LIRR And MNRR Random Thoughts Thread

[Via Garibaldi 8]

LOL... Another reason NOT to move to Long Island... My Metro-North trains are pretty good with being on time, be it peak or off-peak.  The only rough spot was after the derailment, but service was smooth shortly after that was fixed. 

Edited September 14, 2013 by Via Garibaldi 8

[lirr42]

LOL... Another reason NOT to move to Long Island... My Metro-North trains are pretty good with being on time, be it peak or off-peak.  The only rough spot was after the derailment, but service was smooth shortly after that was fixed. 

 

Hey, hey, hey, MN's System AM Peak OTP average was only 89.1% in August.  Not as bad as the LIRR's, but that 81.9% AM Peak OTP on the New Haven Line isn't very pretty (NHL had a 87.7% overall OTP for August)

[Vistausss]

One could argue that that's even worse than LIRR because LIRR does have Jamaica as a bottleneck. I mean, sure they're bad with diverting trains but even with no disruptions Jamaica is a bottleneck. And then there's Penn which is shared with Amtrak who owns the place...

MNRR only has to deal with GCT in which they can freely control everything. There's no real bottlenecks in the system on MNRR on a daily basis (only exception is Yankees-E153rd at game days); only some slight hindrances but no bottlenecks.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

One could argue that that's even worse than LIRR because LIRR does have Jamaica as a bottleneck. I mean, sure they're bad with diverting trains but even with no disruptions Jamaica is a bottleneck. And then there's Penn which is shared with Amtrak who owns the place...

MNRR only has to deal with GCT in which they can freely control everything. There's no real bottlenecks in the system on MNRR on a daily basis (only exception is Yankees-E153rd at game days); only some slight hindrances but no bottlenecks.

 

 

Hey, hey, hey, MN's System AM Peak OTP average was only 89.1% in August.  Not as bad as the LIRR's, but that 81.9% AM Peak OTP on the New Haven Line isn't very pretty (NHL had a 87.7% overall OTP for August)

The Hudson line has a pretty good track record from my experience. I think the New Haven and Harlem lines can be problematic though.  Seems like there's always some tree or leave problem on those lines.    Hey if the Hudson line was garbage, my avatar wouldn't have a photo of Spuyten Duyvil with a MNRR train passing through. 

Edited September 14, 2013 by Via Garibaldi 8

[Vistausss]

It's still bad. It isn't called 'Spuyten Duivil' for nothing. That place is haunted by Stuyvesant!

[Via Garibaldi 8]

It's still bad. It isn't called 'Spuyten Duivil' for nothing. That place is haunted by Stuyvesant!

lol... So says the Dutchman... I can deal with my train being 5 minutes late from time to time with the views of the Hudson that both MNRR stations have.

[lirr42]

One could argue that that's even worse than LIRR because LIRR does have Jamaica as a bottleneck. I mean, sure they're bad with diverting trains but even with no disruptions Jamaica is a bottleneck. And then there's Penn which is shared with Amtrak who owns the place...

 

Amtrak was the #2 cause of delays in August 2013 for the LIRR (second only to the valued customers themselves).  Amtrak related service disruptions caused delays to 361 trains in August 2013, a 3,181% increase over last year.  And PSCC caused another 43 trains to be late in August.

Edited September 15, 2013 by lirr42

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Last Friday a yellow train was coming through as our train was pulling into the station.  Is that a cleaning train or what? 

[Truckie]

Last Friday a yellow train was coming through as our train was pulling into the station. Is that a cleaning train or what?

Was it an actual train or maintenance equiptment?

 

There has been a train rolling around the Hudson Line testing the tracks and there is a yellow locomotive on the north end. This train is only working between 8pm and 8am.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Was it an actual train or maintenance equiptment?

 

There has been a train rolling around the Hudson Line testing the tracks and there is a yellow locomotive on the north end. This train is only working between 8pm and 8am.

Well it looked like a train to me... Just had two cars IIRC... I've never seen it before prior to this and was surprised that an express train didn't come roaring through as usual that day.  I also noticed that we stopped at a different track that day at the Yankees-East 153rd street station.  This was an off-peak train...

