First time taking the LIRR to get to JFK. Not going to lie, it was very confusing at first. I'm not very familiar with the railway system so it took me a minute to get the right ticket transfers and find the escalator down to the level where the trains ran. Customer service at the LIRR customer service desk wasn't great but also not terrible; I can tell the guy at the desk must get bored having to answer the same questions daily. Picture asking someone at the DMV a question. Once I figured out that the LIRR and Amtrak shared the same tracks it was super easy to find out the time of departure and then the assigned rails. The ride there was fast and once at Jamaica station there are very clear signs pointing to where to take the airport shuttles. read more

LIRR Penn Station - Train Stations Near Me - New York, New York

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Used to stand here all the time after work to catch the Ronkonkoma train for 5:01pm if I can make it on time or the 5:25pm and I will always have anxiety and panic attacks at not knowing what track the train was going to be. You got to stand there waiting the track number to arrive and then when the track number gets displayed everyone goes running like crazy! I also run like crazy to the track and make sure I am in front of everyone or by the doors so you will know you will get a seat! Knowing that the train takes 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to Ronkonkoma is frustrating when all the seats are taken! This train is always crowded and most of the people have to stand up! Train is fast though like a whirlwind and makes a weird squeaking sound that the subway trains don't make. This train got bathrooms but they are very filthy and floors are really wet all the time. There are coat racks and secret folding bench at the end of each car that you can have privacy. There are racks for luggage above the seats. Seats are leather bound and very comfortable. read more

I like the LIRR at Penn station. Have taken this train a few times to and from LI, it's pretty easy to get tickets and know where to go for the train. However, at peak times this train station is very busy. I recommend using the restroom at the train station as it's much cleaner than the train. Seats are always clean and staff is helpful read more

Excellent service, safe and efficient travel from LGA to Penn. Well, the train was efficient the Link Q70 was not efficient mostly because of Queens traffic. The Link driver was superior, she navigated and transported safely and with urgency. Wish i would have gotten her name because she deserves recognition. Train was clean. Penn station needs more attendants to keep it cleaner. read more

I Amtrak into NYC, LIRR. LIRR is a city in itself, its a must do, great shops,art, eateries! NYC isn't a place,its a feeling. read more

It's still being upgraded, which is much needed. Basically there's a large lobby area, standing room only, and screens which tell you which track your train is leaving from. Once you know that you can head down the stairs according to your track number. There are plenty of signs as well. The platform is wider than most subway platforms which is nice. I don't take the LIRR often but when I do it's a nice change of pace. read more

Take the LIRR to and from Penn for 20 + years now. Since the pandemic the LIRR has really been a disappointment. The Positives: Runs almost always on time and there are many train options ! The LIRR now runs OFF PEAK all day, everyday since the COVID-19 pandemic so prices are cheaper The Negatives: Not much care goes into cleaning the trains - pre pandemic and post pandemic the trains have been FILTHY and absolutely disgusting. ZERO COVID 19 enforcement on the LIRR. Many many people without masks on and could care less. (But they play the stupid "thank you for wearing your face covering on the train" bs every ride. CONSTANT homeless people staying in the bathroom from penn to Jamaica and they never are asked for a ticket. All day everyday this happens *** now they block accounts if you purchase your ticket on the train ! Which is hilarious. They don't enforce social distancing, mask wearing, or cleaning the trains once a month, but they think it's ok to block an account for purchasing on the train. read more

For $14+ one way, you too can stand the whole ride and be packed in like sardines. LIRR is now worse than the subway. The only difference is because the conductors check your ticket 3 times per ride, the panhandlers and performers don't ride the LIRR. The MTA and governor need to add more cars per train. read more

The Long Island Railroad is one of the most greedy and inhospitable modes of transportation in New York. Their Customer Service, especially at the Administrative level, is abysmal. Their policies, specifically related to their commuter app (that I'm sure they sank thousands of dollars into building, at the commuter's expense), are draconian and damaging, not to mention truly, deeply inefficient. I'm a lifelong Long Islander and daily commuter to and from Penn Station. I have never been so disgusted by the way a business considers and treats its customers. read more

Why Five Stars? Well, seeing as you'd pay $100+ for a broadway show to give you this much entertainment. The hub of midtown, the place where you can exit to MSG to catch a concert, sports game or even a rodeo. The station where you can catch a train to New Jersey or an Amtrak to anywhere. Or the LIRR where you can find your way out East to Long Island. There is food, drinks, entertainment, shopping, vagrancy, The National Guard and police station made available to you without ever having to surface to ground level. It's hot, smelly, always bustling and embodies the kinetic, frenzied energy that IS New York City! Welcome to the Big Apple my friends. read more

