LIRR strike: Riding the last train to Huntington

"This is the last train of the night," an intercom announcement bellowed at Jamaica Station for trains to Ronkonkoma and Huntington, not long after LIRR workers went on strike just past midnight.

Dozens of confused passengers had scrambled onto what they believed was the final train of the night at Penn Station, an 11:37 headed to Jamaica. (Another eventually left Penn at 1:30 a.m.)

One of them was Kaitlyn Rivera, 31, of Babylon. She was among several concertgoers trying to get home from an Ashnikko concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Midtown.

Rivera stood in costume with cat ears and bright blue and white makeup covering her face. "It's a nightmare," Rivera said just before midnight. "I hoped that maybe one would keep running, and it is the last running train tonight, so I'm feeling really grateful that I picked the right train to get out on."

Rivera, who is a flight attendant, said the LIRR strike could halt many of her co-workers getting to work at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports.

"A lot of flight attendants don't drive into work. We take the LIRR," Rivera said. "So, it's really difficult, and I'm thinking about my brothers and sisters that are all flight attendants who are not going to be able to get in on to work, they're going to be in trouble."

Kevin Bonilla, 28, of Westbury, also attended the concert and had caught the train. "I really didn't think about it and suddenly all the trains were gone," he said. "The LIRR has always just been there and it's something people rely on."

At Jamaica, weary passengers waited for the last train to Huntington to arrive shortly before 12:30 a.m.; others caught their breath after frantically trying to get home on the railroad they had once taken for granted. Commuters rushed up the steps at Jamaica as new track numbers were announced, even while they were assured the trains would wait.

Minutes later they were gone, final passengers on board.

Ticket-takers didn't walk the aisles checking fares after the deadline had passed, effectively giving some passengers a free ride or wasting their paid tickets.

Buying tickets and knowing which trains were coming had become a nearly impossible mission Friday as trains seemingly ran at random, compounded by damage from an Amtrak track fire in the East River tunnel the day before.

Cruz Chavez, 18, of Huntington, rode with his friends from Brooklyn after catching the last train of the night at Jamaica.

He said they had looked for an Uber, with fares topping $100. "It was hectic and very stressful," Cruz said.

The last train arrived at Huntington at 1:12 a.m., stranding some customers who were attempting to get to Port Jefferson and even Long Beach.

Laura Ladekarl, 22, of Brooklyn, was trying to go to a friend's graduation at Stony Brook. After arriving in Huntington, she waited for a friend to pick her up.

She hadn't realized the strike could disrupt train service beyond the weekend and didn't have an immediate plan to get home.

"They told me if you don't come tonight, you may not come at all," Ladekarl said.

Newsday's Janon Fisher contributed to this story.