Broken rail delays Babylon branch commute

A broken rail near the Wantagh train station was repaired Thursday afternoon after causing 5- to 10-minute delays and canceled trains on the Babylon branch, Long Island Rail Road officials said.

Repairs were done by about 3 p.m. and did not affect evening rush-hour trains, said LIRR spokesman Salvatore Arena.

But the problem earlier in the day forced the cancellation of five late-morning and early-afternoon trains, LIRR officials said.

Also earlier, equipment trouble and a switch problem led to a delayed train and a cancellation on the Ronkonkoma branch, officials said.

The 4:06 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station was delayed 12 minutes through Bethpage due to a switch problem. The 5:30 a.m. train from Greenport, scheduled to arrive in Ronkonkoma at 6:53 a.m., was canceled due to an equipment problem. Officials said passengers were taken to Ronkonkoma via buses servicing Greenport and Riverhead.

On the Babylon branch, the broken rail caused officials to cancel two eastbound trains from Penn Station to Babylon Thursday, as well as three westbound trains from Babylon to Penn.

The affected eastbound trains were the 11:22 a.m. train and the 1:22 p.m. train. Passengers were accommodated by the 11:35 a.m. and 1:35 p.m. trains from Penn, officials said.

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The 11:08 a.m., 12:08 p.m. and 2:08 p.m. trains from Babylon to Penn also were canceled.