Its how us "Long Islanders" go home.... but at 3am... its always a sh!t show on friday and saturday nights while trying to wait for your train. As much as that those days are becoming few and far between its quite entertaining to watch nonetheless. read more

LIRR Penn Station - 3am shit show - Train Stations Near Me - New York, New York

I took the LIRR from Penn Station back to Queens on a Friday evening. It was simple and painless. I didn't get an express train like I did in the morning so it took a bit longer. Very efficient though! read more

Been taking trains from Penn forever due to the convenience - that's where my extra star comes in. The building itself is dirty, hot, and super cramped with bathrooms that are constantly incredibly disgusting. However, living on LI, if you want to make a trip into the city, it is a necessary evil. In addition to being convenient to get to the city, it is also conveniently located in the city, directly beneath MSG and a couple of blocks from Time Square. It also has a couple of subway choices that run within a block of it, making it easier to get to other places within the city. They also have some nice, quick food choices inside (I recommend Shake Shack or Magnolias). read more

The LIRR it is what it is, a no frills way of transportation. Could it use some updating absolutely, they could it improve their customer service as well. Considering all of these things that could use some improvements, I believe we have one of the best transportation systems around. other than driving there is no other way to get to the city. So lets hope they take all of these reviews and act on them. read more

Good old LIRR. Even with these newer train cars it's still the same. Filthy bathrooms on the train. Bowl won't flush and no running water to wash my hands. Overpriced even on off-peak weekends but there is no other way to get out to eastern Long Island unless you want to pay for a rental car and drive there. As a major commuting artery into Manhattan for tens of thousands you would think WiFi would be installed by now but they have yet to figure it out. If Amtrak can do it why can't the LIRR? So lame. More like Long Island Fail Road. At least the station announcements on the trains are clear, and the conductors seem like good people. Also, I am about to strangle the obnoxious guy talking loudly on his cell phone a few seats up from me. The whole ride so far. Shut the heck up already! read more

Lirr at Pennstation can be so confusing even for me a New York. I always schedule an extra 15 minutes just so I can gain my footing. Everything is in a quick pace everyone is constantly running to catch a train so stand clear. I purchased my ticket via the kiosk after researching the train I wanted and the time I wanted to go. The line was pretty long at the counters and the kiosk was half as long. So I patiently waited. When it was just about my turn a gentleman said to me his train was in two minutes could I let him skip. I said yes because train was in the next 15 minutes. Although this was a nice gesture on my part it upset the other people waiting online. Anyway watch those train boards diligently because those trains leave fairly close to on time and you will be left. There are lots of places to eat in this station along with a Duane Reade. Also the station is under construction in some parts. This was definitely needed. read more

I take the railroad home to Jamaica on the weekends when the A train is running wonky. I honestly have no complaints about the LIRR. For me, it has been efficient and on schedule. There are plenty of terminals for me to buy tickets and the app also works as well. When they need to: they do a great job of cross honoring the metrocard/railroad ticket. I've never gone up and spoken to the station agents or the booth agents because I can usually figure stuff out on my own. They have never done a track change on me here or anywhere else for that matter, so really, I have nothing but praises for LIRR. read more

Delayed late dirty station clean train what track is it on? how much does it cost? is that the line for the mens room? how old is this friggin place? would you rather drive out to long island? yeah me neither still waiting on the platform hey guess what the train is Delayed. read more

A bit dirty, dingy, but less touristy than Grand Central. Gets you where you need to go. Signage can get a bit confusing at times, performers are sometimes really great. Five things I really, really, reaaaalllly wish would happen: 1) Wifi 2) Electrical plugs to charge phone 3) More seating 4) Better air ventilation 5) MORE TRAINS AT NIGHT SO US LONG ISLANDERS WHO MISS THE 1AM/2AM TRAIN DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL 4 AM FOR THE 'DRUNK TRAIN' Yes. read more

Things need to be complained then to be improved. One thing I don't understand about LIRR as a whole is that they don't give out changes on the train. People not saying anything maybe because they all got used to it, they think that's the way it is, but that is not necessarily right. One time I was riding the train with a ticket a friend gave me, it has 6.50$ on it, I was asked to pay 4 dollars more, and the ticket was 10 dollars, I asked for 50$ back, they told me they don't do that. Then why ask for 4 dollars of me? they should've asked for 3.50$ ! Another time I used a peak hour ticket for an off-peak hour ride, 3 dollars of mine was wasted. Of course it'd gonna be too much troublesome for them to give out changes on the train, when train is moving, people are crowded...But it doesn't mean that it doesn't need to be changed and improved. They may update the devices for ticketing on the train! read more

