Attention Weekend LIRR Riders!

By Drew Scott

If you're planning to ride the Long Island Railroad into the city this weekend, listen up!

You could be in for a long long ride and lots of extra time listening to your I-pod or your kids screaming "are we there yet?"

I covered the LIRR President Helena Williams who announced today that a $60-Million dollar upgrade of tracks and signals is planned for the Bellerose, Queens area this weekend. Workers plan to make all the changes in tracks, signals, third rail replacements and computerized sensors in just a 48-hour weekend!

This means there will be NO train service on the main line between Mineola and Jamaica, only bus service will be available. This will affect an estimated 90,000 riders and at least 220 scheduled trains.

The only way to avoid the mess is to use the Port Washington branch on the north shore, or use the south shore's Babylon, Long Beach or Far Rockaway branches that peel away from Jamaica and don't pass over the Bellerose tracks.

Once the work is completed (between Friday Midnight and Monday morning at 12:40 a.m.) trains will again pass over the Bellerose, but the LIRR says they will no longer experience the so-called "Bellerose Bump" and the swaying from side to side. Instead, officials say, the trains won't have to slow down and it will be a quicker ride into and out of Jamaica!