Long Island, NY - October 26, 2015 - Buses will replace train service on the Long Island Rail Road’s Ronkonkoma Branch between Ronkonkoma and Hicksville from 12:45 a.m. Saturday, October 31 until 12:45 a.m. Monday, November 2 for scheduled track maintenance. To avoid busing and delays, customers are encouraged to use other branches of the Railroad if possible.
The LIRR will be installing a new switches in Wyandanch and conducting Sperry Rail diagnostic testing between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma looking for defective track and installing new rail as needed.
The 48 hour outage is expected to impact approximately 13,000 customers traveling in each direction over the two-day period. Special Ronkonkoma Branch Timetables for the weekend of October 31-November 1 are available at station ticket offices and can be found on the MTA website. Customers should plan ahead and allow for as much as an hour extra travel time.
Ronkonkoma Branch
Eastbound
- Customers traveling east (except those traveling to Bethpage and Farmingdale) will board express buses at Hicksville for stations Pinelawn through Ronkonkoma. They should expect 44 minutes added travel time.
- Customers traveling to Bethpage and Farmingdale will stay on the train to their stations, as there will be normal eastbound weekend train service to these stations. (The 4:32 p.m., 5:32 p.m. and the 6:32 p.m. trains from Penn Station will terminate at Farmingdale and will not be replaced by buses.
- Intra-Island customers boarding at stations Bethpage through Central Islip will be accommodated by buses making all stops to Ronkonkoma.
- Customers traveling to Medford, Yaphank, Riverhead, Mattituck, Southold and Greenport will depart Penn Station one hour earlier than usual, then transfer to an express bus at Hicksville for direct service to Ronkonkoma, where eastbound train service will resume.
Westbound
- Customers traveling west from stations Ronkonkoma through Pinelawn will board buses bound for Hicksville departing up to 44 minutes earlier than normal train time. Train service resumes at Hicksville for points west.
- Farmingdale and Bethpage customers will have normal westbound weekend train service. (The 10:05 a.m., 11:05 a.m., 12:05 a.m. trains from Ronkonkoma will originate at Farmingdale and will not be replaced by buses)
- Customers from stations Greenport, Southold, Mattituck, Riverhead, Yaphank and Medford will take a train to Ronkonkoma, then board buses to Hicksville where train service resumes. Travel time will increase by one hour.