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It varies. The station is a sh*thole to begin with. Constant Construction... Noises... Bathrooms closed at various hours of the day. The police here are mostly there to babysit the homeless. MTA staff are garbage. All minorities. No class. No respect. They just want to watch the entrance and discipline gate hoppers. LIRR staff also vary. Some are nice. Some you want to throw on the tracks. It's a dirty place... ridden with homeless people... I mean where else would they go? But the employees here vary. MTA is all minorities...nobodies with an attitude. LIRR you never know. These train motherf***ers just want to throw around their authority. There's a thing called respect... which unfortunately seems to have seeped away from our society. And this sh*thole of a station. Amtrak station is by far much cleaner. Jersey people know how to keep it real. read more

Two stars for convenience -- other than that, as an avid commuter, LIRR is too expensive, too crowded, constantly delayed (well, guess it can't always be convenient, huh?), out of service escalators, hot as in no air conditioning in most sections of Penn Station hot, signal problems, east river tunnel problems, stalled train problems, pedestrian strike problems, on going track work which leads to broken rail problems ...need I say more?? read more

If you need to get from Midtown to JFK or versus in a jiffy but don't want to fork over too much for a taxi, this has to be the next best option! Takes about 25mins from Midtown to Jamaica Beach plus another 15 mins for Airtrain. The hell with the A and E train! Tip: City pass on weekends can save you several bucks! Only can use on the day of purchase! read more

LIRR Penn Station - Train Stations Near Me - New York, New York

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It's a train station, not much to say. The place can be crowded at times but overall is pretty efficient and will get you where you are going. Not really many other options to get to Long Island but a decent option none the less. read more

So on Monday it was literally raining feces and urine on track 19 out on the Ronkonkoma line at 115 in Penn. That's a first! Today I'm at the top of the steps on track 15/16 at 5:20:38 For the 522 express when they call the 523 train on 16 to Babylon so you can't get down the stairs of course the Lirr thinks it's United Airlines all the sudden and closes the doors at 522 with 20-30 people like me who couldn't get down the stairs! The train locks up and sits there for 4 minutes and let's no one in! Customer service at its finest! That's what I pay $355 a month for! I the LIRR!! Ps didn't mean to hit 1 star!! read more

All my life I've been using Penn Station, and I assumed it was just what major metro train stations looked like. Then I took one look at Grand Central and realized what they COULD be. Penn station is a run-down, cavernous, filthy train station; especially the LIRR terminal, which I have the misfortune of using daily for work. You enter by one of the escalators that are broken or stopped several times a year, and you are treated to a dank, loud terminal. Recently, the company in charge of all of the fast food restaurants kicked everybody out! The TGI Fridays, Taco Bell/Tim Hortons/Nathans, Pizzeria/Bodega, and KFC are all gone, making way for more "upscale" dining options a la Grand Central. Here's the thing: You wouldn't dine in a dumpster, you wouldn't dine in Penn Station. The reason that most of the places to eat were fast food is because you grab something and then get the hell out of Penn Station! I hear that the old Penn Station was even nicer than Grand Central, and that makes me sad thinking of what might have been if it hadn't been demolished and a new station seemingly built in the same location without cleaning up the razed old station first. Hyperbole? Yeah, I'll give you that one. I long for the day when I no longer rely on Penn Station as such an integral part of my daily commute to work. Not that subway stations are that much better, but at least they're designed with exiting in mind. read more

Train on time, the usual suspects at 115am. Plenty of undesireables, no MTA or NYPD nearby. Only good thing i can say is that my train was on time and plenty of seating available for $7.25.. read more

Train, train, ya had to take a train, leavin' me here feelin' this pain, you know the trains are way outdated, babe* It's truly disturbing that the MTA can still run old trains when even the 'new' models are light years behind mass transit in the rest of the world AND still manage to charge more AND impose deal-with-it policies about lateness and cancellations. *(C) Barton Carroll, "It had to be a train" read more

Craziest transportation Experience ever! We had to wait before they posted which track our train would be departing and by the time they did it was a race to get on. They waited an additional 4 minutes before they were scheduled to leave but it made for some unwanted stress! In addition to the first part, when we arrived at Jamaica we only had 1 minute before our connection left, ugh!! read more

