No LIRR Long Beach Service For Next 2 Weekends
Just a short time ago, the MTA Long Island Rail Road sent me a press release to share with you all. For the next two weekends, buses will replace train service on the Long Beach branch between Valley Stream & Long Beach due to a long planned construction. Here are the complete details:
The long-planned installation of two new Long Island Rail Road bridges over Powell Creek and Hog Island Channel means there will be no train service at stations along the Long Beach Branch over the last two weekends in January.
Buses will serve LIRR customers between Long Beach and Valley Stream on Saturday, January 23 and Sunday, January 24 and again on Saturday, January 30 and Sunday, January 31. Regular weekday train service will not be affected by the project.
The $24.5 million project, which is funded through the MTA Capital Budget and federal grants, will also require train outages on four other weekends later this year – March 20-21, March 27-28, May 1-2 and May 15-16. Each weekend will be preceded by a public information campaign so that LIRR Long Beach Branch customers can plan ahead.
In addition to the temporary busing for the weekend dates listed above, the work will require the Railroad to close the eastbound platforms at Island Park, Oceanside, East Rockaway and Centre Avenue on the following weekends: January 16-17; February 6-7, 13-14, 20-21, 27-28 and March 6-7. The LIRR reminds customers to allow extra time to cross over to the westbound platform upon arriving at those stations Eastbound, when busing is in effect, customers will transfer to buses at Valley Stream for stations Lynbrook through Long Beach.
Customers should allow up to 34 minutes of additional travel time. Westbound, customers will board buses at stations Long Beach through Lynbrook bound for Valley Stream, where they will transfer to trains to complete their trip. Buses will depart up to 33 minutes earlier than scheduled train times.
Both the Powell Creek Bridge (located between the LIRR’s East Rockaway and Oceanside stations) and the Hog Island Channel Bridge (located between Oceanside and Island Park) were built in the 1920s, and have served the LIRR well for nearly 90 years. These two bridges are being replaced as part of the Railroad’s ongoing efforts to modernize its infrastructure and ensure safe and reliable service for our customers and neighbors for decades to come.
The existing Powell Creek and Hog Island Bridges are open-deck wooden and steel structures supported by wooden piles through which water is visible below. These structures will be removed and replaced with pre-cast concrete structures, supported by reinforced concrete-filled, steel pipe piles, which will provide safer, closed-deck concrete roadbeds.
The project will also alleviate a recurring flooding condition at Powell Creek Bridge, which has at times led to delays and temporary service suspensions, by raising the elevation of the bridge by approximately one foot. Bridge walkways will also be installed at both locations to make it safer for LIRR employees.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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[…] weeks ago, I wrote an entry highlighting the loss of service on the LIRR’s Long Beach line for two weekends due to […]