LIRR And MNRR Random Thoughts Thread

[Trainmaster5]

17 minutes ago, Mtatransit said:

The MTA doesn't really want to serve Belmont that is why.

 

They would much prefer if everyone uses Elmont so they don't have to add any additional service.

That is my suspicion why every single weekend Main Line local and express train stops at UBS arena post ESA, when the station doesn't even serve the community that well. It is so if there is a event, they don;t have to do any additional work, or at most add like one train to/from Jamaica

You could be right about your suspicion but operationally it seems to make more sense to use the Elmont option compared to the time wasting racetrack option. Hockey games and concerts are less intrusive than the roundabout option, IMO. My take. Carry on.

[Lawrence St]

1 hour ago, Mtatransit said:

The MTA doesn't really want to serve Belmont that is why.

 

They would much prefer if everyone uses Elmont so they don't have to add any additional service.

That is my suspicion why every single weekend Main Line local and express train stops at UBS arena post ESA, when the station doesn't even serve the community that well. It is so if there is a event, they don;t have to do any additional work, or at most add like one train to/from Jamaica

 

55 minutes ago, Trainmaster5 said:

You could be right about your suspicion but operationally it seems to make more sense to use the Elmont option compared to the time wasting racetrack option. Hockey games and concerts are less intrusive than the roundabout option, IMO. My take. Carry on.

So they would rather crowd regular line trains with sports & events fans, instead of using a station...that they just spent $50 million renovating? That's beyond stupid. I can understand because of crew shortages, but come on.

[Lawrence St]

3 hours ago, Mtatransit said:

The MTA doesn't really want to serve Belmont that is why.

 

They would much prefer if everyone uses Elmont so they don't have to add any additional service.

That is my suspicion why every single weekend Main Line local and express train stops at UBS arena post ESA, when the station doesn't even serve the community that well. It is so if there is a event, they don;t have to do any additional work, or at most add like one train to/from Jamaica

 

9 hours ago, Trainmaster5 said:

To put it in simple terms the access to the Arena and the track itself is easier for the railroad from Elmont Station compared with the routing to/from the racetrack to the mainline. With the exception of feed delivery to the racetrack it’s easier and more efficient railroad wise to use the mainline vs tying it up for the occasional move. My take on the situation. Carry on.

So basically, they spent close to $20 mil to overhaul Belmont Park...just to abandon it…for easier operations? If that was the case then why overhaul Belmont Park at all, hell close it down then.

[Mtatransit]

3 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

 

So basically, they spent close to $20 mil to overhaul Belmont Park...just to abandon it…for easier operations? If that was the case then why overhaul Belmont Park at all, hell close it down then.

They renovated Belmont Park because the previous year they had a service meltdown, and NYRA decided to fund a new platform for them 

They may just keep it just in case they need it, but I could tell, they don't really want to use it outside of significant event such as the Belmont Stakes etc, and they definitely don't want to use it for more than two trains a day except the Stakes

 

I believe it makes sense for them not only operationally, but also saves them alot of money not needing to run these extra trips, hence their reluctant to ever service Belmont Park correctly

Edited December 1, 2022 by Mtatransit

[Jsunflyguy]

13 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

 

So they would rather crowd regular line trains with sports & events fans, instead of using a station...that they just spent $50 million renovating? That's beyond stupid. I can understand because of crew shortages, but come on.

This is no different than any other train to Barclays, Forest Hills or MSG. 

[Trainmaster5]

2 hours ago, Jsunflyguy said:

This is no different than any other train to Barclays, Forest Hills or MSG. 

You beat me to the punch . As Mtatransit pointed out the only special thing that might happen is if the Belmont Stakes was to be a Triple Crown event. My opinion. Carry on.

[NewFlyer 230]

I don’t think the Elmont station was intended to benefit the community that much but simply to serve as a better alternative to Belmont Park since it’s on the mainline itself. However the station itself is in such an awkward location. The Cross Island Parkway cuts right under it, the UBS Arena is to the south and Queens Village & Bellerose Stations are close by and I think the ridership for this station outside of events will be very low. 

[trainfan22]

LIRR is cross honoring between Penn and Jamaica this weekend, which means free ride if you show your metrocard.

 

 

They are cross honoring cause the is not running to Parsons/Archer this weekend.

