Ridership Grows on LIRR’s Babylon Branch

Article was posted by Barbara Capella Loehr, and written by Greg Sleter.

Trains along the Long Island Railroad’s Babylon Branch may feel more crowded lately, and for good reason.

According to the LIRR’s annual ridership report, the Babylon line averaged 64,000 riders daily in 2012.

Newsday reported the branch’s annual ridership of 17.4 million is an increase of 1.4 percent over 2011, with LIRR president Helena Williams calling the line the railroad’s “bread and butter.”

While figures in the report show the Port Jefferson Branch carried 17.8 million passengers in 2012, that figure also includes riders from the Huntington Branch.

Total ridership for 2012 was 81.7 million, up 0.7 percent over 2011, according to the LIRR.

Ridership had risen 13 consecutive months until October, when Hurricane Sandy ravaged Long Island and forced scheduled alternations for several weeks.

Helping boost overall ridership numbers for the LIRR was the opening of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Ridership to Atlantic Terminal, located across the street from the new sports and entertainment complex, increased 334 percent.

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