Work on LIRR's Port Washington line this weekend

Bus and van service will replace four early morning trains Saturday on the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington line so officials can inspect tracks, the LIRR said this week.

Customers should allow up to 30 minutes of additional travel time in either direction, the commuter service said in a news release.

Here are the changes:

Two eastbound trails departing Penn Station at 12:19 a.m. and 1:19 a.m. that normally end at Port Washington will instead end at Great Neck. Commuters traveling to Port Washington, Plandome and Manhasset can catch buses and vans at Great Neck.

Two westbound trains that normally would depart from Port Washington at 2:10 a.m. and 3:40 a.m. will instead originate 10 minutes later at Great Neck. Buses and vans will pick up customers at Port Washington, Plandome and Manhasset at the regularly scheduled departure times and will travel to Great Neck to meet westbound trains.

The service changes are needed to accommodate ultrasonic inspections by the Sperry Rail Car, a yellow vehicle with ultrasonic and induction test equipment. The car is "designed to detect internal rail defects not readily visible to the human eye," the release said.

The Sperry car is used twice annually to inspect about 500 miles of LIRR track, the service said.

For more information, call 631-231-5477 (Suffolk County), 516-822-5477 (Nassau County) or 718-217-5477 (New York City).