[Lawrence St]

5 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

LIRR is cross honoring between Penn and Jamaica this weekend, which means free ride if you show your metrocard.

 

 

They are cross honoring cause the is not running to Parsons/Archer this weekend.

Has anyone else ever had an issue with this cross honoring? Most of the time the conductors don’t even know.

[trainfan22]

9 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Has anyone else ever had an issue with this cross honoring? Most of the time the conductors don’t even know.

Just show them the service change on your phone if they don't believe you. I always have the page loaded up before I board. It happened to me once, I just showed the C/R the service change on the MTA website and that cleared everything up.

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

20 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Has anyone else ever had an issue with this cross honoring? Most of the time the conductors don’t even know.

 

11 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

Just show them the service change on your phone if they don't believe you. I always have the page loaded up before I board. It happened to me once, I just showed the C/R the service change on the MTA website and that cleared everything up.

In my case yesterday, I had the site ready to load but he checked his employee device (IDK what that's called) instead and he was able to confirm it. 

[QM1to6Ave]

11 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

Just show them the service change on your phone if they don't believe you. I always have the page loaded up before I board. It happened to me once, I just showed the C/R the service change on the MTA website and that cleared everything up.

It's ridiculous that you have to do this, but that is good advice! Those C/Rs get paid well enough that they should be on top of this stuff

[Trainmaster5]

48 minutes ago, QM1to6Ave said:

It's ridiculous that you have to do this, but that is good advice! Those C/Rs get paid well enough that they should be on top of this stuff

I think it’s a little bit more complicated than that. A pre-planned cross honoring is one thing. An emergency situation is another thing altogether. That authorization has to come from the LIRR supervision via the  itself. The Conductor cannot take it upon themselves to make that decision. Even if it seems to be obvious to all involved you’d have to be one dumb person to put your job on the line before you get the proper authorization. Just my opinion though. Carry on.

[QM1to6Ave]

13 hours ago, Trainmaster5 said:

I think it’s a little bit more complicated than that. A pre-planned cross honoring is one thing. An emergency situation is another thing altogether. That authorization has to come from the LIRR supervision via the  itself. The Conductor cannot take it upon themselves to make that decision. Even if it seems to be obvious to all involved you’d have to be one dumb person to put your job on the line before you get the proper authorization. Just my opinion though. Carry on.

Of course, that makes perfect sense. I was referring to these pre-planned weekend track work projects (such as with the ), some of which occur for numerous weekends in a row, and folks on here have posted repeated frustrations that C/Rs hassle them and act as if they've never heard of the cross-honoring plans!

[Jsunflyguy]

6 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Of course, that makes perfect sense. I was referring to these pre-planned weekend track work projects (such as with the ), some of which occur for numerous weekends in a row, and folks on here have posted repeated frustrations that C/Rs hassle them and act as if they've never heard of the cross-honoring plans!

That's because they haven't

The notice to cross honor wasn't posted until the weekend before it went into effect for the , I just looked now and there is no history of such a notice for the , in fact I have no idea what you're talking about. 
Typically for short term outages the stationmaster will inform the conductor as they are approaching Jamaica or leaving the western terminal. If you are in a car being serviced by a regular collector it is unlikely they were monitoring the radio to hear this and may not be aware until they see the conductor, if they ever make contact. But the company doesn't pay enough for employees to develop telepathy, they have to actually give the information.

[QM1to6Ave]

3 hours ago, Jsunflyguy said:

That's because they haven't

The notice to cross honor wasn't posted until the weekend before it went into effect for the , I just looked now and there is no history of such a notice for the , in fact I have no idea what you're talking about. 
Typically for short term outages the stationmaster will inform the conductor as they are approaching Jamaica or leaving the western terminal. If you are in a car being serviced by a regular collector it is unlikely they were monitoring the radio to hear this and may not be aware until they see the conductor, if they ever make contact. But the company doesn't pay enough for employees to develop telepathy, they have to actually give the information.

So my takeaway is that there is a larger systemic issue of poor communication between supervision and front line employees, which is par for the course with the MTA, sadly 

[Jsunflyguy]

1 hour ago, QM1to6Ave said:

So my takeaway is that there is a larger systemic issue of poor communication between supervision and front line employees, which is par for the course with the MTA, sadly 

Yes, its almost like if a large group of people in an organization behave in a certain way it's irrational to view it as an individual performance issue. 

