The "old" schedule had more then one train per day, but it costs the LIRR tons more to operate then it can ever generate from ticket sales, so Bye Bye.

It's really a vestigial rail line whose original purpose was to compete with steamship lines between Boston and NYC and has subsequently lost it's usefulness. You could make the case for the Montauk branch as well, even though Montauk gets the Hamptons crowd and as such is more popular. Still, the Jitney does a better job and is more economic to run.

Mind you that I am totally in supprt of rail service over auto usage, but in this case.....

Doubt it'll ever become a Rails-to Trails, even though I LOVE the concept, as it's politically unpalatable to lose - forever (if you tear up the tracks and pave it), an intact and functioning rail line.

I do have to wonder though that down the road the service will be discontinued in it's entirety and will the LIRR actually allocate finds to keep the line functional "just in case". Doubtful. Then it becomes a RTT candidate, but this is decades away.

SB