Community Corner
No Trains Between Speonk and Montauk Aug. 2 to 4
Buses will replace train service. Hill Station Road to reopen Aug. 19.
Next week, for two days starting at 12:40 p.m. Aug. 2, buses will stand in for trains between Speonk and Montauk as the Long Island Rail Road works to replace a in Southampton.
The LIRR said travelers should expect up to 40 minutes added to their travel time.
“Scheduling the bridge project during a 48-hour period in mid-week was necessary so that train service could be restored in time to meet the heavy weekend service demand between New York City and the East End of Long Island,” the LIRR said in a statement.
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According to the LIRR, the service outage will affect approximately 370 eastbound customers and 440 westbound customers each day, but on a typical summer Friday, some 3,400 customers ride the branch.
“The LIRR's goal was to perform the bridge work in a way that would impact the fewest customers,” the statement went on to say. “At this time of the year, weekend ridership on the Montauk Branch greatly exceeds weekday ridership.”
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The trestle was damaged in April when a flat-bed truck that was too tall to clear a bridge over Hill Station Road became wedged underneath it. The LIRR temporarily shored up the bridge, but as a result cars cannot pass underneath it and part of Hill Station Road has remained closed to traffic. The cost of the new bridge is $367,505, according to the LIRR. The road is expected to reopen Aug. 19.
“Normal train speed through the area is 65 miles-per-hour. But since the incident, trains have been moving over the bridge at the restricted speed of 15 miles-per-hour for safety reasons,” the LIRR stated.
Regular train service is expected to continue Aug. 4 at 1 p.m.
