(The following story by Steve Ritea appeared on the Newsday website on February 26.)
NEW YORK — An MTA committee approved systemwide e-mail upgrades yesterday, reducing the risk of server freeze-ups that can prevent customers from receiving alerts about service disruptions on the Long Island Rail Road.
The upgrades will also allow those signed up for e-mail alerts to specify which days of the week and times they want to receive service alerts, a spokesman said. The current system allows users to sign up for a certain branch, but they must receive every alert.
A server freeze prevented most of the 22,100 signed up from receiving alerts for three hours during the Feb. 12 evening commute, when LIRR service was suspended after a train hit a car near Wyandanch and a train lost power around Valley Stream.
The upgrade, due by summer, will route all e-mails through an outside company, Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Jeremy Soffin said. The company has much greater Internet capacity than the MTA’s current system.
“We’re desperate for communications improvement on the railroad and that’s an excellent step,” said Gerard Bringmann, president of the LIRR Commuter Council. “I’m a little more comfortable with them turning the technology over to the technology experts.”
The upgrade will also allow subway riders for the first time to receive up-to-the-minute service alerts via e-mail. That system now offers only weekly e-mail updates.
The MTA board’s finance panel approved a $600,000, five-year contract with MIS Science Corp. of California.
To sign up for LIRR e-mail alerts under the current system, visit http://advisory.longislandrailroad.info.