The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) is North America's busiest commuter railroad system, carrying an average of 282,400 passengers each weekday on 728 daily trains. Chartered on April 24, 1834, and operating continuously since, it is also the oldest railroad in the U.S. that still operates under its original charter and name. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has operated the LIRR as one of its two commuter railroads since 1966, and the LIRR is one of the few railroads worldwide that provides service all the time, year round. A $2billion plan to add a third railroad track to the LIRR Main Line between the Floral Park and Hicksville stations in Nassau County was completed in 2022, and an expansion of the Ronkonkoma Branch from one to two tracks was completed in 2018. Five "readiness projects" across the LIRR system, which cost a combined $495 million, were built in preparation for expanded peak-hour LIRR service after the completion of East Side Access, which brings LIRR trains to Grand Central Madison in Manhattan.