(The following story by John Valenti appeared on the Newsday website on February 5.)
NEW YORK — There have already been several snags for Long Island Rail operations on Tuesday, a day when officials urged the public to use mass transit — including the LIRR — for travel to Lower Manhattan for the New York Giants parade through the “Canyon of Heroes.”
The LIRR announced Monday it had added 14 trains to the schedule Tuesday to handle the crowds. But, by 9 a.m., four regularly scheduled trains either ran behind schedule or were running behind schedule — perhaps, a bad omen.
The two latest trains operated at least 20 minutes — and, as much as 30 minutes — late, railroad officials said. Another was more than 30 minutes behind schedule, officials said.
The eastbound 7:41 a.m. train from Penn Station, scheduled to arrive in Ronkonkoma at 8:59 a.m., was 20-25 minutes late due to signal problems. The eastbound train scheduled to arrive at Oyster Bay at 8:59 a.m. was 25-30 minutes late because of the signal problems.
And, officials said, the westbound train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station, scheduled to depart at 9:11 a.m., is now being delayed approximately 30 minutes “because of earlier signal problems on the branch.”
It is unclear how long it will take for the timetable to be restored — or if the delays will affect parade-goers. Calls to the railroad were not immediately returned on Tuesday.