Weather Plays Havoc With LIRR Service on All Lines Monday Night

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Long Island Rail Road Service was just about back to normal by 8:30 p.m., but only after the stormy weather played havoc with the Monday evening commute.

At its height around 6:40 p.m., the MTA announced that all eastbound service out of Penn Station and Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn was suspended due to weather-related signal problems. The MTA briefly shut down access to Penn Station as a result in order to limit overcrowding. This came in addition to two of the Long Island Rail Road's lines being completely suspended Monday evening due to weather issues.

Trouble started when a fallen tree suspended service on the Port Washington branch at about 5:30 p.m. as commuters were trying to leave the city on Monday. According to the MTA, service was suspended in both directions on the Port Washington branch after a tree fell on the tracks east of the Flushing stop. The MTA was cross-honoring tickets on the 7 train at Flushing-Main St. and Woodside (61st Street).

Service was also suspended on the West Hempstead branch starting at about 6:15 p.m. due to weather-related signal issues. Service was restored just after 8 p.m.

As if the issues on the tracks weren't bad enough, the MTA also announced the West End Concourse of Penn Station was shut down due to flooding and advised riders to use the Exit Concourse and the Central Corridor.

According to the MTA's service website, at 6:24 p.m., all lines of the LIRR were experiencing delays due to weather in addition to the Port Washington and West Hempstead branches being suspended.

Photo: Twitter/Burton Lewis Jr.