What The Port Washington Branch Timetable Could Look Like

Our first post will begin with a look at the Port Washington Branch. The Port Washington Branch is a unique branch because unlike virtually ever other branch it doesn’t pass through Jamaica, instead, merging into the Mainline at Woodside. The Port Washington Branch definitely isn’t the easiest as far as scheduling and service patterns go given it being a busy branch and the severe capacity constraints east of Great Neck, but it is easier in the sense that you don’t need to worry about coordinating transfers through Jamaica. However, it is imperative that you make an extra effort to evenly distribute trains between the two terminals and to try to allow for easy transfers whenever possible at Woodside. 

Included in the linked PDF file below is the fill sample weekday and weekend Port Washington Branch timetables. Peak, off-peak, reverse-peak and special-event trains have all been included. Note that this is a new and improved timetable design. 

The timetables only show revenue trains, not equipment or deadhead moves. I have planned out the deadhead moves, equipment rotations, etc as I was doing this project and I have most of these moves written down on paper and I have yet to insert them into the actual excel timetables. Nonetheless, I have tried whenever possible to minimize the amount of deadheading, since it’s essentially just wasted crew and equipment hours but in some cases it was unavoidable to make the most out of the resources available.

Key Assumptions:

• One of the first things you'll notice about these fresh new timetables is the reintroduction of the Corona and Elmhurst stations onto the timetable. There's been talks for years about reopening the Elmhurst station which was closed many moons ago due to low ridership, which has came back to this area. It was even featured on the MTA's 2025-2044 20-year needs assessment to relieve crowding and congestion on the IRT Flushing Line. I feel that if they were to reopen Elmhurst, there's a decent chance they may also open the nearby Corona station to go along with it. I feel strongly that this would go along way in providing better access to transit for these Queens communities and help to relieve crowding on one of the subway's busiest lines.
• While this could probably be worked-around should the need present itself, I feel very strongly that the LIRR should invest in going through the trouble of constructing a second track between Great Neck and Port Washington. While this would be extremely difficult given not only is there a viaduct, but that it's also a very fierce NIMBY area, with currently only one track, capacity is severely-limited east of Great Neck,  which is actually the busiest segment o the branch, and this would allow for service levels to be increased to match current demands and would improve reliability too. I designed these timetables in a way to reflect the second track, which sooner or later will have to be built

Service Guidelines:

• At a minimum, service will be provided half-hourly to all stations along the branch during the off-peak periods (except overnight). During off-peak hours, trains will generally alternate between New York Penn and New York Grand Central, allowing for hourly direct rides to both termini.
• During the weekday peak period, service, on average, consists of roughly 20 minute headways branchwide (there are a couple of exceptions). As a standard, the branch is split into two main halves: trains that operate East of Great Neck, and trains that begin their runs at Great Neck, turning via the Great Neck pocket track. To increase capacity, during the peak of the peak, additional trains have been ran from Little Neck, Bayside, and even one from Auburndale to increase capacity.
• During the reverse-peak period, many equipment trains that operate against-the-flow to/from Great Neck to/from western terminals will accept passengers for all or part of their runs whenever possible to allow for robust reverse-peak service opportunties all the while reducing deadheading.
• On weekends, service is increased during the busiest travel times (specifically 9am to 12pm WB, 4pm to 8pm EB) with half-hourly express service provided east of Great Neck, and half-hourly local service west of Great Neck.
• Additional scheduled service to support events at Mets-Willets Point and Flushing Meadows has been included, however, this does not include unscheduled extra trains that run following the event as these cannot be planned, in normal cases, however, these trains will come fresh off the Great Neck Pocket track.

Link to Port Washington Branch Timetable

I specifically designed service on the Port Washington Branch to cater specifically to to those who live past the IRT Flushing Line's namesake terminal of Flushing-Main St, while still providing acceptable service levels in Queens to promote growth. Providing acceptable East of Great Neck wasn't by any means an easy task, considering the enormous capacity constraints, but I was able to work through it to the best of my ability. 