 

On 12/11/2022 at 7:18 PM, QM1to6Ave said:

It's ridiculous that you have to do this, but that is good advice! Those C/Rs get paid well enough that they should be on top of this stuff

 

[Calvin]

https://pix11.com/news/local-news/lirr-to-offer-direct-train-between-grand-central-madison-and-jamaica/?fbclid=IwAR3pP5pa1OiNVWNIaiCIHstn0iO0rj2jn7YZbxkf8kYbq6wVw-GpjHRrtd0

There is word that early 2023 or later end of 2022, LIRR will be offering Shuttle service to/from the new Grand Central station and Jamaica for some time up to the full opening date to be known. 

[paulrivera]

Metro-North/LIRR combo tickets incoming: https://new.mta.info/fares/combo-ticket

The only problem I have is there's no joint City Ticket...

[QM1to6Ave]

3 hours ago, paulrivera said:

Metro-North/LIRR combo tickets incoming: https://new.mta.info/fares/combo-ticket

The only problem I have is there's no joint City Ticket...

I wonder how many people will use this ticket (or in other words, how many people are traveling from an MNRR station to an LIRR station? I can imagine that is a lot slower than driving in many cases.

[trainfan22]

8 hours ago, QM1to6Ave said:

I wonder how many people will use this ticket (or in other words, how many people are traveling from an MNRR station to an LIRR station? I can imagine that is a lot slower than driving in many cases.

It will be popular with Yankee fans who live in Long Island. During the season I regularly see Yankees fans in midtown around Penn transferring to the train or sometimes the to the . 

[N6 Limited]

10 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

It will be popular with Yankee fans who live in Long Island. During the season I regularly see Yankees fans in midtown around Penn transferring to the train or sometimes the to the . 

I guess it will be convenient to buy a joint ticket from one’s home station, but the cost savings for them will be $0.25 during peak Metro North trips. Otherwise (outside of peak) City Ticket from Grand Central would be more economical.

——

The joint ticket seems to benefit “reverse” commuters more, since the first half of the trip is the off-peak rate, and the transfer fee is $8 regardless if it’s peak or not.

The $8 transfer fee does not introduce dual off-peak (weekends, midday) savings until origin-destination pairs are outside of NYC. Especially,  those going further distances, like trips between Suffolk and Northern Westchester/Hudson Valley/CT.  For trips between Western Nassau and Southern Westchester , the savings are $0.75-$1.25. (Which does add up, to be fair).

[QM1to6Ave]

13 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

I guess it will be convenient to buy a joint ticket from one’s home station, but the cost savings for them will be $0.25 during peak Metro North trips. Otherwise (outside of peak) City Ticket from Grand Central would be more economical.

——

The joint ticket seems to benefit “reverse” commuters more, since the first half of the trip is the off-peak rate, and the transfer fee is $8 regardless if it’s peak or not.

The $8 transfer fee does not introduce dual off-peak (weekends, midday) savings until origin-destination pairs are outside of NYC. Especially,  those going further distances, like trips between Suffolk and Northern Westchester/Hudson Valley/CT.  For trips between Western Nassau and Southern Westchester , the savings are $0.75-$1.25. (Which does add up, to be fair).

Does the Atlantic Ticket still exist?

[N6 Limited]

On 12/21/2022 at 12:54 AM, QM1to6Ave said:

I wonder how many people will use this ticket (or in other words, how many people are traveling from an MNRR station to an LIRR station? I can imagine that is a lot slower than driving in many cases.

I agree, It may be useful in heavy road congestion times, and with certain stations surrounded by walkable cities /towns. Do they still film shows in Stamford, CT? Maybe they can have a Woodbury Commons Shuttle from Peekskill.

1 hour ago, QM1to6Ave said:

Does the Atlantic Ticket still exist?

Yes, but since they increased the price of City Ticket, it’s only useful during peak trips (or when you get a Weekly). Because, off-peak, the City Ticket is better, since you can use it to/from Penn Station if plans change.

[Lawrence St]

So Central Direct trains won’t start until early 2023, so I guess ESA isn’t opening in December after all.