LIRR rush hour passengers: Evening delays 'manageable'

Monday evening's commute was frustrating for many, but Tuesday night many LIRR riders said the delays were not as bad as they had expected.

The LIRR ran about 60 percent of its regular trains for Tuesday's evening rush, roughly the same level of service commuters saw after the fire Monday night, LIRR spokesman Joe Calderone said.

An electrical surge and fire Monday morning crippled an LIRR switching station used for routing trains. Consequently, the railroad had to resort to an old-fashioned "block and spike" manual train routing system, which allows fewer routes in the evening than in the morning.

Despite the service disruption, Calderone said trains have not been overcrowded because commuters are "heeding the advice" of the LIRR: "They are going to the website, they're looking for the list of canceled trains and they're adjusting accordingly." 

Many regular commuters are also on vacation this week, Calderone said.

Hoping to avoid the crowds at the evening rush hour, Ron Polon, of Woodmere, left work a little early Tuesday.

He got on the information booth line to ask about a 3:55 p.m. Far Rockaway train, but said he got conflicting information from two clerks.

"It's confusing, to say the least," said Polon. "These two people don't have the same answer. That's frustrating."

Debra Epps, of Selden, said she had a nightmarish four-hour commute home from Brooklyn on Tuesday, during which she hopped on train after train.

"I just had to get back here," she said, explaining her odyssey. "I have to get back home. I couldn't wait until they fix things."

Riders thought the LIRR should have updated the switching technology at the Jamaica station sooner.

"I definitely think repairs are needed, especially after this," said Minna John, 30, of Mineola, who noted she was fortunate because many trains go through Mineola. ". . . I think it's worth it in the long run."

LIRR officials say they won't have the situation totally fixed for another several days.

Some riders barely noticed the system had broken down.

"I didn't even realize there was a problem," said Cathy O'Connor of Port Washington, who takes the train two or three times a week. She said the train she boarded in Mineola Tuesday afternoon was about 15 minutes late, something her taxi driver said was par for the course.

And Dawn Fowlkes from Manhattan, who was visiting her mother in Shirley with her two children, D'Mya, 15 months and Ernest, 10, encountered no snags.

"It was like a regular commute," she said of the afternoon ride. "There was only an eight-minute delay. I guess it was worse yesterday [Monday]. So we came out before the evening commute."

The LIRR canceled 33 of 144 trains Tuesday morning, but schedules were further complicated when unrelated equipment problems canceled other eastbound trains.

"There have been inconveniences and delays. We apologize for that," Calderone said.

Calderone said workers are closely inspecting each of the about 200 wires damaged in the fire, which broke out at the base of Jamaica's Hall Tower switching station. It is still too early to predict exactly when service will be back to normal, he said.

"They're being checked, some replaced, and then double-checked," Calderone said. "Safety is No. 1 and we can't go back to the signal system until it's been fully rehabilitated."

At about 3 p.m. Tuesday, more than a dozen LIRR employees wearing bright orange vests flooded the main waiting area at Penn Station to help direct commuters heading home during the evening rush hour.

With Zachary R. Dowdy, Matthew Chayes, Chau Lam, Keiko Morris and Mitchell Freedman