Major disruptions to LIRR next weekend; Hempstead, Oyster Bay branches suspended

Commuters should expect major disruptions on the Long Island Rail Road this upcoming weekend, with the Hempstead and Oyster Bay branches fully suspended, as workers make signal upgrades near Elmont-UBS Arena, MTA officials announced.

The Hempstead Branch will stop running at 8 p.m. on Friday, July 24, and the Oyster Bay Branch will stop running at 10 p.m.

Also beginning at 10 p.m. Friday, the Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma branches will operate only between Hicksville and points east.

Trains will not stop at New Hyde Park, Merillon Avenue, Carle Place, or Westbury, the MTA said.

Regular service will resume at 4:30 a.m. on Monday, July 27.

Meanwhile, MTA shuttle buses will run between Jamaica and Hempstead, and between Jamaica and Oyster Bay. Riders can visit the MTA website for details.

The service suspensions are part of the "Queens Interlocking Signal Modernization" project, which the MTA says will help trains run faster and is the next phase of a major upgrade of the infrastructure in the area to allow the railroad to better serve the arena.

"This work will modernize and improve service reliability through a critical junction within our system," Long Island Rail Road president Rob Free said in a statement. "It will also improve the customer experience long after this short-term disruption. In the meantime, we urge customers to plan ahead and allow themselves extra travel time."

The switch work will also affect LIRR service from Aug. 1-3, Aug. 8-10 and Aug. 15-17.

During those weekends, there will be no eastbound trains from Hollis, Queens Village and Elmont-UBS Arena. Bellerose Station will not have any service. No train will run directly between Manhattan and Hempstead, Country Life Press, Garden City, Nassau Boulevard or Stewart Manor.

On those August weekends, hourly shuttles will run from Floral Park and Hempstead.

MTA officials urged riders to use the TrainTime app to check for the last trains running before service changes take effect.