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As even our "Left Coasties" around here likely know, there could be a strike on the Long Island Rail Road as early as 1201A (501A GMT) Sunday. All provisions of the Railway Labor Act have been exhausted and the parties are free to exercise "self help".
From this article appearing in Today's New York Times, it would appear that Ovid's quote "Sic ego nec sine te nec tecum vivere possum" - Neither can I live with you, nor can I live without you - is quite applicable:
The signature gesture of a Long Island Rail Road commuter is a shrug. It stands for crankiness, vexation and fatigue; it answers unannounced rain delays and torn seats. The shrug is often followed by a sigh, and inevitable submission to the vagaries of the twice-daily convoy.
But in recent days, as a strike deadline loomed and labor negotiations sputtered, shoulders have become hunched up around ears as riders weigh onerous contingency plans. Riders love their train; they hate their train. But they certainly don’t want to do without it.
“It’s been at least 25 years of hell,” said Jill Citron, 56, a corporate travel agent, making her usual trip on the 5:22 from Pennsylvania Station to Wyandanch in her preferred last-row aisle seat on Tuesday. And yet, she added, “if there’s no train, it’s awful.
Of interest, the Long Island, chartered during 1834, is the oldest standing charter of a railroad operating under its originally chartered corporate name. The Baltimore & Ohio previously held that distinction, but several years ago, CSX dissolved most if not all of their predecessor charters.
Ocala Mike Member # 4657
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A later take on the story regarding a possible strike at my former home railroad:
Although operating under the same name, Long Island Rail Road (two words, since 1834, any similarity between the MTA-owned railroad and the LIRR when it was a ******* child of PRR is purely coincidental.
Ocala Mike Member # 4657
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Substitute "unwanted" for the word b-a-s-t-a-r-d which, incredibly, is a banned word here.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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It just may be averted; the Journal reports:
However, a boulder came down on the tracks along the Hudson River line north of Garrison, NY, affecting Metro North and Amtrak trains using that line (Empire Service etc). One track was cleared but Amtrak trains are running quite late today. Amtrak expects trains to be on time tomorrow. Don't know about Metro North.
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