Signal, rail problems cause LIRR morning delays

Emergency work crews responding to a signal outage on the Long Island Rail Road main line near Floral Park discovered a broken rail, resulting in service disruptions between Mineola and Penn Station all morning Thursday.

A railroad spokesman, Rich Mendelson, said the situation affected about 30 trains, causing delays of up to 40 minutes through the area.

Officials were hopeful the situation would be resolved by noon and said it would have no impact on the evening rush.

The problem affected eastbound and westbound trains. Initially, the trouble was reported as a signal circuit failure affecting switches between Mineola and Floral Park, prompting the railroad to enforce a 15 mph speed restriction on trains through the area. That was at about 7 a.m.

Later it was discovered the signal outage was caused by the broken rail, and officials decided to close the affected track, forcing eastbound and westbound trains to alternate through the area on the one remaining track, Mendelson said.

The result has been delays of as much as 40 minutes.

The main line track affected by the broken rail is west of where several eastern branches feed into the system, which affected trains on the Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson, Ronkonkoma, Huntington and even Hempstead branches, officials said.