The MTA is taking seriously a proposal to bring Metro-North and 28,000 more commuters to Penn Station. Trains on the Hudson and New Haven lines would use existing Amtrak lines to service the West Side, but the LIRR would be forced to cut some service to make room for Metro-North, a move that advocates for the plan say is only fair given that the LIRR will serve Grand Central in 2018. Naturally, some (read: Long Islanders) are skeptical. "It's the old saying," the executive director for the Association for a Better Long Island tells Newsday. "Once it's gone, it's gone forever." Yet this assertion was famously disproved by the McRib and the Mickey Rourke Accords of 2005. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] We've received a report that a Manhattan-bound F train was delayed this morning because a woman was going into labor, and the MTA has confirmed it. The woman was "removed by EMS from Southbound F Train at 21st-Queensbridge," and the delay was from 8:58 a.m. until 9:21 a.m. This is officially a trend! Will the next issue of Brooklyn Magazine skewer the designer afghans you can spread out on train benches for when little Dylan greets the world? more ›

Last night around 11:15 p.m., a freight train running on LIRR tracks derailed near Wyandanch, forcing the MTA to suspend service along the Ronkonkoma Branch while they cleared the train. Luckily, it looks like the morning commute is running smoothly. more ›

The things smokers will do for a puff after a night on the town! Early Sunday morning MTA police arrested two LIRR passengers after one was allegedly smoking on the train and the other punched a conductor who tried to make the smoking stop. Thinking you can still smoke on LIRR platforms, we can get—the ban on that is only months old—but who really expects to light up on an actual train anymore? more ›

We have nothing but respect for anyone who has to commute via the Long Island Rail Road in the wee hours of the morning. We may think of the LIRR primarily as the domain of pants-tearing seats, effervescent revelers and boozy belligerents, but those crowds don't usually mix with pre-dawn workers...except when they do. In the video below, a group serenades their LIRR car with an enthusiastic rallying song at 6 a.m. It may sound terribly shrill and inconsiderate to us, but maybe you'll find their whooping charming. We'd wager that the man trying to sleep two seats behind them is wishing he had snuck into one of the new quiet cars. more ›

The Long Island Rail Road, home of pants-tearing seats as well as some enthusiastic partiers, has started a pilot program for quiet cars today. Due to customer demand, the last car of the four AM peak trains and the first car of the six PM peak trains are designated quiet cars. LIRR President Helena Williams said, "As more and more electronic devices enter our lives - smart phones, cell phones, DVD and music players, tablets - many of our customers have asked for some relief from the noise they can create during their commute to and from work and other activities. This pilot is meant to respond to customers who seek quiet during their travels on the LIRR and is part of our overall effort to improve customer service." more ›

Last night, a construction worker died after being hit by falling concrete while working in a tunnel under Grand Central Terminal. According to the Daily News, Michael O'Brien "was killed Thursday night in the collapse of a railroad tunnel deep under Park Ave., despite his father’s heroic efforts to save him... The young worker’s father, who was working alongside him, frantically tried to revive his son with CPR as workers rushed him through a network of tunnels to a waiting ambulance at E. 48th St. and Park Ave., the source said." more ›

As numerous studies have shown, smoking cigarettes is one of the coolest activities in the world. The only thing cooler than smoking is taking illicit puffs after a lushy celebrity tells you not to. After a smoking ban on LIRR platforms went into effect yesterday, the Post found a smoker who was lighting up with gusto, despite the audio announcements telling him it was illegal. "Joe Namath just told me I couldn't smoke, so I wanted to," a 28-year-old man said at the Hicksville station. No word on whether Katie Couric will track him down and tell him what an awful person he is. more ›

A man was struck and killed by a northbound 6 train this morning at 8:46 a.m. in the Bleecker Street station. The FDNY and the MTA had no other information regarding the victim, and service has been suspended on the 4/5/6 trains between Grand Central and Wall Street pending an investigation. more ›

Sometimes you really have to go, even if you're being charged with commiting disability pension fraud. Prosecutors said that one of the defendants in the billion-dollar LIRR disability pension scam, Maria Rusin, purposefully urinated on herself because she didn't want to face charges. The Post reports that Assistant US Attorney Justin Weddle said that Rusin “slumped over and did other things to make it appear she needed medical attention" on Thursday. Oh, and the Post wants us to know that federal courtroom chair still had signs of her "bladder bumble." more ›

