LIRR: Delays, cancellation on 4 branches Friday morning

Travelers on four Long Island Rail Road branches could experience delays and cancellations during Friday morning’s rush hour in the aftermath of an electric wire that fell on tracks in Valley Stream early Thanksgiving morning, the railroad said.

The downed wire sparked a small fire at the electricity substation in Valley Stream and damaged a signal tower, according to the LIRR. The railroad said on Twitter on Thursday night that the damage to its signal system at multiple locations was “extensive.”

The affected branches are the Babylon, Long Beach, Far Rockaway and West Hempstead lines, the railroad said on Twitter. Crews were expected to work through the night.

By 10 p.m. Thursday, the West Hempstead branch had been suspended again — it had resumed service around 4 p.m. but was re-suspended about 4 ½ hours later — and the Babylon branch was still running hourly service, according to the railroad’s website. Travelers faced hours of on-and-off suspensions, cancellations and “significant delays” on multiple branches Thanksgiving Day, with delays as trains went through the Valley Stream area.

The fallen wire, near Satterie Avenue and Sunrise Highway, was reported to PSEG Long Island at 2:42 a.m. Thursday, PSEG Long Island spokeswoman Elizabeth Flagler said. Crews had the wire off the tracks around 10:15 a.m. and finished the utility company’s repairs around 2:30 p.m. PSEG is investigating why the wire fell.

The LIRR was operating on a holiday schedule and had added trains for riders to get to Manhattan for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning. The railroad advised those heading to the parade to use the Hempstead, Huntington/Port Jefferson, Ronkonkoma and Port Washington branches.

Service was restored on the Long Beach Branch by 10:15 a.m. and the Far Rockaway Branch by 11 a.m., the railroad said.

NYC Transit cross-honored LIRR tickets between Jamaica and Penn stations in both directions until 10 a.m.

Separately, service was restored at 10:30 a.m. between Huntington and Port Jefferson after being suspended for 2 ½ hours due to a broken rail near Northport, which was repaired, the LIRR said. On Wednesday night, there were delays due to slippery rail conditions.

Trains also briefly stopped running between Long Beach and Island Park due to a problem with the Reynolds Channel bridge on Thursday morning. It was later repaired.

Shortly after 9 a.m., Juanita Gamble bought a ticket at the Long Beach station to head into Manhattan for a Thanksgiving celebration, only to walk to the platform and find train service was canceled.

Gamble, 48, of Yonkers, had been visiting her boyfriend’s family on Long Island and was trying to get to Manhattan to meet her sister for a meal at the National Action Network’s Thanksgiving event in Harlem.

“Now I’m stuck,” she said, not happy upon hearing about limited bus service replacing trains. “I can’t believe it’s canceled. ... If I had known that, I wouldn’t have bought the ticket. I guess I’ll be catching the bus.”

Gamble said it was a big inconvenience on a holiday for an expensive ticket. “What about us? People travel, go to see their loved ones and this and that ... too much.”

With Bridget Murphy