New York’s Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that 2024 was the strongest year for the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in its nearly 200-year history. 

The railroad’s on-time performance record was 95.65% — the best in its history excluding 2020-22 during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The LIRR also surpassed its 94% on-time performance goal each month throughout 2024 for the first time and finished the year strong with an all-time November on-time performance record of 96.2%. 

Additionally, each of the 12 LIRR branches exceeded the 94% on-time performance target and 95% of trains ran on time in December.

“New Yorkers deserve fast and reliable train service wherever they’re headed, and the LIRR delivered to our commuters in 2024 with its strongest year to date,” said Gov. Hochul. “I am committed to keeping New York moving and continuing to build on these performances, as we look forward to projects that will modernize our railroads, reduce travel time and expand train service for riders.”

Boosting Customer Satisfaction, Ridership

The LIRR saw a substantial upswing in customer satisfaction in the bi-annual Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted in Fall 2024. 

Overall, satisfaction reached 76%, a six-point increase from Spring 2024 — the highest it has been since Fall 2022 prior to the opening of Grand Central Madison.

The Fall 2024 bi-annual Customer Satisfaction Survey was conducted Oct. 14 to 31, 2024, offered online in nine languages and on the phone. The LIRR had 21,854 respondents, a 27% increase from Spring 2024.

Preliminary ridership statistics for 2024 show an increase in ridership — 75.5 million riders rode the LIRR in 2024 compared to the 65.2 million people who rode in 2023, marking a 15.8% increase. 

November 2024 was an extremely successful month for the railroad, reaching both a record on-time performance level of 96.2% — the highest level for that month since the statistic started being kept in 1979 — as well as carrying 6.3 million riders, up from 5.8 million in 2023.

Service Projects and Expansion

Since 2018, the LIRR has increased the capacity of the railroad with a series of projects.

A second track was added to an 18-mile stretch of the Ronkonkoma Branch between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma in 2018. This allowed the railroad to increase peak service, add flexibility, and help minimize the impact of service disruptions on the branch.

The construction of the Main Line Third Track completed in 2022 was not only a rail expansion project but also an infrastructure project, bringing more existing infrastructure into a state of good repair than any other project in railroad history, increasing safety, modernizing stations, beautifying towns, and eliminating multiple railroad grade crossings. The track was built on time and $100,000 under budget and opened in October 2022 after 50 years of effort. 

For the first time, Long Island commuters had less train congestion and fewer delays, and now have true bi-directional service during peak hours on a more reliable rail network.

The LIRR’s newest terminal, Grand Central Madison, opened in 2023. Combined with the Main Line Third Track, the projects allowed a service increase of 41%, which is more service than any other time in the railroad’s history. These increases continued into 2023, with the LIRR operating 14,000 additional trains in 2024 than in 2023.

Following a 41% increase in service that took place when the railroad began operating out of Grand Central Madison in February 2023, initial usage patterns showing a general 70%/30% split of usage between Penn Station and Grand Central have shifted over the past 23 months to a 60%/40% split.

The system expansion and modernization brought about by these projects enabled the LIRR to build and open its first new full-time commuter station, Elmont-UBS Arena, bringing thousands of event-goers to the arena and the surrounding shopping areas who contributed money to the local economy.