LIRR's Babylon To Montauk Line Slated For Nighttime Closure

BABYLON, NY – Summer is almost here and that means the Long Island Rail Road will soon he hauling beach lovers to the South Fork's beautiful beaches.

But first, the LIRR is doing a little maintenance and Assemblyman Joe DeStefano posted a railroad schedule change update on his Facebook.

According to DeStefano's post and the LIRR, the organization will be performing Sperry Rail testing and track maintenance on the Montauk Branch from Babylon to Montauk through May 10.

From around 9 p.m. nightly to 4 a.m. the next morning through Friday, May 10, the Montauk branch will be out of service between Babylon and Montauk due to testing and train maintenance.

The testing, which is part of LIRR's annual track maintenance program, ensures that the infrastructure is in a state of good repair, DeStefano wrote in his post.

Additionally, the train service will be replaced by buses in both directions between Babylon and Montauk.

This means passengers can expect an additional hour and fifteen minutes of travel time in either direction.

Part of the testing involves catching defects in the rail. When possible, work crews will address repairs on site, DeStefano wrote. While the train itself does not cause much noise, the repairs will, so officials are warning the community of "extra noise" in the areas around the outage.

The work is weather dependent, leaving dates subject to change.