Winter storm delays Long Island Rail Road

Due to heavy snow and deteriorating weather conditions, the Long Island Rail Road and Mass Transit Authority has shut down all service after 4 p.m. Commuters are urged to stay at home through the duration of the storm until the snow and ice can be cleared from the tracks.

"Our system was running for a regular Saturday schedule but nearly all branches of the rail road have been either delayed or canceled," LIRR and MTA spokesperson Salvatore Arena said. "We are doing the best we can to keep people safe."

For safety purposes, the LIRR and MTA put out an advisory announcement earlier today to shut down the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad and above-ground subway service in an orderly fashion.

"This will give us the opportunity to bring out our clearing trains and remove any ice and snow from the tracks," Arena said. "Hopefully we can restore the larger branches such as the Babylon line, Ronkonkoma line and Huntington line, for people to travel."

Although the MTA isn't sure when service will be up and running, they plan to restore it as early as possible.

"We should have our service completely back to normal for the Monday morning commute," Arena added. "But until then all we can do is try and clear it as much as possible and wait out the storm."

For more information visit: alert.mta.info