There were early morning delays between Hicksville and Jamaica due to switch trouble.
The LIRR operated a near-normal morning rush hour on Wednesday and offered extra, early-afternoon eastbound service out of Penn Station to get customers home. By late afternoon, more than 90 percent of the customers who traveled in during the morning had returned home safely. The LIRR experienced significantly lower ridership - 46 percent less than usual - as a result of Wednesday's storm.
In continuing to deal with the storm, the LIRR has its switch heaters on, is operating its antifreeze trains and regular electric train cars are equipped with special scraper shoes to help reduce third rail icing. LIRR deployed extra personnel throughout the railroad to keep the system up and running and to inform customers of our winter storm service schedule.
Customers are urged to check on LIRR service before heading to train stations by monitoring the LIRR's Web site at MTA.info/LIRR, listening to the latest news broadcasts and traffic reports and/or signing up for our free E-Alerts.
LINK: LIRR TEXT ALERTS
LIRR employees will be working as hard as possible to clear tracks of snow and restore service on the secondary branches, as part of the second stage of snow clearing, with the goal of providing regular interval service for the evening rush hour.
Meanwhile, Suffolk County officials said a Brookhaven man died of a heart attack Wednesday morning while shoveling.
It appears to be the first weather-related death in our area. They are not identifying the man or giving out any more information due to privacy laws.
There were also three injuries related to snow blower accidents in the county. In terms of vehicle accidents, Suffolk County responded to 62 accidents between midnight and 11:30 a.m.
Authorities said conditions remain very treacherous and anyone driving needs to use extreme caution.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy urged that all residents who do not need to leave their homes should not do so.
He also reminded residents to use 911 only for life-threatening emergencies, not for information. Residents with non-emergency situations can use the SCPD non-emergency number 852-COPS (852-2677) or the Suffolk County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services line at 852-4900.
