I’ve decided since the summer is wrapping up to do a post on the summer of 2024 for the Long Island Rail Road, since, luckily it wasn’t caught in the problems that NJT & CTRail faced earlier in August, it still faced a lot of problems.
The LIRR didn’t start the summer off to a great start, as multiple Saturday trains to Montauk on the Montauk Branch suffered crowds and insane delays such as #6010 which was delayed close to an hour and Memorial Day itself was even worse….. train #6005 from Montauk to Jamaica was delayed close to an hour and was overcrowded to the point of being full. In the end, the LIRR did have it run to Penn Station, as it being a 12car DM, it could, and it meant they wouldn’t have to try to perform the tedious, may I say, impossible task of moving probably 3 quarters of a full 12 car DM train over to a MU, to get to Penn Station, it’s near impossible since a 12car DM can fit many more people then a 12car MU.
Taken on May 24, 2024, @12:54 PM
I will admit, on Friday the 24th, the Cannonball was on time and most of the trains ended up running on time on the Montauk Branch along with the other branches. Now, it’s the 2nd of September, and almost every single weekend since Memorial Day, at least one of the eastbound Montauk trains has ran at least 10 minutes late, and #6005 (even on Saturdays) has often run equally or more late. I’m currently on vacation, so I haven’t checked the Radar or TrainTime too many times, but for the most part trains seam to be on time and throughout this weekend, I feel like trains have been less crowded, and they’ve honestly cooked for performance, and now we lead into the week of new schedule changes, the school year, and the unofficial beginning of the fall season which will lead to spikes in ridership.
Now, I don’t want to make this post too long, but, I think one thing the railroad should address is consist sizes. I think it’s good that the LIRR gives #6005 a 12 cars normally, and I think they do a decent job on weekends, but on weekdays, I think that #18 should always have a minimum of 6 cars on Thursdays & Fridays, #4 should always have more then 4 cars on Thursdays and Fridays as it gets very crowded. My point of discussion though is #76, the 3:10p departure from Jamaica to Patchogue, making Hillside-Employees, Mineola, Babylon, and all stops. This train leaves at a rather convenient time as many people will leave work early on Summer Fridays will utilize this train. The problem is, normally on Summer Fridays the LIRR only gives the train 3 cars, which means that there’s almost always standees many of the time even out to it’s final 3 stops. I’m hoping next years summer season will be
At some point in the future I’d like to thoroughly review and make new sample timetables for the summer schedule, if not the entire LIRR schedule, but I feel like for now the railroad needs to know that #6008 needs 12 cars way more then #6006!
Goodbye, summer extras, you will truly be missed but we will see you next year!