Few answers from remaining LIRR workers
Commuters try to make one of the last LIRR trains out of Penn Station Friday night. Credit: Thomas Hengge
With LIRR service already limited from the tunnel fire a day earlier, Penn Station had little sign of railroad workers as the possible strike approached Friday night.
A lone LIRR customer service rep and MTA police officer were inside one of the few remaining trains at Penn Station Friday night, and suggested to some patrons going to Grand Central Madison before midnight if they wanted more service options.
Trains to Port Washington and Ronkonkoma appeared to be leaving every half hour, but there was no set schedule at Penn Station. MTA Police suggested boarding the next train to Ronkonkoma and transferring at Jamaica.
Several commuters were confused on how to get home.
"It's 10 o'clock and where is everybody," said Mike Smyth, a retired court officer from Long Beach.
He had just seen Jazz at Lincoln Center and came into the station wondering when the next train would leave.
"The strike isn't hard until midnight, but there are no Long Island Rail Road people here."
By 10:30 p.m., several commuters came up to Newsday reporters asking for train schedule information because the information booth was temporarily unmanned. When the worker checked into the booth, she said that she was unaware of any future trains leaving from Penn Station.
The attendant at the ticket booth said she was also unaware of any future departure, though a 10:42 train to Huntington was on the board.
There doesn't appear to be any additional LIRR staff working to answer questions, despite the irregular departure schedule.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
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