Island Park at center of LIRR delay

A problem at the Island Park LIRR station on Dec. 9 caused problems on the Long Beach Branch for over two hours during the rush hour commute.

A switch problem just south of the Island Park station caused the 7:36 a.m. train bound for Long Beach to become disabled, said MTA Spokesman Aaron Donovan. The train stopped on the tracks right where the single track from Island Park splits into two in Long Beach.

The stopped train caused the 7:56 and 8:03 trains out of Long Beach to be canceled.

“[The train] which usually departs Long Beach at 8:08 had to originate in Oceanside,” said Donovan. ‘So that train ran, but it missed its first two stations.”

Service was fully restored on the Long Beach branch by 10:17 a.m. But during that time, only one train, the 8:38 train, departed from Long Beach, and that train ran 53 minutes late.

The last train affected was the 8:58 train, which left from Island Park instead of Long Beach.

Westbound riders in Island Park, Oceanside, East Rockaway and Lynbrook were affected, even though the train that caused the problems was going eastbound. Riders at those stations were informed over the public address system to cross over to the eastbound platform to board their westbound trains, as the trains were all operating on one track to bypass the problem.

“The eastbound trains were on or close to schedule, except for the train that caused the incident,” Donovan said. “And there were four more trains that were between 8 and eleven minutes late. The major problems were westbound.”

As for the train that caused the problem, it was able to back up to the platform in Island Park so the 25 or so riders on board could get off. They then crossed to the other platform and caught the next train to Long Beach, which arrived around 8:15 a.m.

“Those folks completed their journey to Long Beach about 45 minutes late,” Donovan said.