$40m Windfall to be used for Added LIRR Servivce

[lirr42]

From The LIRR Today:
 

 

Governor Cuomo's office announced today (because how can any good news come down these days without the Governor's name on it?) that the MTA will be using its surprise $40 million gift from the State of New York to enhance some services for the Subway, Buses, Metro-North, and yes, the LIRR.

Earlier in the year the MTA announced it would be getting an unexpected $40 million boost in its state aid for 2014, and now they have finally announced what they plan to do with the money.

The news came down in a press releaseon Governor Cuomo's site this morning. Most of it is the Governor patting himself and the MTA on the back for their coolness.Of the $40 million, roughly $13.8 million will be going to MTA New York City Transit for subway and bus improvements as well as a decent chunk of change for improving station layouts and maintenance.

Metro-North will spend $1.7 million per year to add real-time train information signs at all of its New York stations. These "real-time train information signs" are very similar to the signs that have been at every single LIRR station for the last several years. But, for the most part, Metro-North had its fun last year when they added 230 trains per week in 2012, and will not be adding any more trains this time around.

The LIRR gets to benefit from this MTA windfall as well. The LIRR is slated to get $2.6 million for improvements to train service. The press release that came down this morning details some of the improvements:

• Half-hourly Port Washington and Ronkonkoma Branch service on Weekends
• Weekend Greenport Service will be extended for 10 more weeks
• A new 4:09 p.m. weekday train will run from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma.
• A new 7:00 p.m. weekday train will run from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station.
• A new 8:22 p.m. weekday train will run from Penn Station to Hicksville.
• A restored 4:37 p.m. weekday train will run from Penn Station to Wantagh.
• A restored 4:57 p.m. weekday train will run from Penn Station to Freeport.

By far the single greatest improvement this time around is the weekend half-hourly service on the Port Washington and Ronkonkoma Branches. The Port Washington Branch got is half hourly service taken away in 2010, and that ended up costing the LIRR a lot of riders. A little while back the LIRR restored midday weekday half-hourly service to the branch, and now the riders of the LIRR's most isolated branch are now getting their half-hourly headways back on the weekends too.

The Ronkonkoma half-hourly service is a pretty substantial improvement too. Riders along this branch have long been wishing for half-hourly off-peak service, but up until this point the LIRR has always said that half-hourly service along the single-tracked portion of the branch was impossible, but apparently by some miraculous feat it now seems possible.

There are also three new trains that will come about in this round of enhancements. A new peak eastbound Ronkonkoma train will be added at the very beginning of the rush (presumably to take some stress off of 2058 which leaves at 3:55pm)

A new 7:00pm train will be added at the end of the evening rush hour from Ronkonkoma back to Penn Station. I presume that train is added only in part to get the equipment from the new 4:09pm train back form Penn Station since the Ronkonkoma Yard is pretty full already at night. It seems its the only reasonable explanation considering there is already a westbound train that leaves Ronkonkoma at 7:13pm, 13 minutes later.

There will also be another cleanup train added to Hicksville at the very end of the evening rush to close a gap in service to those stations.In addition, two evening peak Babylon trains will be restored to Freeport and Wantagh.

This press release is only the beginning of this, we are still a couple months away from seeing these changes actually coming to be, and there are still a lot more details that have to be ironed out (i.e. what is going to happen with those Farmingdale locals that were added in just last March and if midday weekday Ronkonkoma Branch half-hourly service will also become a reality).

The MTA is likely to make more information available as we get closer to the date, but this is all good news nonetheless!

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[67thAve]

Why must my home branch, due to its paltry ridership and lack of parking, not even get at least ONE train a day on a weekend???

Seriously... I walk 30 minutes to Hempstead to get the train at times, and as we all know, it ain't the safest of places...

[PinePower]

So glad they are adding another train on weekdays prior to the 8:42pm "cattle train" to HUntington. This will help to alleviate crowding, and I would assume it makes all stops from NHP to Hicksville.

[lirr42]

Well, apparently not everything in Cuomo's statement was factual.  The MTA had a news release of its own this evening and as it turns out some of the improvements were were expecting to the Ronkonkoma Branch are not what we expected.

 

As it turns out, half-hourly service all-day on the Ronkonkoma Branch will remain only a dream for the time.  The "Service every half-hour on weekends will be established in both directions to Ronkonkoma" will only be the extension of the three trains in each direction that currently originate and terminate at Farmingdale.  So "half-hourly service" will only be for three hours westbound in the morning and three hours eastbound in the evening.

 

Also, the new Ronkonkoma weekday round-trip will also be going only as far as Farmingdale, with the new 4:09pm train going only as far as Farmingdale and the new 7:00pm train originating at Farmingdale and not Ronkonkoma as previously announced.

