LIRR, buses brace for snowstorm but MTA promises service 'come hell or high water'

Transportation officials are bracing for a winter storm that could disrupt commutes Sunday and Monday, although the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's chairman said that subways, buses and trains, including the Long Island Rail Road, would be kept running.

"Per the governor’s instructions, the MTA will be running service, come hell or high water, whether it’s 7 inches or 13 inches or whatever, we’re gonna be ready," MTA Chair Janno Lieber said at a news conference in Laurelton, Queens on Friday. "This is not our first rodeo."

In recent years, the LIRR has followed a policy of shutting down if 10 or more inches of snow accumulates on tracks — a threshold at which trains could lose connectivity with the electrified third rail. In such situations, the railroad has prioritized maintaining and restoring service on its four busiest branches — Port Washington, Huntington, Ronkonkoma and Babylon.

Asked whether that's still the threshold, LIRR President Rob Free said on Friday, "10 inches is something where we start to look at how the operation is behaving in the snow. You have wet snow, you have light powdery snow, windy conditions. All those factor into what we'll do with service."

He said there would be adjustments along the railroad's branches on Sunday, including reducing service on the Port Washington and Huntington lines to hourly for "snow-fighting efforts." Officials would also be watching Cold Spring Harbor and Syosset stops, which he called "problematic, because of the topography of the location."

Service changes on Monday are still to be determined, Free said.

Free and Lieber detailed preparations the agency was taking, among them positioning crews and equipment at key switching locations, girding some trains with devices to scrape ice off rails and applying antifreeze solution on tracks. The LIRR will have workers shoveling out stations, along with snow plows, brooms and blowers clearing tracks throughout the system.

The MTA's guidelines on winter weather caution that a foot or more of snow or blizzard conditions could result in reduced or suspended service on some routes, or "a full system shutdown."

It’s been nearly four years since a severe snowstorm resulted in the LIRR suspending service.

Other Long Island public transportation providers also warned of major impacts from the impending storm. The Nassau Inter-County Express, or NICE Bus, issued a storm alert on its website, telling riders to "expect heavy delays, detours and service suspensions due to dangerous and impassible road conditions."

Suffolk Transit, the public bus system the county runs, will hold a call Saturday afternoon to decide what, if any, changes to service to make Sunday and Monday, such as delayed start times, fewer hours and temporary snow routes, said Mike Martino, a spokesman for County Executive Edward P. Romaine.

The Port Authority, which runs the area's major airports, urged travelers to add additional travel time and check flight statuses before heading to the airport. Major airlines have dropped fees to cancel or change flights potentially affected by the weekend's snowstorm.