LIRR preparing riders for major service disruption

A week away from what officials say is the largest planned disruption in train service in 16 years, the Long Island Rail Road is working hard to warn riders who will be affected by the final stages of modernizing Jamaica Station's signal and switching system.

The LIRR has launched a wide-reaching media campaign about the "extremely limited" train service available Oct. 23 and 24, and again on Nov. 6 and 7, during the final tests of the $56-million project.

To try to ensure no one is caught off guard by the service changes, the LIRR has distributed brochures to riders for three weeks and made announcements at stations. On Friday, the LIRR began running ads in newspapers and on the radio.

The railroad also is using mass e-mails and a YouTube video.

"We don't want anybody to be surprised," LIRR president Helena Williams said Friday. "We want everybody to be able to map out their travel options in advance."

During the two weekends, Penn Station service will be about one-third of that on a typical weekend. On some lines, buses will replace trains, and customers will be directed to take the E subway line to or from Jamaica. There will be no Brooklyn service at all.

The Port Washington branch is the only one of the system's 11 lines that won't be disrupted, because it does not go through Jamaica.

The LIRR is advising customers to allow an additional 70 minutes of travel time and recommending that people not even use the railroad unless it is essential.

The LIRR has performed similar switch-and-signal modernization projects in recent years, including at Valley Stream last year. But officials said the last project to have such a major impact on service was the modernization of Penn Station's signaling system in 1994.

"The Jamaica Cut-over," as it is called, entails changing from the century-old, lever-thrown, manual switching and signal system there to one regulated by computer microprocessors. About 1,000 tests will be conducted over the two weekends.

During the first weekend, the LIRR will hand over control of the switching and signals system from two of Jamaica's three signal and switching towers - named Jay and Dunton - to a centralized control room in the AirTrain building next to Jamaica Station.

The functions of the third tower - named Hall - will be computerized over Nov. 6 and 7. It was an electrical fire inside the antiquated Hall Tower that knocked out Jamaica's switching and signal system - the busiest hub of the busiest commuter railroad in the nation - for a full week in August. The modernization project had been planned for years before the fire.

LIRR officials say the new system will be more efficient and easier to repair the next time there's a problem.

Handling the service disruptions

Here's travel information for people taking the LIRR on the weekends of Oct. 23-24 and Nov. 6-7, when severe service disruptions will occur because of work to modernize the switching system at Jamaica Station.

• Service into and out of Penn Station will be reduced from about nine trains an hour to about three.

• North Shore branches will be affected more than South Shore lines. Trains will be considerably less frequent on the Hempstead, Huntington, Oyster Bay and Port Jefferson lines.

• Trains on South Shore lines, including the Babylon, Far Rockaway, Long Beach and Ronkonkoma branches, will go through Jamaica and into and out of Penn Station, but at reduced schedules.

• Service on the Port Washington Branch, which does not go through Jamaica, will be unaffected.

• Buses will replace trains between Mineola and Jamaica, where customers will be directed to the E subway line.

• There will be no service to and from Forest Hills, Hollis, New Hyde Park, Kew Gardens, Laurelton, Locust Manor, Merillon Avenue, Rosedale, St. Albans and all Brooklyn stations, including Atlantic Terminal.

For detailed schedule information, visit mta.info or click here.