Your Commute Guide for Thursday After NY Penn Derailment

Lingering service changes stemming from Monday's NJ Transit derailment at New York's Penn Station are posing more headaches yet again for commuters Thursday. 

With Amtrak eyeing full restoration of rail service in and out of Penn for Friday, here's what you need to know for Thursday. (for real-time updates, click here):

NJ TRANSIT

• New Jersey Transit Executive Director Steve Santoro said eight tracks in the station are still out of commission. Officials are eyeing a Friday return to full service. Service on the busy Northeast Corridor (NEC) and North Jersey Coast Line (NJCL) is running on a holiday schedule again Thursday; this means trains will not operate to or from the Jersey Avenue and Avenue stations. Additional train service inbound and outbound to Penn Station is being added. Click here for the full list of additional service. 
• Midtown Direct trains will continue to operate in and out of Hoboken Terminal, where customers can access PATH and NJ Transit bus service and New York Waterway ferry. 
• Raritan Valley Line service will operate on a regular weekday schedule and originate/terminate at Newark Penn Station.
• Main/Bergen, Pascack Valley and Port Jervis Lines will operate on regular weekday schedules.
• Atlantic City Rail line rail service will operate on a regular weekday schedule.
• Customers are encouraged to check njtransit.com for complete details.
• Cross-honoring remains in effect with NJ Transit bus, private carrier bus, NY Waterway ferry, and PATH at Newark, Hoboken and 33rd Street. PATH will also have increased service. 
• Hoboken services will also be impacted due to the additional trains in the terminal. 
• NJ Transit and private bus carriers are increasing bus service as much as possible on routes along the affected rail lines. Academy will enhance its PNC park-and-ride service to accommodate North Jersey Coast Line customers. Suburban Transit will also add service to accommodate Northeast Corridor customers.

LIRR

• LIRR has canceled 16 trains from Penn Station between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., and diverted eight others to originate elsewhere. Full details here. 
• In "incremental improvements" from Wednesday, there will be no suspension of westbound service into Penn Station, LIRR says. 
• New York City Transit will cross-honor LIRR tickets at Jamaica, Atlantic Terminal and Hunterspoint Avenue. 
• LIRR will operate primarily out of Tracks 17 through 21 at Penn Station; in some cases, trains may depart from 10, 11 or 12, which are accessible from the exit corridor closer to Eighth Avenue, or via NJ Transit's concourse. 
• The LIRR will operate on near normal schedules out of Atlantic Terminal, Brooklyn, and Hunterspoint Avenue, Queens. 
• Subways are cross-honoring LIRR tickets at Penn Station on the 1/2/3 and A/C/E lines. 

PATH

• Cross-honoring remains in effect for NJ Transit and Amtrak tickets at Newark, Hoboken and 33rd Street.
• PATH will continue to run additional trains through the evening commute Thursday. 
• PATH ridership has surged by more than 60,000 riders a day on average since Monday -- a nearly 20 percent increase -- but despite the higher ridership levels, PATH has been running normally, it says. Passengers should expect higher volume on trains and should allow extra travel time.

AMTRAK

• A top Amtrak official said a switch machine was badly damaged in Monday's derailment. Echoing Santoro's earlier comments. Amtrak is eyeing a full return to rail service Friday.
• Amtrak will operate a modified schedule on the Northeast Corridor Thursday. Customers on trains arriving/departing New York Penn Station may experience delays up to 50 minutes during rush hours and up to 25 minutes during non-rush hours.
• Due to reduced track capacity, the Northeast Regional service will operate a modified schedule with reduced frequencies between Washington, D.C. and New York. To accommodate passengers during the modified schedule, Amtrak is providing some additional stops in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey on Wednesday.
• The Empire Service and Keystone Service will also run on a modified schedule with some reduced frequencies.
• All long distance trains that normally travel to and from the Northeast Corridor will maintain normally scheduled service. 

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MTA

• Extensive delays are expected on the R train service between Whitehall Street and Atlantic Av-Barclays Center in both directions due to switch problems. Allow for additional travel time. 
• M train service may have residual delays following suspended service between Metropolitan Avenue and Myrtle Avenue due to switch issues. Shuttle buses were being provided. 
• J train service is delayed going both directions. 
• 4 and 5 train uptown service is running local between Grand Central-42nd Street to 125 Street. 

METRO-NORTH

• Metro-North Railroad is advising customers on its West-of-Hudson lines to travel to New York City via Hoboken and PATH trains as opposed to changing trains at Secaucus.
  
  
• With extra NJ TRANSIT trains scheduled from Hoboken Terminal, Hoboken customers should expect congestion-related delays and plan extra time for travel.

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FERRY

• NY Waterway ferries are accepting NJ Transit tickets on all routes Thursday. NY Waterway will also operate a special ferry route for NJ Transit ticket holders only from the Hoboken NJ Transit Terminal Slip 5 to Midtown West 39th Street. Those ferries will depart every half-hour from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., with return trips from West 39th Street every 30 minutes from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Free NY Waterway buses meet arriving ferries at West 39th Street and carry passengers on several crosstown routes. A free bus location app is available on nywaterway.com. 

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