LIRR Rolls Out Updated TrainTime App, Notification System

HICKSVILLE, NY — The Long Island Rail Road has rolled out upgrades to its notification system — allowing passengers to view real-time information on platform screens, hear updated announcements, and check seating availability — along with plans for its restored service on Monday, officials announced Wednesday.

LIRR officials decided to resume its regular schedule earlier this month after riders complained about crowded trains lacking in social distancing and aired concerns about COVID-19. Officials said the new notification features will allow passengers to plan their rides to address their concerns about the possibility of crowding.

LIRR President Phil Eng described the upgrades, which comes days before the transit system returns to its old schedule that was in effect from Jan. 25 to March 5, as “unmatched anywhere in the world.”

“As our customers come back to the system, we are providing them as much information about their ride as possible, including more tools to find space on a train,” said Eng, who made the announcement at a news conference at the Hicksville train station on Wednesday. “Whether they are making use of signs, announcements or phones, customers now have access to a level of clarity that previous generations of riders could hardly have imagined.”

The LIRR’s digital platform signs will show a diagram of an arriving train, seating capacity in each car, and the passenger’s relative position, according to a news release. The information will be color-coded at 20 stations, using guidelines from the Americans with Disabilities Act, and monochrome screens will display the information graphically at about 90 stations, according to officials.

The revamp includes new aural notifications, using different voices to advise customers on where the approaching train is and where they will likely find more seats, officials said. Automated arrival announcements will include statements like, “The 7:15 train to Penn Station will arrive on Track 1. There are more seats towards the [rear/middle/front] of the train,” officials said.

The TrainTime app, which was launched last year with a four-tier color-coded system showing seat availability, will also be more detailed, officials said. It will now show the number of passengers in each car of every train, refreshing every 15 seconds, as well as the passenger’s relative position within the train, according to officials.

A new feature of the app is that it will allow passengers to find a train by searching for a car number on that train, and they also be able to see the location of all incoming trains on one map for a given station, officials said. The updated app will also feature enhanced support for iPad users, according to officials.

TrainTime app users will also be able to locate elevators, escalators, and ramps on both origin and destination platforms, “giving customers the ability to map out a trip in advance and position themselves in the ideal spot,” officials said.

The app, which was tweaked after input from LIRR staff that traveled station-by-station to collect 900 data points, will also feature an enhanced screen reader support for blind or low-vision users by reading out loud what is on the screen and adapting the speech output to the speed or volume they choose, officials said.

Officials said that all the new notification features, which were built in-house, were powered by the same “sophisticated first-in-the-industry data system” that uses sensors to determine train capacity.

The roughly 70,000 customers who already use TrainTime, which is available on the APP store and Google Play, will receive an automatic update so that they can use the new features, officials said.

Also included in the revamp is a new chat function that will allow LIRR customers to chat in real-time directly with customer service staff, officials said.

The announcement came the same day as the agency releasing its previous schedule.

LIRR officials said that on the Port Washington Branch, where crews are replacing concrete ties between Mets-Willets Point and Bayside, mid-day trains will operate every hour instead of every 30 minutes, but rush hour service will operate at a level similar to what was in place prior to March 8.

The work, which is part of a track renewal project expected to last through late May, also influences one evening rush hour train on the Hempstead Branch, which will originate at Atlantic Terminal instead of Penn Station, officials said.

MTA Chief Accessibility Officer Quemuel Arroyo said the LIRR is really enhancing the way it approaches systemwide accessibility.

“These upgrades to the TrainTime app are important tools to guide people to mobile access points and to help navigate our system,” he said. “I will push to expand these features throughout the MTA so that all transit riders can benefit from the innovations we’ve seen here.”

LIRR Chief Innovation Officer Will Fisher said that by using technology, LIRR officials are really transforming the way they think “about customer service and the different needs of our riders.”

“Passenger loading data is one of the most widely praised and heavily used features we have recently unveiled as customers continue to return to the railroad,” he said.

To view the new schedule, go to http://web.mta.info/lirr/Timetable/