More Service To Resume On PATH, LIRR Train Lines
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Nearly four weeks after Superstorm Sandy, PATH train service from New Jersey to Lower Manhattan will resume on Monday morning.
Beginning at 5 a.m. Monday, PATH trains will run with stops in New Jersey at Newark, Harrison, Journal Square, Grove Street and Exchange Place and in New York at the World Trade Center station. The trains will run until 10 p.m. on weekdays.
1010 WINS' Gary Baumgarten reports
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Disabled access will be available at Newark and World Trade Center.
One man said with the World Trade Center station closed for nearly a month, customers who usually use it and others have been packing into 33rd Street stations like sardines.
"A crowd from Hoboken is even coming here to Journal Square, so the people are feeling very crowded on the trains," he told 1010 WINS' Gary Baumgarten.
Floodwater spawned by Superstorm Sandy inundated the World Trade Center station, covering its track bed with several feet of water. Port Authority PATH crews have since removed millions of gallons of water from the tracks and platforms and repaired or replaced damaged switching and signal systems.
The line will not operate on weekends, so that crews can continue their repair work.
Meanwhile, the LIRR will restore electric service on the Long Beach Branch beginning Sunday, Nov. 25. The commuter train line will operate a regular weekend schedule Sunday, along with four holiday trains scheduled to run eastbound and westbound.
Weekday electric service will resume on Monday.
The first Long Beach-bound train will leave Jamaica at 1:32 a.m. Sunday, and the first train originating from Long Beach will leave at 3:53 a.m., according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office.
The restoration marks the first time the LIRR has run on a near-normal schedule since Sandy. The branch had previously been operating diesel trains on a reduced schedule.
A temporary new ferry service will also be available to Staten Island residents starting on Monday. The New York Water Taxi will begin an eight-week period of service between Great Kills Park and Manhattan with stops near Wall Street and Midtown.
(TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
