The MTA announced that a new timetable will take effect on all Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) branches on Monday, Nov. 9. Departure times for midday weekday and weekend trains will be adjusted, and service on the Babylon Branch will change starting the weekend of Nov. 14.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced that a new timetable will take effect on all Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) branches on Monday, Nov. 9. Departure times for many midday weekday and weekend trains will change, and some trains will leave earlier. The MTA said the adjustments are intended to speed up track maintenance and station accessibility improvement work, and that there will be no major changes during the morning and evening rush hours.
On the Babylon Branch, service will return to the pattern used before the Babylon station reconstruction project: on weekends starting Saturday, Nov. 14, and on midday weekdays starting Monday, Nov. 23. Of the two local trains per hour between Manhattan and Babylon, one will go to Penn Station and one to Grand Central. Direct service to Grand Central from stations east of Massapequa will also be restored. Express trains between Babylon and Penn Station will run only to connect with Montauk Branch trains and will stop only at Jamaica, Freeport and Babylon. On midday weekdays from Nov. 9 to 20, a separate timetable will apply because of track work between Amityville and Lindenhurst.
Other branches will also see changes. On the Hempstead Branch, the 6:34 a.m. train from Westbury to Penn Station will no longer stop at Elmont-UBS Arena. On the Montauk Branch, the 5:47 a.m. train from Speonk to Long Island City will be changed to depart Hampton Bays at 5:30 a.m., giving Hampton Bays and Westhampton riders more morning options. The Port Jefferson Branch will get a new weekend local train, departing Hicksville at 4:33 p.m. and Penn Station at 10:02 p.m.
On the Ronkonkoma Branch, the 6:27 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Grand Central will depart two minutes earlier. Starting Nov. 23, midday weekday service east of Ronkonkoma will resume, and midday weekday trains between Jamaica and Atlantic Terminal will be restored to 20-minute intervals. The 7:18 p.m. train from Grand Central to Long Beach will depart one minute earlier and will make an additional stop at Kew Gardens.
Riders can check whether their train has changed in the MTA TrainTime app or in the branch timetables at mta.info. Plans for work zones are available in the planned work lookup tool at mta.info/alerts.