LIRR: Trains no longer delayed Monday night

A problem that delayed eastbound Long Island Rail Road commuter trains for 30 to 45 minutes Monday evening has been resolved, a LIRR spokeswoman said.

The delays were caused by a signal problem near the Merillon Avenue Station that began about 6 p.m., a LIRR spokeswoman said, and affected all eastbound trains out of Penn Station, with the exception of those on the Port Washington Branch.

Marjorie Anders, the spokeswoman, said the problem, which affected about 14 trains, was corrected at 6:35 p.m.

Buses were used by the LIRR to transport passengers who would have normally used one of three trains between Ronkonkoma and Greenport Monday evening, Anders said.

No information was immediately available from the LIRR as to the cause of Monday's signal system malfunction.

On Sept. 29, a lightning strike to the LIRR signal and switching system in Jamaica left thousands of LIRR commuters stranded on trains or at stations for several hours.

Sen. Charles Schumer said Mondat, in response to past instances where passengers were stranded on trains, that there should be a nonbinding "commuter bill of rights" in which the LIRR would voluntarily agree to evacuate passengers from trains if passengers were stranded beyond an established period of time.

SEE PHOTOSLIRR trains and commuters through the years