[daburninatorrr]

Interestingly enough, I have had this same exact idea for an app, also being one of those commuters who rely on LIRR trains, also being someone who noticed that my peak train home arrives almost always on the same track, and also being one of the (few) commuters who go down to the platform before the train is called.

It is a shame that this had to happen to OP. I personally don't see the app as an issue, because the amount of commuters that would actually use such a thing is rather low (seriously, stand in the concourse and look around at people, a large amount of them are not using their phones).

My original idea was to scrape the data from their webpage, or see if there was a way to get the data from the Train Time app's Arrival Countdown page, but according to the post, it has been removed from their website, so there goes that idea.

The lesson to me is clear though: don't try to make an app that would make commuter's lives easier. The MTA does not seem to want that, especially during the track repairs. I find it interesting that it was shut down so close to the start of the Penn Station track repairs...