[Joel Up Front]

A Sperry Rail Service car (I cannot remember the number for the life of me) is somewhere in Suffolk but will actually start inspecting track tomorrow morning and Wednesday.  A couple of weeks ago, it was just sitting on Track 1 at Hicksville, but I saw it starting up and heading out to the Port Jeff Branch tracks.

 

But anyway, what is the point of those bells on the DE30s?

[RestrictOnTheHanger]

All locomotives have bells. Not just the LIRR either.

[lirr42]

They're an FRA requirement

[Vistausss]

I did see some videos on YouTube (I can't remember where in the USA it was but it was most definitely not anywhere near NY) where they had a *few* locomotives on regular commuter service without bells.

[lirr42]

Have some spare rail equipment laying around in your backyard? Give the LIRR a call, they're looking for some:

 

LIRR Looking to Supplement Current Diesel Fleet

 

Yesterday, a Request for Expression of Interest popped up on the MTA's website saying that the LIRR was considering leasing some sort of supplemental diesel equipment to supplement the current fleet which is far too small to carry on like it is now.

From the RFEI: "MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) is contemplating supplementing a portion of its current fleet of passenger diesel locomotives and passenger rail cars via a lease agreement. The LIRR is interested in obtaining sets of equipment which are highly reliable and are in good working order in the following configurations:

• "Group A: Up to five consist that contain two locomotives and seating for 420 passengers each
• Group B: Up to two consist that contain two locomotives and seating for 280 passengers each"

As it stands, the cars designated in "Group A" would supplement Oyster Bay Branch sets with trains of five cars seating 420 passengers (roughly 84 people per car, so a standard single-level coach would be more than sufficient).   "Group B" would be for two car sets that seat 280 passengers.  Two cars that can seat 280 passengers could be a bit tricky.  280 divided by two is 140 seats per car.  So that would very likely have to be a bi-level car of some sort.  Finding leftover/used equipment that are bi-levels and seat 140 people will be quite difficult, so I hope the LIRR's not going to adhere to that requirement all that strictly.

The document goes on to say that the cars have to have heat and AC and the like (consider yourselves lucky, that used to not be the case on many railroads!).  The document also says that the cars must be ADA accessible and able to board at high-level platforms.  The cars must also be able to meet all of the LIRR's clearance requirements (presumably including New York Penn).

The document then says that the equipment would be able to run at speeds as high as 80 m.p.h. (though there's not an inch of anything close to 80 m.p.h. territory east of Ronkonkoma and for the vast majority of the Oyster Bay branch).

There's not that much else to it.  It's basically just a "feeler" that the LIRR's putting out to see if anyone possibly has something that they would be able to lease to the LIRR.

So who could the LIRR possibly lease from?  It would have to be another passenger railroad, unless some random Joe Snobgrass is sitting around someplace with seven cars and four locomotives tied up in his backyard.  Because they would have to meet pretty tight clearance regulations, the only real candidates are other New York-area railroads.  Obviously the LIRR isn't going to lease stuff from themselves, so we can cross them off the list.  Moreover, Metro-North doesn't really have a surplus of Shoerliner coaches, and judging from their ongoing implosion on the New Haven Line, I'd think they'd quite like to keep what they have on their own rails, even if they aren't getting used.

The only candidate I can think of is NJTransit.  However, they're equipment took a hit after Hurricane Sandy and they are still yet to completely recover.  Of their 932 normally available coaches (both Comets and MLV's), 213 were damaged during Hurricane Sandy, and 54 of those have still yet to be returned to service.

If Hurricane Sandy hadn't happened I'd say NJTransit would be the best bet.  A while back they tried out the "Atlantic City Express Service" (ACES) where there would be a direct train from NYP and NWK to Atlantic City.  For that service, NJTransit acquired four hand-me-down P40's from Amtrak and the casino owners pitched in for eight specially modified MLV cars.  Since then, that service has gone belly up, and those locomotives and/or cars have been either damaged or pressed into everyday service on NJT.  The four P40's and eight MLV's would be perfect for the LIRR since they would positively fit every dimension in NYP, and very possibly on the whole railroad.

