Officials: LIRR woes through Friday

LIRR disruptions to and from Penn Station will last into Friday as repairs to damage caused by a Sunday Amtrak derailment continue longer than expected, officials said Tuesday.

Although Amtrak officials said Tuesday afternoon that they were trying to have repairs completed by Thursday morning, Long Island Rail Road spokesman Joe Calderone said Tuesday night that Amtrak and the LIRR agreed they'd need an extra day.

"We're obviously disappointed," Calderone said. "We know this is going to further inconvenience our customers. They've had a difficult week."

Calderone said moving materials and crews into and out of the cramped East River tunnel where an Amtrak train derailed Sunday has proved "logistically difficult" and "more time consuming than anticipated."

By 5 p.m. Tuesday, Amtrak officials told LIRR officials they'd replaced 160 of the 275 wooden rail ties damaged in the derailment, the LIRR said.

Calderone said the LIRR expects to have service fully restored in time for the Friday morning commute.

LIRR president Helena Williams said in a statement that she was disappointed "that Amtrak was not able to complete their repair work in time to meet the goal of returning to normal service by Thursday."

"However," she added, "I believe that Amtrak is making every effort to return the tunnel back to service as quickly as possible."

LIRR officials said Tuesday that it took longer than expected to begin the repair work. Sunday's five-car train, which carried no passengers when it derailed while going 60 mph, was not cleared out of the tunnel until Monday evening. Amtrak hoped to begin the repairs Monday afternoon. Amtrak crews are working around the clock on the repairs.

"We've been working on it since we cleared the fifth car [Monday]," Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said.

While Amtrak crews toiled inside the narrow confines of the tunnel just underneath First Avenue Tuesday, thousands of LIRR commuters endured the second day of rush-hour cancellations, major delays and crowded train cars.

The LIRR, once again, plans to cancel or divert 22 trains during Wednesday morning's commute, and cancel 20 at today's evening rush. Officials said commuters should allow for an extra 10 to 20 minutes of travel time due to delays.

Westbound service into Penn Station from Woodside and Jamaica also remains suspended during evening peak hours.

"I think I just suffered the first panic attack of my life," said Joe Natoli, 51, of Inwood, who was en route to Kew Gardens but got off a stop early at Jamaica to take the subway because his train was so packed Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Williams Tuesday weighed in on calls from some Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members for the LIRR to try to take over maintenance of the Penn Station tracks and the East River tunnels. She said she didn't see that changing.

Williams said LIRR ridership was down about 5 percent Monday due to the disruptions.