LIRR And MNRR Random Thoughts Thread

[trainfan22]

Took Metro North up to White Plains today, got an M3 in both directions 😁

 

Train had door problems delaying us leaving GCT, train coming back the A/C was broke in one of the cars. Train also got delayed in both directions due to single tracking, its nearly 5PM on a weekday and their STILL single tracking SMH.

[40MntVrn]

Does anyone have information on the status of the Penn Station renovations or have visited recently? I get frequent updates about the 42nd street corridor and it's acceleration due in part to lower passenger levels, I'm wondering what the progression is like on the west side.

[LGA Link N Train]

The Atlantic Ticket is pretty nice. Took the LIRR from Atlantic Terminal to Jamaica and boy was it a fun ride. I also got a glimpse of the bellmouths that lead to RBB and the Abandoned Woodhaven Station on the way to Jamaica. (NGL, that Woodhaven Station would’ve been pretty useful for me right now)

[B35 via Church]

2 hours ago, LaGuardia Link N Tra said:

The Atlantic Ticket is pretty nice. Took the LIRR from Atlantic Terminal to Jamaica and boy was it a fun ride. I also got a glimpse of the bellmouths that lead to RBB and the Abandoned Woodhaven Station on the way to Jamaica. (NGL, that Woodhaven Station would’ve been pretty useful for me right now)

Used to be a daily thing for me.... I would then xfer at Jamaica for a Ronkonkoma or a Huntington train to Mineola.... Although I don't miss the commute, I'd like to see how that third track project out there is coming along....

Anyway, did you board an express, or did your train stop at ENY & Nostrand?

[LGA Link N Train]

2 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

Used to be a daily thing for me.... I would then xfer at Jamaica for a Ronkonkoma or a Huntington train to Mineola.... Although I don't miss the commute, I'd like to see how that third track project out there is coming along....

Anyway, did you board an express, or did your train stop at ENY & Nostrand?

It seems like they reached Mineola, I passed by there, there were a few Vehicles getting ready to set up the 3rd Track.

It stopped at ENY and Nostrand. Last time (back when there was that 10 Day G.O. where the  was cut back to 121st) I was on the Atlantic Avenue Line, my train ran express.

[QM1to6Ave]

Which railroad companies besides for the MTA run on the LIRR and/or MNRR tracks? I know Amtrak and CSX are on there, but are there any others? And how does that work--do the companies pay the MTA a fee to use the tracks? Or does the MTA not even own some of the trackage?

[trainfan22]

15 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Which railroad companies besides for the MTA run on the LIRR and/or MNRR tracks? I know Amtrak and CSX are on there, but are there any others? And how does that work--do the companies pay the MTA a fee to use the tracks? Or does the MTA not even own some of the trackage?

LIRR has New York and Atlantic freight trains running on their tracks. Metro North owns the lines it shares with Amtrak. 

 

Metro North owns all of the trackage in their system, same goes for LIRR except for the Penn Station/East River tunnels to Harold Interlocking.

 

[QM1to6Ave]

9 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

LIRR has New York and Atlantic freight trains running on their tracks. Metro North owns the lines it shares with Amtrak. 

 

Metro North owns all of the trackage in their system, same goes for LIRR except for the Penn Station/East River tunnels to Harold Interlocking.

 

Thanks!

[Lex]

21 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

LIRR has New York and Atlantic freight trains running on their tracks.

I honestly don't understand why freight operations were outsourced.

[Mtatransit]

1 hour ago, trainfan22 said:

LIRR has New York and Atlantic freight trains running on their tracks. Metro North owns the lines it shares with Amtrak. 

 

Metro North owns all of the trackage in their system, same goes for LIRR except for the Penn Station/East River tunnels to Harold Interlocking.

 

CDOT owns its portion of the track between NYS/Conn border all the way to New Haven. It also owns all the branches. However, that operation is essentially operated by Metro North.

1 hour ago, Lex said:

I honestly don't understand why freight operations were outsourced.

MTA were simply not interested in operating freight. Prior to 1997 freight was declining every year, and was down to 10,000 carloads by 1997.

Now NYAR operates 30,000 freight cars a year

[trainfan22]

I wonder why LI has it's own freight railroad and rail deliveries on LI aren't done by CSX for example. CSX can reach the LIRR via Hell gate bridge to Lower Montauk but by knowledge of freight operations is very limited.

 

 

It's always foam worthy when I catch an New York and Atlantic freight travelling down the Bay Ridge Branch in BK, I still remember the first time I seen one traveling down the branch as a kid. Under the parking lot near the Junction on Flatbush Ave.

