Amtrak Derailment Disrupts East Meadow Commuters

Another day, another headache for residents of East Meadow commuting on the Long Island Rail Road as delays and cancellations continue. 

This is nothing new for the thousands of Long Island rail passengers. Throughout the last year they have dealt with snowstorms, tornadoes, station fires and countless other service interruptions.

This time the cause came courtesy of the Amtrak service that had a train derailed in one of the east river tunnels that is shared with the Long Island Rail Road.

“I almost feel bad for the LIRR...for once it was not their fault,” Sam Cooper of East Meadow said.

According to the MTA website, 22 trains on Tuesday morning were either cancelled or diverted during the morning rush hour commute. There also were scattered 10-20 minute delays throughout most transit lines. Service is expected to be impacted until at least Wednesday morning as workers continue to repair the damaged track inside the tunnel.

Passengers that normally take direct routes to Penn Station have been forced to  wait for later trains or transfer at Jamaica waiting for already crowded trains to finish their commute to New York City.

The MTA announced that it is cross honoring Long Island Rail Road tickets to use on the E, J and Z subway lines at the Jamaica station to help relieve the congestion on the trains.

“It is ridiculous, they need more tunnels” Marie Pacqous of East Meadow said. “I don’t get why trains are still being derailed.”

At the Merrick train station on Tuesday morning, the popular 7:43 a.m. train was cancelled for the second day in a row.

“It’s extremely annoying. I plan my morning on the 7:43 train, drive 10 minutes to the station and find out - only when I get there - that the train is cancelled,” Cooper said.

This was an improvement from Monday, where both the 7:43 a.m. and and 7:53 a.m. trains cancelled from Merrick. Commuters also experienced 20 to 30 minute delays on the Babylon line.

Commuters can get the most up to date information on train delays and cancellation by visiting the MTA website at mta.info or by calling the LIRRs Travel Information Center at 718-217-5477 (LIRR).