The snowstorm affecting New York City and its surrounding areas began to ease on Monday, but uncertainty lingered about the Tuesday morning commute for Long Island and New Jersey residents who depend on commuter rail services.
While Metro-North trains managed to operate with delays during Monday’s storm, they were expected to run on a slightly adjusted schedule come Tuesday.
However, the situation was less clear for the Long Island Rail Road. Service had been entirely suspended early in the storm, and its status for Tuesday remained uncertain.
“We have to wait for conditions to improve on Long Island, where strong winds and snow accumulation have persisted, before we can safely announce a time for service resumption,” stated MTA chairman Janno Lieber during a briefing on the winter storm Monday.
“We’re aiming to provide some service on Long Island tomorrow, but the exact extent is still being determined,” Lieber mentioned.
He also noted that the railroad had been deploying work trains to remove snow and running empty trains to prevent ice from forming on the tracks.
Meanwhile, across the Hudson, riders saw minor signs of thaw as NJ Transit announced that the Newark and Hudson-Bergen Light Rail lines would resume service late Monday — the Newark Light Rail at 4 p.m., and the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail at 6 p.m.
But the Garden State’s bus and commuter rail services remained suspended until further notice, spelling yet more uncertainty for Tuesday morning commuters.
Inside the five boroughs, Subways continued to run on Monday, albeit with delays as crews across the system had to manually clear snow from switches and red-signal trip-stops.
Service on the Rockaway Shuttle resumed around noon after an early-morning power outage on the peninsula played havoc with the shuttle’s signals. The Staten Island Railway, however, remained closed Monday afternoon, due to wind and snow.
