LIRR To Restore 6 Northeast Queens Trains After 6-Week Hiatus

BAYSIDE, QUEENS -- Several Long Island Rail Road trains servicing Northeast Queens are on track to return from a six-week hiatus after Labor Day, according to the MTA.

The LIRR will restore six weekday trains along its Port Washington Branch on Sept. 4 after they were canceled in mid-July for construction on a new tunnel connecting Grand Central Station to Sunnyside's Harold Interlocking, the nation's biggest railroad junction.

Four trains from Penn Station and two out of Port Washington were canceled along the branch serving the Bayside, Flushing, Elmhurst and Great Neck areas. Meanwhile, workers relocated hundreds of feet of track to prepare for the new tunnel, which will eventually allow for LIRR service to and from Grand Central, the MTA said.

"After this step is completed, the contract to build the tunnel entrance, which will begin active construction this fall, is the last major contract needed for the start of service," Janno Lieber, the MTA's chief development officer, said.

These trains are slated to be restored when work finishes Sept. 4:

• The 8:21 a.m. train out of Penn Station, which makes local stops to Port Washington
• The 8:45 a.m. train out of Port Washington, which makes local stops to Great Neck and runs express to Penn Station
• The 4:22 p.m. train out of Penn Station, which runs express to Great Neck then makes local stops to Port Washington
• The 5 p.m. train out of Port Washington, which makes local stops to Port Washington except Plandome and Murray Hill
• The 5:26 p.m. train out of Penn Station, which runs express to Great Neck then makes local stops to Port Washington
• The 7:01 p.m. train out of Penn Station, which runs express to Bayside and Great Neck before resuming to local stops to Port Washington

The new schedule, which runs Sept. 4 - Nov. 11, will also get rid of a 5:47 p.m. express train out of Penn Station and a 5:21 p.m. local train out of Great Neck that were previously added to compensate for the disruption period.

Click here to view all changes to the upcoming Port Washington Branch schedule in full.

Lead photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images