Senator Gaughran sees potential of LIRR service in Syosset, Oyster Bay

By Rikki Massand

Originally published in The Syosset Jericho Tribune

New York State Senator Jim Gaughran, who represents the 5th District of Long Island’s North Shore, addressed the future of Long Island Rail Road service in Syosset and surrounding communities of Jericho, Plainview-Old Bethpage and Oyster Bay this summer. In an interview with the Syosset Advance and Jericho-Syosset News Journal in June, and again at a Town Hall at the Gold Coast Library July 30, Sen. Gaughran explained discussions held with Long Island Rail Road President Phillip Eng as well as conversations in Albany during budget season, plus an assurance from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. All signs point towards investing in linking LIRR stations along the North Shore, Nassau County to Suffolk County, according to the senator.

“One of the things I have been trying to do is have the Long Island Rail Road improve service. Overall, our mass transit system isn’t working the way it should be working. A lot of people in Syosset use that LIRR station but the service has remained a point of frustration. We are trying to electrify LIRR’s Port Jefferson line all the way out to Port Jefferson, and the reason for that is the trains will run smoother — with electric trains there will be train service more frequently. It will take the pressure off of ‘western’ stations like Syosset because the electrified stations end in Huntington now. So a lot of people from Suffolk County are travelling (by car) to go to Syosset and they are filling up parking spaces there,” he said.

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