Shutdown of US’s largest commuter rail system enters second day amid strike | New York
The closure of the Long Island Rail Road, North America’s largest commuter rail system, continued for a second day Sunday after union workers went on strike for the first time in three decades a day earlier.
The railroad, which serves New York City and its eastern suburbs, ceased operations just after midnight Friday after five unions representing about half its workforce walked out.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who has been urging commuters to work from home, scheduled a news conference for late Sunday morning.
Unions and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the public agency that operates the railroad, have been bargaining over a new contract for months, but negotiations have stalled over the issue of workers’ wages and health premiums. Donald Trump’s administration tried to reach an agreement, but unions were legally allowed to strike starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
Kevin Sexton, national vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said no new negotiations were planned.
“We are very far apart at this point,” Sexton said earlier Saturday. “We are truly sorry we are in this situation.”
MTA president Janno Lieber said the agency “gave the union everything they wanted on pay” and that, in his opinion, it was clear that the unions always intended to leave the union.
The MTA was not expected to provide an update on the strike before the governor’s news conference, scheduled for 11 a.m.
The strike, the first for the LIRR since a two-day strike in 1994, promises to create headaches for sports fans who plan to watch the Yankees and Mets play this weekend or watch the Knicks’ playoff run at Madison Square Garden, located just above the railroad’s Penn Station hub in Manhattan.
The station lacked its usual weekend buzz on Saturday afternoon. Only a few dozen people were seen passing through the main concourse; many dragged their wheeled luggage onto outgoing or incoming Amtrak trains, unaffected by the strike.
Departure boards normally showed approaching trains by destination, but instead listed ghost trains marked “No Passengers.” Several signs taped to customer service windows stated that the railroad was closed due to a strike.
While MTA police officers stood guard and directed people to alternative means of transportation, access to the platforms was closed with bicycle carrier-style barricades and swinging doors.
If the pause continues on weekdays, the approximately 250,000 people who use the system every weekday will have to find other routes into the city from the Long Island suburbs. For most people, this probably means navigating the area’s notoriously congested roads.
Hochul, a Democrat, accused the Trump administration of interrupting mediation and pushing negotiations toward a strike. Trump, a Republican, responded on the Truth Social platform by saying he had nothing to do with the attack and “didn’t even know about it until this morning.”
Reiterating his support for Bruce Blakeman, the Long Island politician who opposed Hochul’s re-election bid, Trump said, “No, Kathy, it’s your fault, and looking at the facts now, you shouldn’t have let this happen.” “If you can’t figure it out, let me know and I’ll show you how to handle things properly.”
The MTA said it would provide limited shuttle bus service to New York City subway stations, but that contingency plan was not designed to handle all the passengers the system normally carries in a business day.
