(The following story by John Valenti appeared on the Newsday website on July 3.)
NEW YORK — It’s turning into a bad morning for the Long Island Rail Road — and for commuters.
Problems with a switch west of Jamaica Station caused one rush-hour train from Huntington to Hunterspoint Avenue to be rerouted to Penn Station and caused a second train to be delayed Thursday, railroad officials said. Equipment problems forced the cancellation of a westbound rush-hour train from Freeport, officials said.
The 6:48 a.m. train from Huntington, scheduled to arrive at Hunterspoint Avenue at 7:49 a.m., was the one rerouted to Penn. The 6:42 a.m. train from Huntington to Hunterspoint Avenue was delayed.
The 8:25 a.m. train from Freeport, scheduled to arrive at Penn at 9:08 a.m., was canceled due to unspecified equipment problems. Customers were asked to board another train, instead, officials said.
The LIRR will be operating on a weekend schedule on the Fourth of July.
Long Island Bus transportation will operate on a Sunday schedule and Suffolk County Transit Bus will not operate. New York City buses and trains will run on a Sunday-holiday schedule.