MTA seeks to ease crowding, reduce wait times after Grand Central Madison launch

NEW YORK (PIX11) – The MTA is implementing changes to Long Island Rail Road service in order to ease crowding and reduce wait times during commutes following the launch of full service at Grand Central Madison.

Starting Monday, the LIRR will increase rush hour service to Brooklyn, lengthen trains to Penn Station, and add cars to all trains that exceeded capacity last week.

The LIRR is increasing rush hour service to Brooklyn by adding an additional train on Monday and a second additional train on Tuesday. This will reduce time between trains on the Jamaica-Brooklyn shuttle to an average of 8-9 minutes during peak hours on Monday, with even more frequent service starting Tuesday, officials said. 

Additionally, the MTA is increasing its customer service presence at Jamaica to help commuters with transfers.

The changes come after LIRR riders complained of delays and overcrowding on trains during commutes after the launch of full service at Grand Central Madison. 

"We're glad the LIRR is taking commuter complaints to heart and starting to make changes to ease the growing pains of the new service plan," said Gerard Bringmann, chair of the LIRR Commuter Council. "Longer trains will begin to help reduce overcrowding in the worst cases, and cutting time between Brooklyn trains should help get riders where they need to go with shorter waits, and without the mass dash we've been seeing."

The following peak trains will have additional cars starting Monday, March 6.

• The 5:29 a.m. train from Port Washington to Penn Station 
• The 5:42 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Grand Central Madison  
• The 5:49 a.m. train from Long Beach to Grand Central Madison   
• The 5:54 a.m. train from Huntington to Grand Central Madison  
• The 6:15 a.m. train from Wantagh to Penn Station 
• The 6:31 a.m. train from Babylon to Penn Station 
• The 6:54 a.m. train from Wantagh to Penn Station 
• The 7:19 a.m. train from Farmingdale to Penn Station 
• The 7:28 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station 
• The 7:31 a.m. train from Babylon to Penn Station 
• The 7:54 a.m. train from Port Washington to Penn Station  
• The 8:20 a.m. train from Little Neck to Penn Station 
• The 8:25 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station 
• The 8:31 a.m. train from Babylon to Penn Station 
• The 3:23 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon   
• The 3:38 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon   
• The 3:48 p.m. train from Penn Station to Long Beach  
• The 4:01 p.m. train from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma   
• The 4:10 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon   
• The 4:37 p.m. train from Penn Station to Wantagh  
• The 5:07 p.m. train from Penn Station to Port Washington  
• The 5:16 p.m. train from Penn Station to Babylon   
• The 5.19 p.m. train from Penn Station to Wantagh 
• The 5:52 p.m. train from Penn Station to Port Washington   
• The 6:03 p.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Hempstead 
• The 6:57 p.m. from Penn Station to Babylon  
• The 7:04 p.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Huntington  
• The 7:35 p.m. from Penn Station to Port Washington