By Steve Ritea, Newsday, Melville, N.Y. Feb. 13--Ridership on the Long Island Rail Road hit a modern-day record with 86.1 million passengers last year, the highest number in nearly six decades, officials said.

By Mark Ginocchio, The Stamford Advocate, Conn. Nov. 26--NEW YORK -- At 63rd Street and 2nd Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan, you'll find community gardens. But 160 feet below the gravel parking lot and work sheds, you'll find the real action.

By Steve Ritea, Newsday, Melville, N.Y. Nov. 9--One-hundred sixty feet below East 63rd Street, the sound is deafening.

By Steve Ritea, Newsday, Melville, N.Y. Oct. 23--

By Steve Ritea, Newsday, Melville, N.Y. Oct. 17--They call it the "Jamaica Crawl" -- Long Island Rail Road trains slowing to snail's pace as they enter and exit the station, maneuvering over a tangle of switches and crossovers unchanged for nearly a century.