LIRR adds trains to weekend service on Port Washington Branch

On Saturday, MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) resumed half-hourly weekend service between Port Washington and Penn Station to meet service demand.

The railroad added 32 trains to the Saturday and Sunday schedules for the branch that serves the North Shore of Nassau County, N.Y., with stations at Great Neck, Manhasset, Plandome and Port Washington, and northern Queen stations at Flushing-Main St., Murray Hill, Broadway, Auburndale, Bayside and Douglaston, LIRR officials said in a press release.

The additional weekend trains return Port Washington branch service to a level last offered in September 2010, when half-hourly service during off-peak hours and on weekends was cut to hourly service as part of a larger Metropolitan Transportation Authority initiative to close a $900 million budget gap, they said.

In 2012, the railroad restored 30-minute service during off-peak hours on weekdays.