The Long Island Rail Road slowly came back back to life Tuesday, hours after a late-night labor peace pact ended a three-and-a-half-day strike on the country’s largest commuter railroad.
Trains began running hourly at noon, with riders at Long Island, Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn stations able to return to their routines in the wake of a strike that put them on winding, alternate paths linking suburban shuttle buses with the subway.
Roy Masquitta, a 65-year-old landscaper who lives in Jackson Heights, estimated that his normal 70-minute commute to Bay Shore more than doubled on Monday.
“It took a while,” Masquitta said as he waited Tuesday for a shuttle bus to Bay Shore from the Howard Beach-JFK Airport stop on the A line.
The tentative deal between the MTA and five unions that represent 3,500 workers — about half the LIRR workforce — was announced late Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who said it includes pay raises that will not lead to larger-than-projected fare increases or higher taxes.
“We had to find a deal that gave people fair raises but didn’t put the hit on the riders, the taxpayers, that wouldn’t blow up the MTA’s budget,” Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and chief executive, said Monday night.
Hochul, Lieber and union leaders declined to provide the terms of the labor agreement, which must still be approved by members of the five unions, including the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen and the Transportation Communications Union.
The agreement came just hours after the MTA’s labor counsel, Gary Dellaversa, had said the unions had shown “no sense of urgency” in ending the first LIRR strike since 1994.
LIRR President Rob Free said the deal to end the walkout delivered the hoped-for result when trains began running again, with full service expected in time for the Tuesday evening commute — and the start of the New York Knicks-Cleveland Cavaliers playoff series in the arena built atop Penn Station.
“I’m very pleased that we’re back in business, we’re back to doing what we do best, and that’s providing service and keeping this region moving,” Free said at the Jamaica hub of a commuter railroad that moves close to 300,000 passengers daily.
Free did not offer much in the way of details on the settlement, which he described as “a fair deal for the employees.”
“As the unions said [Monday] night, they wouldn’t have accepted the deal if they couldn’t get it ratified,” Free said. “And we wouldn’t have accepted the deal if it put a burden on the taxpayers and the ridership.”
The two sides had been brought back into negotiations Sunday by the National Mediation Board, which governs labor relations for railroads and airlines.
The talks had broken down at the start of a strike that the state comptroller had estimated could cost $61 million daily in lost revenue.
The MTA is also in the midst of contract negotiations with Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents 40,000 subway and bus workers. Unlike LIRR employees, who are governed by the 1926 Federal Railway Act, Local 100 members cannot legally walk off the job under the state’s Taylor Law.
Mandeep Talwar, who operates a newsstand inside the Jamaica transit hub, estimated he lost more than $4,000 over the three days he had to shutter business.
“At least we got back to the work,” he told THE CITY. “That’s good, because you can’t sit at home for two or three days, it’s very difficult to sit.”
Riders said they were pleased to see the commuter trains return.
As she waited for a LIRR train to Grand Central Madison, Ruby Edwards said she was looking forward to transferring in Manhattan to the Metro-North Railroad for a trip to Bronxville, in Westchester County.
“I don’t know the subway, I don’t know how to get around on it,” said Edwards, who lives in St. Albans. “So that’s why I’m glad the train is back, so I can commute to Grand Central [Madison] in such a nice way.”
While waiting Tuesday morning for a Long Island-bound shuttle bus at the Howard Beach subway station, Dillon Lanier said he would gladly switch to the LIRR for his evening return.
“I’m hoping the bus ride will be under an hour,” Lanier said. “I’ll be out there all day and I guess I’ll get a Long Island Rail Road ticket back tonight.”
“So I’ll get both sides of the experience.”
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