54 p.m., those buses were re-directed to assist with the incident in Syosset. But, the MTA was informed that W.E. buses left to do their normal afternoon runs. Then, the MTA sought out different bus companies, choosing Independent, which remained on standby at Huntington until 8:35 p.m.

Donovan added it was likely that customers like Ryan and Gifford were caught in the gap when there were no buses available, adding that another train arrived at 1:50 p.m. to continue eastbound.

Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council chairman Mark Epstein looked to Amtrak, which maintains the third rail in the tunnel, called their maintenance of facilities of “critical importance to our riders, who are nearing or have passed their breaking points after months of delays and overcrowded trains and stations.”

“These lengthy delays came on the heels of initial reports from the LIRR of delays averaging ten to fifteen minutes, which created in many riders a false sense of security,” Epstein stated.

The incident comes amid ongoing work at Penn Station, with anticipated heavier infrastructure upgrades scheduled for July through September.

“The current situation is threatening the family lives and livelihoods of hardworking LIRR commuters and those who are close to them and cannot be allowed to continue,” Epstein stated.