August 2026 brought steady systemwide reliability on the Long Island Rail Road, but the Port Jefferson Branch lagged well behind the rest of the network, according to MTA open data retrieved by Long Island Traffic.
The MTA LIRR On-Time Performance dataset shows the system ran at 95.6% on time for the month — up 0.1 percentage point from July 2026’s 95.5% and down 0.1 percentage point from August 2025’s 95.7%. The MTA recorded 1,220 delayed, cancelled or partly cancelled trains in August 2026, compared with 1,265 in July 2026 and 1,149 in August 2025, according to MTA LIRR Delays data.
Port Jefferson Branch records lowest on-time rate among 12 branches
The Port Jefferson Branch finished August 2026 at 92.0% on time — the lowest figure among the 12 branches the MTA reported — according to MTA LIRR On-Time Performance data. That was down 3.3 percentage points from July 2026 and down 2.9 percentage points from August 2025. AM peak performance on the branch reached only 87.5% and PM peak only 87.8%.
Riders can check Port Jefferson Branch live status for current conditions.
LIRR on-time performance by branch, August 2026 (percentage-point changes computed by Long Island Traffic from the MTA figures)
| Branch | August 2026 | July 2026 | Change vs prior month (pts) | August 2025 | Change vs a year earlier (pts) | AM peak | PM peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Jefferson | 92.0% | 95.3% | -3.3 | 94.9% | -2.9 | 87.5% | 87.8% |
| Montauk | 92.3% | 88.4% | +3.9 | 91.8% | +0.5 | 96.4% | 93.2% |
| Babylon | 93.7% | 94.0% | -0.3 | 95.7% | -2.0 | 92.2% | 96.3% |
| Huntington | 94.0% | 95.4% | -1.4 | 95.3% | -1.3 | 95.2% | 93.2% |
| Ronkonkoma | 94.1% | 94.2% | -0.1 | 95.3% | -1.2 | 95.0% | 95.8% |
| Oyster Bay | 95.1% | 94.4% | +0.7 | 97.2% | -2.1 | 96.0% | 94.3% |
| Far Rockaway | 96.8% | 97.1% | -0.3 | 97.5% | -0.7 | 97.8% | 96.2% |
| Hempstead | 96.8% | 97.0% | -0.2 | 96.7% | +0.1 | 95.2% | 97.9% |
| Long Beach | 96.8% | 95.7% | +1.1 | 95.7% | +1.1 | 97.6% | 99.5% |
| Port Washington | 96.9% | 97.9% | -1.0 | 93.3% | +3.6 | 99.1% | 95.1% |
| Atlantic | 99.0% | 98.0% | +1.0 | 98.7% | +0.3 | 99.0% | 99.0% |
| West Hempstead | 99.1% | 97.3% | +1.8 | 97.2% | +1.9 | 99.0% | 97.6% |
West Hempstead Branch leads all branches at 99.1%
At the other end of the table, the West Hempstead Branch posted 99.1% on-time performance in August 2026, the highest of any branch, according to MTA LIRR On-Time Performance data. That figure was up 1.8 percentage points from July 2026 and up 1.9 percentage points from August 2025. Of the 12 branches, 7 saw on-time performance fall from July 2026 to August 2026, while 5 rose, the MTA data show.
Systemwide performance held near 95.6% across the past year
Systemwide LIRR on-time performance, August 2025 to August 2026
| Month | On-time performance |
|---|---|
| August 2025 | 95.7% |
| September 2025 | 95.6% |
| October 2025 | 96.3% |
| November 2025 | 95.9% |
| December 2025 | 94.9% |
| January 2026 | 94.5% |
| February 2026 | 93.7% |
| March 2026 | 95.9% |
| April 2026 | 95.8% |
| May 2026 | 93.9% |
| June 2026 | 94.0% |
| July 2026 | 95.5% |
| August 2026 | 95.6% |
Systemwide on-time performance has moved within a range visible in the trend table above over the 13 months from August 2025 through August 2026, according to MTA LIRR On-Time Performance data. The August 2026 systemwide AM peak rate was 95.6% and the PM peak rate was 95.9%.
Train Operations was the leading delay category in August 2026
Train Operations was the most common MTA delay category in August 2026, accounting for 446 trains — 36.6% of all delayed, cancelled or partly cancelled trains — according to MTA LIRR Delays data. The Police category showed a notable shift, rising to 184 trains in August 2026 from 126 in both July 2026 and August 2025. External Factors, which covered 278 trains in July 2026, fell to 145 trains in August 2026.
