Long Island Railroad
The Long Island Railroad, affectionately known as the LIRR by its daily ridership of over 282,000, is the busiest commuter rail system in the country. It covers an area from Manhattan’s Penn Station to Long Island’s Montauk, 117 miles away, and operates on 11 branches. Although a part of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) that runs New York City’s buses and subways, the LIRR differs from that of its urban counterpart in that the train’s cars have cushioned seats and bathrooms. In the newer models, designed by Japanese innovators Kawasaki, the cars are double-deckered and have computerized voices that indicate the station and branch. Besides the conductor that’s found on NYC subways, the other employees on the LIRR are there to check the tickets of each passenger and to answer any questions or concerns. Because of the nature of their job, there have been instances where a passenger has not purchased a ticket and refuses to pay the additional amount for buying one on the train. In cases like this, a train is stopped and the local police are called in to investigate the situation. On one westbound train from Ronkonkoma, a train was stalled for almost 30 minutes at the Hicksville station waiting for the police to arrive and arrest a difficult passenger. In another instance on the same line about a month later, a train was stalled at Central Islip, two stations west of Ronkonkoma, for an inordinate amount of time due to a passenger being struck by an oncoming train and a worker having to shut off the electricity from the tracks until the scene was cleared (later it was learned the victim was alright.) A shuttle bus that escorted passengers to a station unaffected by the electrical shut-off was offered as an alternative, but in this case it wasn’t the best choice. The shuttle bus driver had to be given directions from the passengers because he was regularly an Atlantic City bus driver and this was his first time riding along a Long Island route! There are also peculiar occurrences on the train, ones that owe a lot to some of the traveling clientele. On an eastbound train headed to Port Jefferson, one man asked the ticket checker if he could have a pillow to rest his head on, as if the LIRR were the land bound equivalent of a first class British Airways flight. Passengers often sleep on their trips, whether they’re on for the length of the branch or just a couple stops, and those working overtime and late into the night view their ride as a vessel between consciousness and deep sleep. Despite the occasional mishap, given the soaring gas prices and the annoyance of highway traffic, the Long Island Railroad is an ideal mode of transportation for everything from a day trip to the Hamptons to scope out the socialites to winery tours and outlet shopping.
