That’s because the LIRR added four late-night eastbound trains from the transit hub across the street from the new venue to accomodate the 334-percent increase in ridership on the line since Barclays’ debut last September.

“Barclays Center has been every bit the draw we had anticipated it would be, creating a whole new customer stream for the LIRR,” LIRR President Helena Williams said in January.

The last train out of Brooklyn used to be at 11:55 p.m. but the LIRR added trains that ran through 12:41 p.m. after the center opened. Now, after the LIRR new schedule went into effect this week, the latest train from the Atlantic Terminal is 1:42 a.m. on weekends and 1:37 a.m. on weekdays.

That trains mark the restoration of service that was cut years prior during the MTA’s budget crunch. Four westbound trains to Brooklyn were also restored to the schedule.

The LIRR said in January that before the Barclays Center opened, an average of 990 riders to the train to the Atlantic Terminal on a typical Thursday evening and another 430 riders boarded trains leaving the station.

Those figures jumped to 3,135 and 3,835, respectively, on Thursday, Oct. 11, the first of two Barbra Streisand concerts at the center. The biggest night yet—4,852 riders to Brooklyn and 5,377 from—was Dec. 11, when the Nets hosted the Knicks for the first time as crosstown rivals.

Brooklyn-bound LIRR ridership is sure to continue to increase once the New York Islanders move to the Barclays Center from Nassau Coliseum. Big name acts on Barclays’ concert calendar next month include Alicia Keys, Green Day and Bob Seger.

The Main Line track between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma has seen ridership double over the last 25 years since it was electrified in 1988, but the service has always been vulnerable to disruptions because two-thirds of the 18-mile span consists of only a single pair of tracks. When a train breaks down, there’s no way around it.

“Two tracks are better than one,” said Williams, repeating her mantra for this ambitious project that marks a major investment in the railroad.

The MTA has committed $138 million to the planning and construction of phase one of the Double Track Project, which is slated to commence along a a 4-mile stretch between Ronkonkoma and Central Islip come November. The preliminary design and environmental assessment has just been done, and the LIRR is hoping to complete its review by next month and begin putting contracts out to bid soon thereafter. If they stick to their schedule, it should be done in two years.

The Main Line should see “shovels in the ground” this fall, she said. “We’re going forward.”

Unlike the more controversial—and three times more expensive (at $1.5 billion)—Third Track proposal between Floral Park and Hicksville, no homes or businesses will be significantly affected by double-tracking the Ronkonkoma line, she said, because the LIRR can do the job within its existing right of way. In other words, there are “fewer backyards” to contend with.

Phase Two, which would extend the double track corridor to Farmingdale, requires another $300 million from the MTA’s next five-year capital funding program. If that money is forthcoming in a timely fashion, then Williams predicts the next stretch can be finished by 2018. With the money they already have, they expect to complete the design, at least, for the entire 18-mile segment.

In other news, the LIRR is slated to get nearly $21 million in Superstorm Sandy recovery aid from the Federal Transit Administration, which will help the railroad repair bridges, signals and other infrastructure.

As for the gap at the top of the MTA after Joseph Lhota left his job as chairman to run as a Republican mayoral candidate in New York City, Williams said she’s optimistic that her railroad wouldn’t get overlooked because the interim MTA Executive Director Thomas Prendergast is a former LIRR president.

If he’ll have the clout to guarantee that the LIRR gets adequate funding for Phase II of the double track remains to be seen. The riders on the Ronkonkoma line will just have to keep their fingers crossed.