{"id":143123,"date":"2026-02-23T20:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/143123\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T20:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:58:14","slug":"penn-station-goes-quiet-as-snow-halts-new-york-train-traffic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/143123\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn Station Goes Quiet as Snow Halts New York Train Traffic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Blizzard-driven service disruptions on the three railroads that serve Penn Station turned the country\u2019s busiest rail hub into a place better suited for transit tumbleweeds.<\/p>\n<p>With the Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit and Amtrak\u2019s New York-Boston corridor all shut down by the city\u2019s largest snowstorm in a decade, the sprawling complex that moves 600,000 riders daily experienced a rare Monday morning without swarms of commuters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just a weird feeling,\u201d said Daniel Ausserladschieder, manager of Le Caf\u00e9 Coffee in the lower-level LIRR concourse. \u201cIt\u2019s so strange to see Penn Station being so calm, with the tracks closed and the signs saying no passengers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/022326_blizzard_penn_station-5.jpg\" alt=\"Le Caf\u00e9 Coffee manager Daniel was working at one of the few businesses open during a blizzard,\" class=\"wp-image-74156\"  \/>Le Caf\u00e9 Coffee manager Daniel Ausserladschieder was working at one of the few businesses open during a blizzard, Feb. 23, 2026. Credit: Jose Martinez\/THE CITY<\/p>\n<p>The MTA commuter railroad for Long Island and parts of Queens and Brooklyn <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LIRR\/status\/2025658165291823431?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">suspended service<\/a> at 1 a.m. Monday, in advance of the blizzard that hit the city with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecity.nyc\/2026\/02\/23\/blizzard-new-york-mamdani-snow\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">upward of 18 inches of snow<\/a>. Officials said service likely will not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsday.com\/long-island\/transportation\/lirr-blizzard-transit-piu9eh45\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">resume until winds die down<\/a> later in the day or possibly into Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and chief executive, said during a Monday morning appearance on PIX11 News that the transportation authority \u201cdid the right thing\u201d by <a href=\"https:\/\/pix11.com\/news\/local-news\/long-island-rail-road-service-will-be-suspended-during-storm\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">not operating trains<\/a> during the blizzard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody knows on Long Island, especially out east, that this is no day to be moving around,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re really taking a heavy hit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The town of Babylon in Suffolk County reported close to 30 inches of snow by late Monday morning.<\/p>\n<p>But after an emergency Sunday night shift at his IT job in Manhattan forced him to stay overnight in the city, Calvert Davidson optimistically stationed himself near a LIRR concourse that was blocked off by barricades.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to go home, I want to sleep, I\u2019m stuck, no service,\u201d said Davidson, who lives in Bellmore, Nassau County. \u201cBut honestly, it\u2019s not their fault \u2014 it\u2019s a blizzard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/022326_blizzard_penn_station-4.jpg\" alt=\"Calvert Davidson waits for LIRR service to resume so he can get back to his home on Long Island,\" class=\"wp-image-74155\"  \/>Calvert Davidson waits for LIRR service to resume so he can get back to his home on Long Island, Feb. 23, 2026. Credit: Jose Martinez\/THE CITY<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/weather\/2026\/02\/nj-transit-will-suspend-all-buses-as-major-winter-storm-hits-train-suspension-likely-tonight.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New Jersey Transit<\/a> shut down all rail service by 9 p.m. Sunday, while Amtrak suspended all service between Moynihan Train Hall and Boston South Station, though soundbound service kept rolling.<\/p>\n<p>Amtrak passengers who could travel through Penn Station were among the few travelers on the move Monday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m heading for work down south and I\u2019m pretty shocked that I can even get there,\u201d said Nick Miller, who was traveling to Baltimore Penn Station. \u201cIt\u2019s honestly kind of idyllic, to be honest \u2014 I get overwhelmed usually coming here and it\u2019s kinda nice and different, peaceful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With city officials urging New Yorkers to stay home during the blizzard, many Penn Station retail spaces were closed or short-staffed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At Le Caf\u00e9, which is between the Seventh and Eighth Avenue subway lines, that meant two fewer employees to handle the trickle of customers on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would be much more busy,\u201d Ausserladschieder said. \u201cObviously, not too many traveling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the force of the blizzard did turn Penn Station\u2019s corridors into a safe haven for the unhoused, with many resting against station beams or closed storefronts even as the city set up multiple warming spaces and warming buses in the blocks near the transit hub.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI live outside, but I can\u2019t do much outside because the storm has been going terrible,\u201d said Justine Charlot, a 57-year-old homeless woman. \u201cBetween here and the subway, I won\u2019t be going far.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/022326_blizzard_penn_station-3.jpg\" alt=\"People head into Penn Staton during a blizzard,\" class=\"wp-image-74154\"  \/>People head into Penn Station during a blizzard, Feb. 23, 2026. Credit: Jose Martinez\/THE CITY<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blizzard-driven service disruptions on the three railroads that serve Penn Station turned the country\u2019s busiest rail hub into&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-143123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-city-news","12":"tag-ny"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}