But with NJTransit's shaky recovery after Hurricane Sandy, I can't quite see them floating some cars over to the LIRR without having their full fleet restored in the first place.

Once you go outside the New York Metro things get dicey.  Other railroads might have surplus equipment, but if they can't work with the LIRR's pretty tight clearances and requirements, they won't be too good.  And while some out of the ordinary stock might be fine for the lowly Greenport Branch, where there are hardly any overpasses and all of them leave plenty of room, keep in mind that that equipment will have to touch the rest of the LIRR system at some point to get fueled and repaired.

Bottom line, I like what I'm seeing from the LIRR, their diesel fleet is far too small and it needs more cars and more locomotives, especially in the summer.  What they're doing is a smart move as any new equipment purchases (yes, even DMU's) are still years away from hitting the rails.   However, due to the unique characteristics of the LIRR,  I wouldn't hold your breath for the LIRR to get too many e-mails back about this.

 

Posted on: Saturday, October 05, 2013

See More Posts About: C3, DE, DM, DMU, Equipment, Other Railroads, Procurements

Edited October 5, 2013 by lirr42

[40MntVrn]

Could this be a preparedness program in case a major power outage hit the LIRR?

[lirr42]

Could this be a preparedness program in case a major power outage hit the LIRR?

 

Nah, their diesel fleet is far too thin already.  This would mainly be for the summer when the LIRR is desperately short on equipment.  It's doubtful we would ever see something like what happened to the New Haven Line happen to the LIRR.  Third rail power transmission work much differently, and there are substations every 2 miles or so, so if something goes down, the slack can be picked up with minimal impact on service.

[NYCTrainFan95]

The question becomes: Who in the area has enough diesel power to lease?

[Joel Up Front]

Before the bilevel cars came in, where did engineers know where to stop on platforms?  Did they just use the same ones the M1s/M3s used?

[Vistausss]

The M6's have an interesting door chime

[lirr42]

Very random, but imagine how a Montauk->Long Island City super-express with no intermediate stops would be shown on the public timetables...

 

Since Long Island City is not listed on the main timetables and the train doesn't stop at Jamaica (therefore the train wouldn't be shown in the small LIC boxes on all the schedules), it would either be listed as one random time all by itself on the Montauk schedule or not at all!

[lirr42]

Just for giggles and grins I'm conducting a survey to see what people think the LIRR's most beautiful and ugliest stations are.  Voting ends midnight tomorrow and you can submit your votes with this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1F-ngl71uqaLcd-SbvAcXmm8MlAhsZRlMQffZN2OIx6g/viewform

Edited October 15, 2013 by lirr42

[Amtrak7]

Watch this and you'll laugh like crazy. I promise.

 

[PinePower]

I think LIRR took a page from NICE, and didn't hold the connecting train at Huntington. ALOT of SUNY students transfer to that 7:07am diesel train. What a completely BS thing to do. A bunch of ppl were late for class today!

 

The 5:47AM train from Penn due Huntington at 6:57AM, is operating 27 minutes late due to congestion caused by a track condition in New Hyde Park. Customers looking to travel east of Huntington will be accommodated by bus. Buses are en route to Huntington but are not currently on scene.

[lirr42]

I think LIRR took a page from NICE, and didn't hold the connecting train at Huntington. ALOT of SUNY students transfer to that 7:07am diesel train. What a completely BS thing to do. A bunch of ppl were late for class today!

 

The 5:47AM train from Penn due Huntington at 6:57AM, is operating 27 minutes late due to congestion caused by a track condition in New Hyde Park. Customers looking to travel east of Huntington will be accommodated by bus. Buses are en route to Huntington but are not currently on scene.

 

There was bad congestion west of UN.  They had to send 604 east with or without its connection or else it would risk missing meets with 613 at FOX and 615 at STONY, messing things up for those trains with even more people on them.

 

And I think they've let 604 go a couple times anyways, for the most part the reverse-commute trains that go against the grain take a back seat to keeping the westbounds flowing, especially in single-track territory.