Storm causes delays, suspensions on LIRR, Amtrak, officials say

Both the Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak said they were forced to suspend some service because of problems caused by Friday’s nor’easter.

Amtrak stopped running trains between Boston and Washington, D.C. — and was unable to restore Northeast Corridor service on Friday despite “our best effort,” until Saturday, it said in an alert.

For much of the afternoon, the LIRR warned customers to expect half-hour delays with some trains also canceled, thanks to the storm’s high winds and rain.

And then in the early evening, the railroad halted service for Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma — in both directions — after a utility pole fell on the tracks in Westbury.

Delays pinned on the storm called Riley temporarily prompted transit police to restrict access to Penn Station, the LIRR said on Twitter about 6:30 p.m. That curb had been lifted an one hour later and no crowding was reported, an LIRR spokeswoman said.

The nor’easter was blamed for felling the utility pole in Westbury and the LIRR told passengers to use the South Shore or Hempstead branches instead.

“Customers are advised to delay traveling at this time,” the LIRR Twitter said, announcing it was suspending service on the West Hempstead Branch and east of Great Neck on the Port Washington Branch due to “weather-related” problems.

And the LIRR said east- and westbound trips were suspended between Great Neck and Port Washington “due to weather-related signal problems.”

Due to congestion, there was a 36-minute delay for the outbound trip from Penn to Hempstead, it said.

Later, the 6:30 p.m. train from Patchogue to Babylon ran 35 minutes late after it hit a tree that had fallen across the tracks near Bay Shore station, according to the LIRR Twitter.