Monday night's commute was ugly for LIRR riders, and Valentine's Day didn't start off especially lovely either.
At least three Babylon departures to New York Penn Station were delayed early Tuesday due to a fallen utility pole in Massapequa Park, the railroad said on its website and Twitter feed. Only six hours earlier, the LIRR had told people on Twitter that Babylon service was fully restored.
(Things weren't much better for Long Island drivers either, who had to deal with two closed lanes on the westbound Sunrise Highway between Park and LakeShore due to downed trees and wires.)
The LIRR said it was operating on or close to schedule by the time the morning rush got underway.
Monday night, wind-related outages, fallen utility poles and broken crossing gates caused a mess across the LIRR system, leading to delays and suspensions and driving enraged riders to social media.
They posted photos and video of packed trains, complaining of hours-long trips and frequent stops.
The pair of downed utility poles in Massapequa Park caused particularly painful delays on the Babylon branch, which at one point was suspended between Seaford and Amityville.
But as the evening commute dragged out, frustrated riders conjured up sarcastic memes to illustrate just how they felt about the LIRR experience:
The LIRR wasn't the only commuter rail dealing with wind-related delays and suspensions. Metro-North dealt with the same problem through the day.
As of early Tuesday, it was indicating plans for a normal service. NJ Transit was reporting 30-minute delays on some lines into and out of the city as of 7:30 a.m. because of an Amtrak switch problem. Cross-honoring is in effect.
