Since the week of June 21 the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) has been performing several major construction projects, as part of an 11-week program ending Sept. 6. The summer program includes the renovation of track, signals and switches at a major switching point near Queens Village as well as track renovations between Bayside and Great Neck.

As a result, two morning rush hour and two evening rush hour trains on the Hempstead branch have been temporarily canceled as well as one evening rush hour train on the Ronkonkoma branch.

Schedule adjustments include p.m. peak service changes on the Hempstead branch. Specifically, the 6:14 p.m. Flatbush Avenue to Hempstead train terminates at Garden City. Country Life Press and Hempstead customers take buses to complete their trips with extended travel times up to 15 minutes.

Further, on the reverse peak Hempstead Branch, buses replace trains from eastbound service from Bellerose through Hempstead between 5:30 and 10 a.m. and from Hempstead through Bellerose between 3:50 and 7 p.m. because only one of the two main tracks is available at this time. In all, three morning and three evening reverse peak trains were temporarily canceled and bus service provided instead.

Eastbound (a.m.) train service is being provided to Queens Village where customers transfer to buses to complete their trips from Bellerose through Hempstead. Further, westbound (p.m.) train service on the Main Line stops at Queens Village and Hollis. Customers from Hempstead through Bellerose take buses from their stations and transfer to trains at Jamaica to complete their trips.

Local residents are concerned that "large" city buses are navigating their clearly residential neighborhood. "Over the past several weeks the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority [MTA] has been trafficking buses up and down Sixth Street throughout the day," resident John Donachie, who lives on Sixth Street, said. "They move along sometimes with three or four in a row and pull over to the side of the street and idle as their schedule slots come up."

Donachie's followed the situation as closely as he could, even speaking to several representatives in office. "I wanted to bring it to the attention of the powers that be. I talked to the lead dispatcher in Queens. He simply stated that that's the route the MTA decided to take."

He questioned whether or not the MTA has the authority to navigate the village any which way it pleases. "Can they just decide to send buses down our streets?" Donachie asked trustees. "I would ask that someone look into this. They're doing this because there's work being done on the railroad. I feel like I'm getting railed."

According to Village Administrator Robert Schoelle, Jr., the LIRR did send a letter May 20 advising the village of the intended summer construction projects. Further, the Garden City Life printed the schedule changes on page 3 of the June 10 issue. Schoelle noted, however, that the village was not aware of the size of the vehicle to be used to transport commuters.

According to Sam Zambuto, press spokesperson for the LIRR, the buses are being used temporarily this summer while track work is being performed and will stop operating Sept 7. "The buses do operate on a prescribed route that they adhere to. In serving the Garden City station, the buses do access Sixth Street coming from the east. Further, when [the bus] is coming from the west, it uses Nassau Blvd."

Garden City police have been in contact with MTA police; talks were held to possibly move the bus activity from Sixth Street to Seventh Street. Garden City Police Commissioner Ernest Cipullo believes it's unlikely this will happen. "I wouldn't be optimistic about moving to Seventh Street," he said. "It's a public route and the bus can't make the turn from Seventh Street onto Franklin Avenue." But Donachie said the last thing he wants is to offload what has become the problem of Sixth Street residents onto a neighboring block.

To question the need of such large buses, the Sixth Street resident pointed out that buses are moving relatively unoccupied. "Without exception, the largest crowd I've seen on a single bus was three people."

The new signals and switches in the Queens Village area will be tested and placed in service during the weekend of Aug. 28-29, causing a temporary shutdown of all Main Line and Hempstead branch train service through the area. Alternate service plans and schedule adjustments will be detailed in a later news release.

To inform customers about this program, the MTA LIRR is providing public address announcements as well as station posters and fliers. Customers should pick up a copy of the special timetables dated June 21 through Sep. 6 for details of their schedule changes. The LIRR Travel Information Center is also available 24-hours a day for travel information in Suffolk County at 631-231-LIRR, Nassau County at 822-LIRR and New York City at 718-217-LIRR. The Travel Information Center's TDD telephone number for the hearing impaired is 718-558-3022. Customers can also consult the LIRR's website at www.mta.info.