Police probe prompts LIRR delays, cancellations

A police investigation, including a search with canine units, caused cancellations and delays on the Long Island Rail Road's Babylon branch between Rockville Centre and Freeport Wednesday morning, a railroad spokeswoman said. Further east, a broken rail between the Mastic-Shirley station and Speonk caused cancellations and delays on the Montauk branch.

Spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said it was not immediately clear what police departments, other than the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police, were involved in the search.

It also was not immediately clear what type of criminal activity was suspected. Anders could only say the investigation involved a search for a suspect. A Nassau County police spokesman said that agency was not involved in the investigation -- and neither Freeport nor Rockville Centre police were immediately available for comment.

Anders said service on the Babylon branch was expected to be back on or close to schedule for the morning rush hour and said trains on the Montauk branch were operating with minor delays due to speed restrictions in place in the area of the broken rail. It was not immediately clear how long it would take crews to repair that rail, she said.

Officials said three early-morning trains -- the 5:18 a.m. train from Wantagh to Penn Station, the 5:41 a.m. train from Babylon to Penn Station and the 5:44 a.m. train from Amityville to Penn Station -- were canceled due to the police activity. Customers in Wantagh were to be accommodated by the 5:12 a.m. train from Babylon, officials said, while customers inconvenienced by the cancellation of the Babylon train at 5:41 a.m. were to be accommodated by the 5:56 a.m. train from Babylon.

Three other trains on the branch -- the 4:39 a.m. train from Babylon to Penn, the 4:55 a.m. train from Penn to Babylon and the 5:17 a.m. train from Babylon to Atlantic Terminal -- operated with delays ranging from 10 to 40 minutes, the railroad said.

Meanwhile, at least one train on the Montauk branch -- the 4:37 a.m. train from Speonk to Babylon -- was canceled due to the situation with the broken rail. The railroad originally sent out a notice saying the 5:08 a.m. train from Speonk to Penn Station also would be canceled, but later sent out a notice saying that train operated 39 minutes late due to the speed restriction placed on the affected section of track. The 5:30 a.m. train from Speonk, with connections to Hunterspoint Avenue and Long Island City, operated with delays due to the speed restrictions between Mastic-Shirley and Speonk.
 

SEE PHOTOSLIRR trains and commuters through the years