The worst of the snowfall in and around New York City was winding down Monday, but the odds for a workable Tuesday morning commute remained unclear for Long Island and New Jersey straphangers reliant on commuter rail.
Metro-North service — which continued with delays through Monday’s storm — was expected to continue into Tuesday on a slightly modified schedule.
But Tuesday service on the Long Island Rail Road, which had been suspended systemwide in the early hours of the storm, remained unclear.
“We need to wait for things to slow down on Long Island — where the winds have continued and the accumulation has continued — before we can safely set a time for the resumption of service,” MTA chairman Janno Lieber said at a winter storm briefing Monday.
Platform and train tracks of the Long Island Rail Road Rosedale Train Station platform in Queens on Monday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
“We are planning to run some service on Long Island tomorrow, but exactly how much is a work in progress,” he said.
Lieber added the railroad has been using work trains to clear snow on the LIRR, as well as running empty trains to keep the tracks clear of ice.
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.
Platform and train tracks of the Long Island Rail Road Rosedale Train Station platform in Queens on Monday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
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.