Major service charges are planned this weekend as the Long Island Rail Road replaces the Cherry Lane Bridge in Carle Place.
Demolition of the old span and installation of the new and improved bridge will require a 48-hour suspension of train service between Hicksville and Mineola on the Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma lines. Customers are strongly urged to avoid the Ronkonkoma, and Port Jefferson Branches on Saturday and Sunday, June 1-2. Customers can use the Babylon, Hempstead or Montauk Branches to avoid delays. Special weekend timetables will be in effect for all branches for the weekend.
The new bridge will not only be wide enough to support a third track, but will also be raised more than a foot higher than the old bridge, to 14 feet, reducing the potential for bridge strikes by over-height trucks.
On Saturday and Sunday, westbound customers at stations Port Jefferson through Syosset will take trains to Hicksville, connect to a shuttle train from Hicksville to Babylon, then transfer to express trains from Babylon to Penn Station.
These express trains will make limited stops between Babylon and Penn Station, including Jamaica, where customers can transfer for service to Atlantic Terminal. Eastbound customers traveling to stations Syosset through Port Jefferson will board trains from Penn Station to Babylon, connect with a shuttle train to Hicksville, then board an eastbound Port Jefferson Branch train. T
rains between Hicksville and Port Jefferson will run every two hours instead of the usual 90-minute intervals. Service between Huntington and Hicksville will operate once per hour instead of the usual 30-minute interval.
In addition, PSEG Long Island will be shutting down electrical service to the north and south parking garages at the LIRR Huntington Station, rendering elevator service at both garages inoperable on Saturday, June 1, starting at 9 a.m. and lasting approximately 10 hours, to allow T-Mobile to perform a power upgrade.
T-Mobile is installing their own power supply for existing cell phone antennas at LIRR Huntington Station. Power to both garages must be shut down to complete the project.