East End bridge work to alter LIRR sked

Rehabilitation work on three Hampton Bays bridges means buses will replace trains and alter the schedule twice in October for East End commuters, the Long Island Rail Road said.

Buses will fill in for train service between Montauk and Speonk during two 72-hour track outages -- Oct. 18 to Oct. 21 and Oct. 25 to Oct. 28 -- the LIRR said in a Tuesday news release.

In each instance, the "significant schedule changes for East End customers during both the peak and off-peak periods" run from 2:13 a.m. Tuesday to 2:30 a.m. Friday, the LIRR said.

"The $26 million refurbishing of three bridges in Hampton Bays -- the North Highway Bridge, the Montauk Highway Bridge and the Shinnecock Canal Bridge -- is expected to take two years and result in occasional service suspensions, with buses substituted to transport customers," according to the release.

The repair work on the bridges, built in the early part of the 20th century, is expected to extend their use by 35 to 40 years, the LIRR said. The improvements are financed by the Federal Transit Administration and the MTA Capital Program.

The LIRR also will renew rail crossings at Newtown Lane in East Hampton and Wainscot Harbor Road in Sagaponack.

The weekday dates were picked because more riders travel this segment of the Montauk branch on weekends at this time of year, the service said.

SEE PHOTOSLIRR trains and commuters through the years

About 444 westbound customers and 370 eastbound customers will be affected.

Commuters can expect up to 40 minutes of additional travel time depending on their trip.

Each 72-hour outage will result in the cancellation, between Speonk and Montauk, of nine trains on Tuesday, 10 trains on Wednesday, 10 trains Thursday and one train on Friday.

Buses will replace the following morning peak and afternoon peak trains between Speonk and Montauk during both outages.

Eastbound

The 6:17 p.m. train from Jamaica will end at Speonk at 7:55 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Westbound

The 5:39 a.m. train from Montauk scheduled to arrive in Speonk at 6:49 a.m. will instead originate from Speonk on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The complete altered schedule is at www.mta.info/lirr or available by calling 511 in New York.