New LIRR schedules start Tuesday with minute changes
The LIRR said new timetables include “no major changes to rush hour service,” and only “minor adjustments to departure and arrival times.” Still, some riders questioned adjustments. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
New Long Island Rail Road schedules taking effect Tuesday have left some commuters wondering why their train ride will take longer, even if it isn’t making any more stops.
In a message sent to customers Wednesday, the LIRR said the new timetables include "no major changes to rush hour service," and only "minor adjustments to departure and arrival times."
But some commuters point out that some of those adjustments appear to add a few minutes to train travel times, even without adding any stops to a trip. As an example, the 7:52 a.m. weekday Port Washington branch train that is currently scheduled to get into Grand Central Madison at 8:31 will instead get in at 8:32.
Similarly, a 7:27 morning train from Ronkonkoma that is currently set to arrive at Penn Station at 8:46 will instead depart at 7:26 — a minute earlier — and arrive at 8:47 — a minute later, according to the newly published timetables, which will remain in effect through Nov. 9. The train will keep its existing stopping pattern under the new schedule.
Several other rush hour trains on the branch are undergoing similar schedules changes.
In a statement, Aaron Donovan, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the LIRR's parent organization, said the new schedules include adjustments related to track work projects, including Amtrak's ongoing East River Tunnel rehabilitation project, which is keeping one of the four tunnels linking to Penn out of service.
The tunnel-related schedule adjustments "are based on analysis of train operations since the outage began and train operations throughout the system to properly reflect accurate trip times," said Donovan, adding the changes aim to "ensure better adherence to schedules across all parts of a train’s run."
MTA Board documents published in July noted other projects causing schedules to be "temporarily adjusted" include the installation of switches near Ronkonkoma "to improve operations and reliability," and, on the Port Washington branch, "track surfacing and maintenance activities to maintain state of good repair and provide a smoother, quieter ride for our customers."
But Ronkonkoma commuter Allen Wone questioned if other factors are at play.
"I think they’re padding the schedule to keep their on-time percentages good," said Wone, whose usual 5:51 a.m. train will instead depart at 5:49 beginning Tuesday, but keep its existing Penn Station arrival time of 7:06, without making any added stops.
The LIRR has regularly boasted of strong on-time performance figures in recent months. Through the first-half of 2025, 96.5% of trains operated on-time. The railroad considers a train on-time if it arrives at its final destination within five minutes and 59 seconds of its scheduled time.
Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.
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