After a dismal December and January, the MTA discussed Tuesday ways to improve the Long Island Rail Road's performance after its worst "on-time" performance in decades.

LIRR President Patrick Nowakowski placed the blame on himself and gave MTA board members a list of more than 50 changes that he says will restore the railroad.

Nowakowski says he wants to first improve communication with passengers by using more platform and on-board announcements by people, not computers.

"As much as possible, I want to share real-time information that we have with our customers directly," he says.

Nowakowski says he also wants to add platform countdown clocks. When it comes to maintenance, Nowakowski says the railroad will improve so that less trains will be pulled out of service for extended periods of time.

MTA board member Mitch Pally says changes need to happen soon before the railroad loses the confidence of its riders.

"Whatever the railroad needs to change the focus from what we just went through they will get from this board, without a doubt." he says. 

The railroad's overall on-time performance for January was at 83.9 percent. The number is the lowest since January 1996.

The MTA blames many of January's train cancellations and delays on Amtrak issues and broken rails caused by the bitter cold weather.