Local Commuters Sound Off as LIRR Continues Reduced Service Wednesday

Despite being a couple days removed from the fire at a switching station in Jamaica that threw the Long Island Rail Road into chaos, things don't expect to improve for commuters on Wednesday.

The railroad is once again canceling 25 percent of its westbound trains during the morning rush, and will run 66 percent of its evening trains--as opposed to the 60 percent that ran on Tuesday.

West Islip commuters at the LIRR's Babylon station were coping with the delays the best they could, as many of them had no alternate means of transportation.

James Rice, of West Islip, who doesn't own a car, had been unable to get to work Monday, and was delayed getting there by over an hour on Tuesday.

"I don't think the LIRR runs well on the best of days," he said. "But this is nuts, and I hear it's going to go on like this until the end of the month at least."

As is the case at other LIRR stations such as Massapequa and Massapequa Park, Babylon's electronic train schedule screens were blank, creating additional confusion among commuters who had no idea as to when to expect their train, provided it was still running.

The LIRR has announced that it may take at least several days to repair the damage from Monday's fire, as over two-hundred wires need to be checked for possible damage. Until then, limited railroad service is expected to continue.

Still, not all West Islip residents were falling victim to the LIRR's misfortunes. Yesterday Gene Anelli somehow managed to find one of the few trains home from Manhattan that were actually running on time.

"I left work, got to Penn Station at 4:35 p.m., and got right on the 4:37 to Babylon," he said. "I was in Babylon by 6:00 p.m."

The LIRR is urging commuters to monitor their website for updates on schedule changes, at least one commuter interviewed at the Babylon station noted that the revised schedules were, in fact, not being displayed on the LIRR site.

"I checked the site, and the schedules looked like business as usual," said Margret Daisley, of West Islip. "So I drove down here to confirm that my train was still running when it was supposed to be."

Some residents aren't as fortunate as West Islip's Lou Como. "I got to work two hours late yesterday, but it wasn't any inconvenience to me," he said. "My boss takes care of me when I'm late, so it wasn't a big deal."