Long Island Rail Road unveils technology for real-time trip planning

MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) has announced improvements to real-time seating availability and trip accessibility information.

The railroad also announced it has posted new timetables that go into effect on March 29, restoring weekday levels of service that had been in place from Jan. 25 through March 5.  

LIRR's information enhancements will include: 

• digital signs on platforms that show a diagram of the arriving train, seating capacity in each car, and the observer’s relative position within the train;
• announcements featuring ordinary Long Islanders that advise riders on where within the approaching train they are likely to find more seats; and
• a more detailed LIRR Train Time app, which shows the number of passengers in each car of every train, refreshed every 15 seconds, along with the observer’s relative position within the train.

LIRR Train Time app users will also now be able to locate elevators, escalators and ramps on both origin and destination platforms.