By Alfonso A. Castillo, Newsday; October 25, 2020
Many of the commuters the Long Island Rail Road has lost during the COVID-19 pandemic may be gone for good, having discovered the benefits of life without the LIRR, riders and experts said.
And while remaining commuters may welcome the extra room on trains, the prolonged depression in ridership could worsen the railroad’s financial crisis and hurt major capacity expansion projects such as the second Manhattan terminal and an annex to Penn Station, experts said.