While announcing that eleven people were charged in a billion-dollar Long Island Rail Road disability pension scheme, the federal authorities said that this was just the beginning. According to Newsday, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara "said his office would explore civil cases to recover money, as well as new criminal cases, and FBI Criminal Division of New York special agent Diego Rodriguez urged people who had been part of the fraud to come forward -- but declined to promise leniency": "Who has better information about this scheme...than those who perpetrated it? We look forward to hearing from you. For those who choose not to contact us, there's a good chance we'll be contacting you." more ›

Like so many today, The Friars Club is not happy with the MTA. As the Post reports, the legendary private club that made roasting de rigueur is very worried that an LIRR ventilation plant that is set to go right by its townhouse headquarters will silence it forever. Poor MTA, damned when it doesn't do anything and damned when it finally does. more ›

The survey says the Countdown Clocks are a big hit, with 96% of customers declaring satisfaction with the clocks. Overall satisfaction with local bus service increased to 70% from 62% last year, and 76% were satisfied with information about planned service changes. But this survey isn't a total pat on the back for the MTA: customer satisfaction declined on both the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North. Of course, there's an explanation for that, says the MTA. more ›

Senator Charles Schumer had his Sunday press conference decrying prescription drug price-gouging, but since this is Columbus Day, he's having ANOTHER one today about a Long Island Rail Road passengers' bill of rights, spurred by the September 29 lightning strike that made commuting a mess. His office said it would be "similar to a passenger's bill of rights established for the airline industry, to provide baseline protections for passengers of Long Island's commuter rail system." more ›

Yesterday afternoon, lightning hit Long Island Rail Road operations near Jamaica, causing a signal problem that then cascaded into service suspensions across LIRR as well as a temporary closure of Penn Station due to crowding. Service eventually came back later in the evening... only for it to be suspended again. However, today, the MTA believes that the LIRR morning commute—after crews worked all night to restore service— will "operate near-normal morning rush hour service... However, customers are advised that there will be some canceled trains and some delays." more ›

If the camera work on Jersey Shore, which are seemingly (and without reason) shot through an Instagram filter, doesn't induce enough motion sickness, then perhaps you'll enjoy this field footage of a group of B&T folks "coming into the city" to party via the Long Island Rail Road. It's a little bit like Being John Malkovich, except that our unnamed portal manages to grunt out about ten words rather than just his full name. more ›

Apple is all over transit these days. Not only is the California company readying a flagship store in Grand Central, its iPhones are soon to be all over the Long Island Railroad. And we aren't talking about the ones in the purses of passengers heading out to the Hamptons (though they actually are important to this story). No, we're talking about the fact that starting today select LIRR conductors are being outfitted with iPhones [Reg. req'd.] that will allow them to accept credit cards from passengers on board trains. Between this and meter payments via cellphone, the future is very clearly now! more ›

You've got just 90 days left to kill time by killing yourself while waiting for a train on LIRR and Metro-North platforms. Smoking is already verboten on NYC subway platforms, even in if they're outside, and today Governor Cuomo signed into law new smoking prohibitions that expand the existing smoking ban to outdoor ticketing, boarding or platform areas of railroad stations operated by the MTA or its subsidiaries. more ›

This derailment of a NJ Transit train leaving Penn Station this morning translates not just into problems for NJ Transit and Amtrak—Long Island Rail Road commuters will suffer as well! The MTA said, "As a result of a New Jersey Transit train derailment near Penn Station, LIRR customers should anticipate some cancellations, track changes and delays during this evening's rush hour. NJ Transit and Amtrak will be sharing tracks 15 and 16 at Penn Station this evening as part of an effort to route their trains around the derailment. The LIRR will provide regular LIRR service from Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn and Hunterspoint Avenue in Queens." It couldn't hurt to grab a Staff Pick before you head home. more ›

No wonder people seem to be paying their way into an MTA job: according to a study [pdf] released yesterday, average salaries at the transit agency increased by 3 percent, to $71,237 from 2010, and payroll itself swelled by $71 million, or 1.4 percent, despite the fact that the MTA shed 852 employees last year. According to the Empire Center (i.e. the Manhattan Institute), "For the third consecutive year, more than 10 percent of the MTA's workforce—7,993 individuals—took home $100,000 or more in total pay." Perhaps MTA employees have been working both smarter and harder to make up for the loss of their peers. more ›

The MTA wants everyone to "See Something, Say Something" forever, and people are doing just that. Last night, Long Island Rail Road service between Huntington and Hicksville on the Port Jefferson line was suspended, thanks to some white coolers. more ›

Though we looked up from the rabble to jeer at our seersuckered overlords last week, perhaps we should have averted our gaze downward into the subway. Today's Daily News profiles another infamous "pension padder" who made an extra $175,000 in overtime by cashing in sick and vacation days. more ›