LIRR Penn Station - Putting my feet up after waiting for 30 minutes for the LIRR to post which track we had to race to before the train left - Train Stations Near Me - New York, New York

If I could put a lower star I would. This train service has royally screwed me several times on trips. I regularly take trains from the Huntington line from Mineola to Penn station to catch an NJ Transit train. EVERY time I have, the train has been LATE and every time it's late, it costs me to MISS MY CONNECTING TRAIN! This is inexcusable. If you are going to be a few minutes late then change your track times ahead of time. The more often this happens the more often I'm starting to think that this is normal, especially for Sundays. There is absolutely no reason that this train should be late. It is on time EVERYTIME during PEAK TIMES. But somehow on SUNDAY when it's not even a full train it ALWAYS happens to be LATE! It literally makes no damn sense. Again this has not been a one time occurrence this has happened multiple times and based on how shitty this service is I doubt it is going to change any time soon. I'm usually very reasonable and for me to even have to write this review makes me mad. I NEVER get to the point that I want to do this and these people have made me want to do this. Pick up your shit LIRR, seriously... this is nonsense. read more

BIG AND LOUD. (but some good food establishments). All I can say is that I'm glad I work on Long Island and do not have to take the LIRR daily! read more

God, I wish they'd finish that connector to Grand Central already. I HATE the ridiculous mad dash to the track since they can't be bothered to tell you ahead of time what track your train is leaving on. Had a discussion on this very issue with a guy traveling from DC this morning. If MetroNorth can post THEIR tracks for their trains in a timely fashion to avoid a mad dash to the platform, why can't the LIRR? read more

This station sits under the world famous Madison Square Garden arena. It is essentially major passenger hub for the tri-state area. Now that I have gotten that professional sounding bullshit out of the way here is my review of Penn Station. Actually I don't have a review per se just some tips. Well I don't have any tips really just some wacky shit you can do while you are in there. 1. Even if you use penn station mainly for getting to and from work you should visit it around 2:30-3:30am. You will see the drunkest people in NY state at the moment. Once you have observed the comedy in the station pick a train and ride it all the way to the end of eastern long island. Its a like a club in there. Drunk chicks, people playing music loudly on their iphones, fights, possible drinking and smoking. I saw a guy whip out a bong once. 2. I guess this one is a tip technically, do not under any circumstances eat the pizza from the huge magazine/news store next to KFC. 3. That same store has a great selection of magazines. Great place to read if you miss that 2:53 train from penn and you gotta get the next one at 5am. read more

LIRR: I get the gripe about the LIRR being over priced and under performing but there's nothing you can do about it. It's on time a majority of the time and it's safer than the subway. Penn Station: I actually like Penn Station, I like the food options, the bathrooms are cleaner than most Starbucks, and it feels safe. As a female - waiting for the LIRR at 2AM on a Saturday morning doesn't make me paranoid because there's always people around including cops and army people. read more

Train spotting... Polite service from the teller to transport on a bustling Friday evening in the middle of the New York summer. My only wish is that the couple hashing out the details of their complex relationship would wait to get home and not get all caught up here on the train. Even headphones can't drown out the drama. (Sigh....) The conductor was really nice about helping me out when I missed my stop because of their ruckus and had to be redirected to a train that would reach the correct stop. Very difficult not to smile at his old-school cap, which reminds me of straphangers and checkered cabs, haha. It is what you make of it. Have a great weekend. read more

Decent for what it is. Pretty dirty, but that's to be expected, right? It is NYC after all. My only "real" complaint is that the food/drinks here are ridiculously expensive! I guess that due to the overhead.. but $3.50 for a gatorade? I'll have to pass dude. I think the only reasonable spot is Subway... which I hate, but what else you going to do on a drunk night? read more

LIRR has been reliable to be at all times. Super convenient too. Advice: discount on weekends. As it's only $4.25 for me on weekends. Price varies depending which zone you're in/going to. You can buy only purchase the weekend tix the day of. read more

Aside from the less fortunate ppl asking for change some of the workers here actually help. read more

LIRR Penn Station - Train Stations Near Me - New York, New York

I went to use it running to catch train at mets wills point today. People were boarding as I was giving my "weekly" ticket that I bought on Monday. They stopped me abruptly and said weekly tickets were Monday - Friday ..... And not the weekends. Panicking I said, "really?!" There goes the train....... "Yes" read more

This station keeps getting worse and worse. Just not great service, delayed all the time and now these workers making over 150k with cushy pensions just to hole punch our tickets-such corruption!!! read more