As of now, the best I could really guarantee for the most part is 20-minute headways in the peak direction, and whatever "scraps" were left went to reverse-peak, however, frequencies regularly exceed that especially in the portion west of Great Neck.

During off-peak periods, half-hourly service is provided with trains alternating terminal. While I believe that providing service along the branch every 20 minutes would be a good improvement that would promote growth, especially in the Queens communities, I don't feel like the Port Washington Branch is ridership-ready for that yet, and I think it won't be ready for a long while.

At stations like Great Neck,  I tried to create situations whenever possible . Take in the AM peak for example, in which train 413 (the 6:47am from Port Washington to Grand Central) stops at Great Neck at 6:57am, and a couple short minutes later, train #1315 (the 7:02am local from Great Neck to Penn) rolls in fresh from the Great Neck pocket track. So, technically, you could transfer between the two for service to the opposite terminal or for service to the latter zone. So, while connections aren't 100% guaranteed, it allows a traveller from Plandome, for example, to transfer trains at Great Neck to a local to Penn Station that follows behind the express, promoting quick and seamless intra-island travel without having to go all the way to Woodside. 

Like I emphasized above, the fact that the Port Washington branch doesn't pass through Jamaica makes traveling on the branch more difficult and cumbersome in that you don't have all the transfer options everyone else has at Jamaica, and by, coordinating these mini-transfers at Great Neck, it makes it difficult to provide I tried to keep most trains stopping at Woodside, besides a handful of key express trains along with a couple busy locals, as this is the closest thing this branch would have to Jamaica, and it allows for someone who may want to do the trek from the Port Washington Branch to somewhere else on the island to go via Jamaica and avoid the headache of going all the way to Manhattan.

Reverse-peak weekday service includes a number of newly added "revenue deadheads" that exist mainly to transport equipment for trains that turn at Great Neck, but now stop on the line with the sole purpose of providing supplemental service. During the evening peak, there's actually a nice assortment of reverse-peak trains up the branch out of Great Neck to the point where I subconsciously said evening peak!

I think I've now given you a good understanding of what service along the Port Washington Branch could look like in my new timetables. Feel free to comment if you have any questions about the scheduling or if you notice anything. I don't have the time to write a full in-depth analysis of every train and my reasoning behind it and time probably doesn't permit you to read it either, so, if anything is unclear and you'd like to know my reasoning behind it, just ask, I'd be more then happy to clarify. Additionally, I've made like millions of tiny little edits to the spreadsheet over the 18 months or so that I've been working on this project so it's very likely it’s very likely that some tiny or even major typos may arise, and if you catch any, please let me know of that, too. And finally, if you have any suggestions, and want to see something change, please let me know by leaving a comment at the bottom of these posts or leave me an email.

New LIRR work locomotives in RFEI process

As you probably know by now, the LIRR is currently in the process of waiting for the first batch of Siemens Charger locomotives to be delivered to replace it's aging DE/DM fleet, along with in the process of ordering new M9A's to not only finally replace the Budd M3s which are long after their useful service life, but also provide additional capacity in electric territory, and perhaps you knew about the possible upcoming procurement of new bilevel coaches to provide supplemental capacity in diesel territory?

But did you know that there is also another order in the works, that is much lesser-known? Can you guess it? I have my doubts but if you guessed work locomotives then 

The LIRR is currently in the process of requesting an RFEI to gauge manufacturers interest in possibly completely overhauling the railroad's current work engine fleet from the ground up. This would include a thorough inspection of the locomotive's chassis, engine, and electrical systems, a complete disassembly of the locomotive, removing components like the prime-mover, traction motors, and cab, and rebuilding or replacing parts to meet current standards, such as EPA emission regulations.