 

Read more about the misinformation here: "Governor Andrew M. Cuomo Misleads Ronkonkoma Branch Passengers"

[PinePower]

Well, apparently not everything in Cuomo's statement was factual.  The MTA had a news release of its own this evening and as it turns out some of the improvements were were expecting to the Ronkonkoma Branch are not what we expected.

 

As it turns out, half-hourly service all-day on the Ronkonkoma Branch will remain only a dream for the time.  The "Service every half-hour on weekends will be established in both directions to Ronkonkoma" will only be the extension of the three trains in each direction that currently originate and terminate at Farmingdale.  So "half-hourly service" will only be for three hours westbound in the morning and three hours eastbound in the evening.

 

Also, the new Ronkonkoma weekday round-trip will also be going only as far as Farmingdale, with the new 4:09pm train going only as far as Farmingdale and the new 7:00pm train originating at Farmingdale and not Ronkonkoma as previously announced.

 

Read more about the misinformation here: "Governor Andrew M. Cuomo Misleads Ronkonkoma Branch Passengers"

 

Yeah because they still have that single track territory which would make it difficult. But I feel they could still manage it, but the MTA would rather spent the bulk of the money on the city of course. I was expecting the weekday 7pm to start at Farmingdale, way too many rush hour direction trains e/b to fit it in due to the single track. The real improvements wont start until the 2nd track is completed. LIRR should have restored the greenport scoot full time too instead of just extending it by 10 weeks. We all know the fine folks at Ripoff Jitney have something to do with that. Ronk gets just as much if not more ridership than PW on weekends and really needs the 30 min service. But it's still a start. And PW getting back their 30 min weekend service is long, long overdue and shouldn't have been cut in the first place, they lost riders who didn't want to put up with an hour between trains on the weekend, real boneheaded move by the clueless matron & co.

[lirr42]

Weekend ridership on the Ronkonkoma branch was 27,488 pax per day in 2006 (excluding Hicksville and Mineola).  Port Washington Branch ridership was 28,772 pax per day in 2006, which is only roughly 1,200 people more, but those are 2006 numbers, I can pretty surely say that weekend ridership has grown on the Ronkonkoma Branch in the last 7 years and Port Washington Branch ridership has declined (in part due to the loss of half-houlry service), so the ridership on the two branches is likely very close together when all things are considered.

 

Half-hourly off-peak service on the Ronkonkoma Branch is definitely a possibility.  It has been done on a couple occasions before when special events require extra service (most recently the US Open at Bethpage--the LIRR ran half-hourly KO service for that event, IIRC)

[bobtehpanda]

Weekend ridership on the Ronkonkoma branch was 27,488 pax per day in 2006 (excluding Hicksville and Mineola).  Port Washington Branch ridership was 28,772 pax per day in 2006, which is only roughly 1,200 people more, but those are 2006 numbers, I can pretty surely say that weekend ridership has grown on the Ronkonkoma Branch in the last 7 years and Port Washington Branch ridership has declined (in part due to the loss of half-houlry service), so the ridership on the two branches is likely very close together when all things are considered.

 

Half-hourly off-peak service on the Ronkonkoma Branch is definitely a possibility.  It has been done on a couple occasions before when special events require extra service (most recently the US Open at Bethpage--the LIRR ran half-hourly KO service for that event, IIRC)

 

You also have the fact that Port Washington is a lot closer in to the city than Ronkonkoma in, so it's probably cheaper to run more service there.

[Vistausss]

You also have the fact that Port Washington is a lot closer in to the city than Ronkonkoma in, so it's probably cheaper to run more service there.

 

On one hand: yes. But on the other hand: don't forget the Manhasset Valley Bridge the PW line has. That's a costly thing to maintain.

[bobtehpanda]

On one hand: yes. But on the other hand: don't forget the Manhasset Valley Bridge the PW line has. That's a costly thing to maintain.

 

As a general rule, labor generally makes up a significant portion, if not the majority, of operational costs of transit. This is probably even more true on the LIRR with its conductors.

[qjtransitmaster]

Why must my home branch, due to its paltry ridership and lack of parking, not even get at least ONE train a day on a weekend???

Seriously... I walk 30 minutes to Hempstead to get the train at times, and as we all know, it ain't the safest of places...

Dude just use the N15 to LIRR Hempstead or Babylon branch. Nobody uses those west Hempstead trains anyway.

[Vistausss]

If they'd reopen the connection beyond Country Life Press they may run a few trains via the West Hempstead line on weekends. But we all know that's not going to happen anytime soon so the n15 is a nice alternative. Just take it to LIRR Hempstead for the LIRR or to HTC and grab an n6 to Jamaica.