By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
PENN STATION — The Long Island Rail Road is suggesting that passengers add 70 minutes of extra travel time this weekend because of a period of "extremely limited service" during the ING New York City Marathon Sunday.
While the LIRR transitions to a modern signal system at the Jamaica station this weekend, it is slashing service by two-thirds between Jamaica and Penn Station — only three trains will run per hour. Other trains along the LIRR lines won't run at all or will run with limited service. Click here for a complete schedule of changes.
The Jamaica Signal Cutover Project, aimed to modernize the LIRR with up-to-date technology, will be completed at the end of the weekend, following four consecutive weekends of service interruptions.
"It's an enormously complicated process to do this cutover," Helena Williams, the president of the LIRR, said at a press conference Thursday.
During the last leg of the project, officials recommend using the trains "for essential business travel only," according to their website, recommending that marathon-goers find other means of getting into the city.
At the press conference, Williams justified the weekend's service interruption, suggesting that not many people will be coming from Long Island to see the race.
"The marathon is traditionally not a major event," Williams said. "Could I do it if the Yankees won the World Series? Absolutely not. Could I do it if it was St. Patrick's Day? Absolutely not. But this is not such a major event."
Some LIRR commuters who plan on coming into the city for the race, however, disagree.
"They think that 45,000 people coming in to the city for the marathon is not a big event?" Suffolk County resident Kelli Cutinella, 40, said incredulously. "I don't know if I agree with that. I think that more fans and supporters would come in to watch the runners who come from here, if the service wasn't interrupted."
Other LIRR travelers said that they'd rather the service interruption happen on a marathon weekend than during the work week.
"They can't avoid it," Port Jefferson commuter Dennis Walker, 45, said. "They gotta do what they gotta do, right?"
"I don't think a lot of people will take the train to the marathon anyway," broker and ex-Long Island commuter Bob Glander, 52, added. "But not everyone will be happy about it. People complain about everything."
The LIRR worked with New York Road Runners to set up charter buses for marathon runners. To get information on the charter buses and LIRR service changes, visit their website.