There is also a rumor going around (circulating from a video that probably wasn't supposed to be released in the first place but was) that included information for the possibility that the LIRR might order a couple GP38's to replace the E10s. So essentially the E10s would be replaced with the GP38's and the MP15AC's would receive a complete overhaul which would extend their lifetime for a good while. 

CTRail ordering new European-style rail cars for the Hartford Line

I meant to write and get this post out in November but I’ve been extremely busy and finally got around to writing it.

Back in November, the Connecticut Department of Transportation showed off prototypes for 60 new cars which rollout in 2027. These trains are the first of their kind in the Tri-State Area given that they’re seen as “European-style”. 

Bought for $315 million, the goal is to modernize the Hartford Line with these.

Built by Alstom, these European style cars are currently being brought to the US.

The key amenties listed with these cars include Wi-Fi, USB/power outlets at seats, foldable work tables, dedicated bicycle storage, and oversized, ADA-compliant restrooms. These cars are listed with a max design speed of 125 mph and 40 year design life. 

They will be used primarily on the Hartford Line but could also possibly be used on Waterbury and Danbury branches as well in the future.

While I'm personally not the hugest fan of their design, or many modern European coach designs for that matter I have to admit they are  very futuristic-looking. 

LIRR & MNR running on weekend schedule on Monday, 1/26

Unlike what I expected, the MTA announced yesterday afternoon that they would be operating on a weekend schedule today. Metro-North will operate on a holiday schedule with baseline weekend service but a couple of extra trains for those unfortunate enough to make the trek into work. They are doing this because they still have quite a bit of cleanup to do after last night’s snowstorm. 

As a quick heads up, there will be no service east of Ronkonkoma today as that branch is buried deep in foot of snow.

**Edit: As of 10:15am EST, it seams they have either resumed service east of Ronkonkoma or never stopped it in the first place**

The LIRR and MNR will both likely transition back to regular weekday service for the Tuesday morning rush hour tomorrow, after snowfighting operations pretty much conclude.

If you do must travel today, take caution out there. Not only is it very cold but it's also very slippery so go extra slow and don't run for your train. 

Stay safe and warm everybody!

Snow, Snow, Snow: Winter Storm Fern

Since we are now in the midst of a relatively large snowstorm, at least the largest in years, I decided why not take a look at something very important during a snowstorm. When to curtail transit service?

Over the last couple decades, transit agencies like the LIRR and even MNR have the adopted the practice of halting train service if snowfall exceeds a certain amount. Typically, once snow reaches above 10-13 inches, they will suspend service systemwide. In the old days, snow would never halt the trains, and if need be, they'd put a snow plow on the head end.

Why? One would think a 65-ton M7 or a 140-ton DM would easily be able to power through a couple inches of fluffy snow, and that very well is the case. The only problem could occur if snowfall exceeds the height of the third-rail, but even in that case preventive methods could occur before, and worst case they could just use the DMs.

But, that's not the issue here. The real problem isn't found in the LIRR's operating department, but instead in the public affairs department. In late December 2009, a huge snowstorm hit Long Island to close out the year, and a early morning Main Line train running with diesel equipment destined for Ronkonkoma became stranded just east of Wyandanch. Because the conditions were so bad, it wasn't safe to unload the passengers and were told to just sit tight. The passengers were then stuck on the train for hours, waiting for some train to come along and rescue them. 

The Standard Operating Procedure suggests that a rescue train should be brought up just along side the disabled one and the passengers should be transferred over to the new train so they could be on their merry way. However, at that point, it was single-tracked around Wyandanch and a spare DE/DM set wasn't possible. Therefore, the passengers had to sit there until they could either get a DE/DM going or send a rescue engine. Eventually, a MP15 got out there, dragged the passengers to Farmingdale where the passengers were set on a spare set. The protect set stationed in Hicksville was unable to reach the train due to frozen switches east of Hicksville, so they used an engine that was supposed to run on a snow extra to Greenport.