Delayed LIRR trains by MTA delay category, August 2026 (shares computed by Long Island Traffic from the MTA rows)
| Delay category (MTA) | August 2026 trains | Share of August 2026 | July 2026 trains | August 2025 trains |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Train Operations | 446 | 36.6% | 437 | 410 |
| Fleet | 220 | 18.0% | 233 | 239 |
| Police | 184 | 15.1% | 126 | 126 |
| Infrastructure Maintenance | 149 | 12.2% | 114 | 104 |
| External Factors | 145 | 11.9% | 278 | 226 |
| Customer Assistance | 72 | 5.9% | 77 | 42 |
| Capital Projects | 4 | 0.3% | 0 | 2 |
Babylon Branch recorded the most delayed trains by count
The Babylon Branch had the most delayed, cancelled or partly cancelled trains of any branch in the MTA delay data in August 2026, with 265 late trains, 7 cancelled and 5 partly cancelled, according to MTA LIRR Delays data. The Port Jefferson Branch’s 79 late trains averaged 17.0 minutes late — the highest average among all branches listed. The Montauk Branch averaged 14.5 minutes late across its 117 late trains.
Delayed LIRR trains by branch, August 2026 (average computed by Long Island Traffic over late trains only)
| Branch (MTA) | Late trains | Average minutes late | Cancelled | Partly cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Babylon | 265 | 9.8 | 7 | 5 |
| Ronkonkoma | 194 | 12.0 | 1 | 2 |
| Huntington | 161 | 10.3 | 5 | 5 |
| Montauk | 117 | 14.5 | 7 | 5 |
| Port Washington | 86 | 10.2 | 2 | 6 |
| Port Jefferson | 79 | 17.0 | 2 | 9 |
| Far Rockaway | 57 | 10.9 | 2 | 0 |
| Long Beach | 55 | 8.9 | 0 | 1 |
| Hempstead | 52 | 9.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Oyster Bay | 38 | 13.2 | 3 | 2 |
| City Terminal Zone | 34 | 9.7 | 7 | 0 |
| West Hempstead | 10 | 7.9 | 1 | 0 |
Major incidents fell to 10 in August 2026 from 19 in July
The MTA recorded 10 major incidents in August 2026 — events that each delayed, cancelled or terminated 10 or more trains — down from 19 in July 2026 and 13 in August 2025, according to MTA LIRR Major Incidents data. A trespasser strike west of New Hyde Park on August 13 was the single largest event of the month, with 65 trains late, 3 cancelled and 1 terminated. Two separate Forest Hills event loading incidents — on August 21 and August 28 — each affected 12 and 20 trains late, respectively. A lightning system-wide event on August 7 delayed 19 trains.
LIRR major incidents, August 2026 (train counts summed by Long Island Traffic across the MTA’s AM peak, PM peak and off-peak columns)
| Date | MTA description | Trains late | Trains cancelled | Trains terminated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 3 | Amtrak related loss of Line 3 due to catenary problem | 18 | 1 | 0 |
| August 6 | Trespasser strike at Robbins Lane | 11 | 3 | 9 |
| August 7 | Track circuit failure at Port Interlocking | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| August 7 | Lightning system wide | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| August 11 | Broken rail NO.1 track at Amityville | 19 | 2 | 1 |
| August 13 | Trespasser strike west of New Hyde Park | 65 | 3 | 1 |
| August 17 | Code trouble caused by track circuit on Montauk 2 | 20 | 0 | 1 |
| August 21 | Forest Hills event loading | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| August 27 | No.562(DE) Door trouble | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| August 28 | Forest Hills event loading | 20 | 0 | 0 |
Check live LIRR status for current service conditions across all branches.
How we measured this
- On-time performance is the MTA’s figure: the share of trains that reached their final destination within 5 minutes 59 seconds of schedule, by branch and month. Long Island Traffic retrieved the MTA datasets from data.ny.gov on October 3, 2026 and computed only the percentage-point changes shown.
- Delay causes come from the MTA’s per-train delay dataset, which lists every LIRR train the MTA recorded as late (6 minutes or more), cancelled or partly cancelled, with the delay category the MTA assigned. Long Island Traffic counted those rows by category and branch for August 2026, July 2026 and August 2025.
- Major incidents are the MTA’s list of events that delayed, cancelled or terminated 10 or more trains; train counts are the sum of the MTA’s peak and off-peak columns for each event.
Limitations
- The delay dataset does not include how many trains each branch ran, so delayed-train counts by branch are not rates and do not rank branch reliability; on-time performance is the MTA’s rate measure.
- Delay categories are the MTA’s own; Long Island Traffic did not re-classify any delay.
- The MTA posts each month several weeks after it ends and may revise figures; this report reflects the data as retrieved.