LIRR shifts four trains from new terminal

Four Long Island Rail Road trains will be switched from the new Grand Central Madison terminal to Penn Station, the latest in a series of service changes to address problems starting the new service.

“The first week of the new timetables was tough as customers adjusted and, frankly, as the MTA adjusted,” MTA chair Janno Lieber said Thursday during a press conference at Grand Central.

Starting Monday, two trains — the 5:42 a.m. from Ronkonkoma and the 7:54 a.m. from Long Beach — will go to Penn Station instead of Grand Central.

Also starting Monday, two Long Island-bound trains departing Grand Central Madison — the 7:31 a.m. bound for Hempstead and the 5:28 p.m. to Babylon — will leave from Penn Station instead.

Additionally, the busy Ronkonkoma line will get a few tweaks, with four weekday morning trains currently leaving from Brentwood first making stops at Ronkonkoma and Central Islip.

“Before these new schedules took effect, we said we’d be watching closely from hour one, and we have been,” LIRR president Cathy Rinaldi said.

The LIRR was thrown into disarray last week when new schedules miscalculated the immediate demand for service to Grand Central — and eliminated direct service to Brooklyn’s Atlantic Terminal in the process.

Delays and crowding eased somewhat with the addition of more frequent shuttle service between Atlantic Terminal and Jamaica Station, as well as the removal of cars from under-used trains to place them on those now at or above capacity.

The MTA had expected 40% of Manhattan-bound LIRR riders to use Grand Central Madison, Lieber said last week. The reality was closer to 30%, leading to overcrowding at Penn.

That might not be the case for long, the LIRR head said.

“There did seem, at least in the early part of this week, to be more migration of customers to GCM from Penn,” Rinaldi said. “It’s too early to say we have a trend on our hands, but we did see that earlier in the week so we’re keeping an eye on it.”