LIRR Service Halted Between Queens And Nassau On Oyster Bay Line

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Traveling between Queens and Nassau County is shaping up to be a bit more challenging on Friday, since Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) service is suspended on the Oyster Bay line, according to the transit agency.

According to an announcement posted on the LIRR website Friday morning, trains aren't running from Queens to Nassau County on the Oyster Bay line, in order to give crews time to remove fallen trees from the tracks following a night of severe thunderstorms across the tri-state area.

Oyster Bay trains will make all stops between Penn Station and Jamaica, but after leaving Queens, the LIRR said that train service will be replaced by busses between the Mineola and Oyster Bay stations.

As of 10:30 a.m. on Friday, the commuter rail system had begun replacing train service with bus service. It is unclear how long it will take for the Oyster Bay branch to resume complete service.

The Oyster Bay line stops in three stations in Queens — Jamaica, Hunterspoint Avenue, and Woodside — as well as the Atlantic Terminal station in Brooklyn, and Penn Station in Manhattan.

This service change is only one of many infrastructural setback that the city is facing after a severe thunderstorm swept through the area on Thursday.

The damage has led local leaders to call for action against climate change.

Astoria's former City Council Member Costa Constantides, who up until recently chaired the councils' Committee on Environmental Protection, shared a video of one of the city's flooded subway stations, commenting, "climate change is real and we need to act more decisively and quickly to make our city more resilient and sustainable."