While it may not seam like a reason to halt snowstorm service, the news coverage on the incident was huge. Numerous news agencies covered the ordeal, and it wasn't good press for the railroad. The know-it-all Monday morning quarter-backing politicians were up in arms over the alleged "mishandling" of the situation. Ever since, the LIRR has been very skittish about operations in snow storms.

Nowadays, if snow totals exceed a certain amount they'll suspend service, therefore, if conditions do become bad, there won't be anyone on the trains to get stranded. Luckily, (well, for them), we don't get that much snow anymore, therefore, it's increasingly rare that this would be an issue. And, even if, they have lot's of snow fighting equipment.

Well, if we do actually get a decent amount of snow, which I hope, I'll definitely be shoveling tomorrow, and maybe even railfanning too, but I do have a nice post coming out tomorrow morning. 

Please Swipe Again: The Problems with OMNY

OMNY, which if your not familiar with the subway system is the fare card that is used to gain access to the system has had a troubled rollout and since the full switch from Metrocard has faced numerous scrunity from riders

A troubled rollout

The start of the rollout to OMNY was rigged with issues and inconsistencies, with many riders complaining of various issues including issues with the readers not accepting taps from an OMNY card, requring riders to tap repeatby until it worked, delayed or extra charges, and fare cap confusion. This had lead to heavy mixed opinions by riders, with some favoring the fresh rollout of MTA's fare system while others plea and morn the loss of Metrocard.

Never-ending problems 

One issue that has been worryingly common with the OMNY, and is likely common complaint, is that the fare gate failed to read their OMNY payments. This has actually happened to me multiple times in the city and I can tell you firsthand that it is obnoxious and almost made me miss a train home. A whopping 42 percent of survey respondents said this was an issue for them. This is something that needs 

Another reoccuring problem is delayed charges; and apparently this is due to backend processing and it leads to multiple fares showing up in batches later on. While it's not the end all be all as there's rarely extra charges, it's a quite annoying problem that should look to be fixed.

In conclusion, the fact that in the 21st century the MTA cannot rollout a fare system that isn't rigged with issues shows the incompetence going on there. While the MTA calls it "growing pains", and I feel it's understandable that there will be glitches here and there when transitioning to a entirely new system, something that hasn't been done in many years, I think it should be made crystal clear that the MTA wasn't ready for this.

LIRR to operate on weekday schedule for Martin Luther King Day, rest of MTA not following suit

As many of you know, tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day and the MTA has a very complicated way of running service.

The LIRR will operate on a full weekday schedule, something that while unnecessary, has become a yearly practice for a at least a decade now. Meanwhile Metro-North will operate on a modified weekend schedule (with some added trains aligning during peak hours. If your wondering why the LIRR would run on a weekday schedule and Metro-North would not, I have no clue. The subway is also running on a weekend schedule. 

I personally feel it's very unnecessary for the LIRR to run a full weekday schedule. Much fewer people travel during traditional peak hours on this day and it will probably lead to some very low crowding levels, and coupled while charging off-peak fares it just seams very overkill. While I don't feel They could follow Metro-North's route and 

The LIRR seams to be very hesitant about running "modified" schedules and instead opts to either run a full weekday schedule or a full weekend schedule. Metro-North on the other hand chooses to run a base weekend schedule then add some extras here and there to provide additional capacity. A good example of this issue can be seen on Christmas Eve when the LIRR chooses to run a full weekday schedule. Not only is this ridiculously overkill but its simply a waste of equipment and crew hours. There is absolutely no reason why a full weekday schedule could be warranted on the day before the biggest holiday of the year.

I personally feel the LIRR could be fine by just running a regular weekend schedule without any extras on Christmas Day, but on days like Martin Luther King Day for those who are unlucky enough to go into the office, they should really just go back to their old method of running a weekend schedule with a couple of extras heading westbound during the traditional peak hours and then heading back out in the evening. This would better align with the travel patterns on this holiday.

Before I go, I'd like to emphasize that off-peak fares will be accepted for all of Monday on both the LIRR and Metro-North.