 

Sometimes there's NY and Atlantic freight running along side the train between Atlantic Ave and New Lots, always cool when that happens 😁

 

 

Edited August 8, 2020 by trainfan22

[Lex]

9 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

I wonder why LI has it's own freight railroad and rail deliveries on LI aren't done by CSX for example. CSX can reach the LIRR via Hell gate bridge to Lower Montauk but by knowledge of freight operations is very limited.

 

 

It's always foam worthy when I catch an New York and Atlantic freight travelling down the Bay Ridge Branch in BK, I still remember the first time I seen one traveling down the branch as a kid. Under the parking lot near the Junction on Flatbush Ave.

 

Sometimes there's NY and Atlantic freight running along side the train between Atlantic Ave and New Lots, always cool when that happens 😁

 

 

NYAR operates freight service in lieu of the LIRR doing so in-house (which it once did).

[lirr42]

22 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Which railroad companies besides for the MTA run on the LIRR and/or MNRR tracks? I know Amtrak and CSX are on there, but are there any others? And how does that work--do the companies pay the MTA a fee to use the tracks? Or does the MTA not even own some of the trackage?

Norfolk Southern owns the Port Jervis line and leases it to Metro-North on a long term basis.

[trainfan22]

13 minutes ago, lirr42 said:

Norfolk Southern owns the Port Jervis line and leases it to Metro-North on a long term basis.

Surprised Metro North leases WOH trackage, I thought NJ Transit owned all of WOH trackage. I take it NS does MOW work on the trackage leased to MN? 

[trainfan22]

Surprised nobody posted this yet, but the LIRR M3's are back in service since that tropical storm we had caused a lot of flat wheels on the M7 & M9 fleets.

 

 

I don't think the entire remaining M3 fleet was reactivated, just a small amount of cars. 

[EphraimB]

13 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

Surprised nobody posted this yet, but the LIRR M3's are back in service since that tropical storm we had caused a lot of flat wheels on the M7 & M9 fleets.

 

 

I don't think the entire remaining M3 fleet was reactivated, just a small amount of cars. 

Will those M7s and M9s ever come back? Can they fix those flat wheels?

[trainfan22]

1 hour ago, EphraimB said:

Will those M7s and M9s ever come back? Can they fix those flat wheels?

They will come back.  And yea, they can fix flat wheels. During the fall when the leaves fall, flat wheels is common.

[NewFlyer 230]

Had a chance to ride the new M9’s from Atlantic Terminal to Jamaica and I have to say, there is nothing like that new “car” smell or in this case train smell lol. I really like how they have outlets. I wish that feature could be retrofitted into the M7’s somehow. 

[turbom7a]

Why is Platform F at Jamaica closed even though it's finished?

[Lil 57]

Just a random thought, why is St Albans served so infrequently on weekends and have no overnight service  (Babylon Branch trains pass by 24/7). Hourly weekday service is fine but how about adding overnight service and increasing weekend frequencies to Hourly. It would cost nothing and would help gain ridership.

[NewFlyer 230]

On 8/19/2020 at 12:11 AM, prozachfrfx said:

Why is Platform F at Jamaica closed even though it's finished?

It might be because of the lower ridership during this period of time. 

[Lil 57]

9 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

It might be because of the lower ridership during this period of time. 

I thought it was going to open up when the ESA project is finished for the shuttle trains from Atlantic Terminal to Jamaica.

[Caelestor]

On 8/18/2020 at 9:15 PM, Lil 57 said:

Just a random thought, why is St Albans served so infrequently on weekends and have no overnight service  (Babylon Branch trains pass by 24/7). Hourly weekday service is fine but how about adding overnight service and increasing weekend frequencies to Hourly. It would cost nothing and would help gain ridership.

In North America, transit operators are obsessed with faster running times on trains, but in reality, all off-peak trains should be running local wherever possible. Off-peak trains won't be able to compete against cars based on travel times, especially during a pandemic, so might as well ramp up the frequency as much as possible.

For instance, all Babylon Branch trains should be stopping at Lynbrook, but they should skip Valley Stream because of the track configuration. Likewise, all Far Rockaway and Long Beach trains should be running local to provide high-frequency service, especially for the Queens stops.

[LGA Link N Train]

Quick Question about Penn Station Access? 

Now I understand that the project was put on hold because of the Pandemic and the budget shortfall, but Did the  or Amtrak include an alignment or diagram of each proposed Station along the NEC, like for Exapmle, do they have a diagram about what a Hunts Point Station would look like under Penn Station Access?

[trainfan22]

I wonder what caused a whole HALF HOUR to be added to the GCT - NH and GCT - POU runtime!?!

 

Both of these runs used to be able to be done in a hour and a half, now both take two hours SMH.