(Newsday posted the following article by John Valenti on its website on March 13.)
NEW YORK — An equipment problem with a diesel engine on the Long Island Rail Road’s Montauk branch forced the cancellation of two trains Tuesday morning — one eastbound to Montauk and one later that morning westbound from Montauk.
The original equipment problem caused the cancellation of the 8:52 a.m. train from Babylon, which was scheduled to arrive in Montauk at 10:53 a.m., according to the LIRR. A rail road spokesman said passengers were using rail road-provided bus service to get from Babylon to Montauk and riders would be provided bus service from Montauk to Speonk in place of the second cancelled train, the scheduled 11:23 a.m. train from Montauk.
“Those are the only trains affected,” LIRR spokesman James Castle said. “Everything else is running normally.”
Rail road officials said customers on those two trains could expect about a one hour delay in service.
Because the line is a single track to Montauk — and eastbound trains are “turned around” to provide westbound service from the East End — the westbound train also had to be cancelled, Castle said.
Those westbound passengers will be provided with bus service to Speonk, where they will be able to use train service for all stations to the west, according to the LIRR.