Setting Our Sights On Penn Station Access

So today marks the last day of 2024, quite a year, am I right? Anyways, now that East Side Access is completed, we can now focus our attention on Penn Station Access the exact opposite. 

Penn Station Access is a project that will bring Metro-North service into Penn Station. In Phase 1, they’ll start with New Haven line trains via Hell Gate, and in Phase 2, Hudson Line trains will also be able to reach the lower East Side by usage of the Empire Connection. There isn’t much known about how Metro-North will split service between Grand Central and Penn Station, however, I assume Metro-North will go down the Long Island Railroad route by rewriting the schedules entirely. There isn’t that much known about completion dates of this project, however, New Haven line trains are expected to run into Penn Station by 2025. Phase #1 will bring 4 new stations in the Bronx, and one in Queens, and Phase 2 will bring two new stops in Manhattan.

As we ring into the New Year, Metro-North much continue to make strides on this project, and must begin preparing to meet the deadline. My hope is that Metro-North will unveil the new timetables (or at least give us a very good idea on what service will look like) so people will have an idea on what service will look like and they can express concerns on it. I’m hoping they do surveys so they can get a feel for what the transit demand is and The New Haven Line is a huge line so different parts have different travel demands.

As Metro-North sets its sights on Penn Station Access over the next couple of years, let’s hope they meet deadlines and not make the same mistakes as East Side Access!

What’s to come of New York Rail in 2025?

Looking back at 2024, the MTA didn’t go too badly, while they didn’t have the best summer ever, it was surprisingly a good year overall easily. 

I’m not a mind reader, obviously, and I’m not in the business of predicting the future. While it’s tough to predict the upcoming year, the MTA has definitely given us a lot of information to look forward too. Especially with the railroads, it’s not too far fetched to expect  at least a couple service improvements, as the LIRR is keeping up with the trend of adding a couple of trains here and there. With the subway, we can definitely expect a lot of fleet replacements, and we can expect Metro-North to unveil the SC42-DM chargers! I definitely expect the LIRR, in particular, will make improvements to the off-peak market.

In the last month, the New York City Transit has made car assignment changes, including bringing R179s onto the (M) and (F) trains (in preparation for CBTC). 

Recently, the LIRR, MNR, and New York City Subway have all awarded multiple contracts, which are due soon, meaning the clock is ticking, and it’s time to get things done. Hopefully the spring, summer, and fall of 2025 will see a whir of activity as boots start to hit the ground and new projects start to kick into high gear. 

2025 will be a exciting year for the MTA, no doubt, and I’ll be here breaking it all down! So, step in and stand clear of the closing doors please!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope everyone has an amazing day, gets to see family, and gets whatever they wanted. I’d like to give a special Merry Christmas and thank you for those individuals who keep the railroad (or any other essential job) running, especially on days like today.

In order to celebrate, here are a couple of photos of LIRR trains in the snow as a throwback!

Capacity Issues at Huntington

Ah, Huntington, the terminal that shouldn’t be. Huntington has an interesting story, like the rest of its branch does. Originally, Huntington was diesel territory, and it was single tracked and it even went Wading River, but service obviously wasn’t frequent one bit. Eventually, they cut back service to Port Jefferson, and in 1970, they electrified to Huntington, and eventually installed a second track between AMOTT and Huntington interlockings. Originally, they were planning on electrifying to Port Jefferson in the 80s, and they even converted the platforms to high-level in anticipation however due to little funding, they ended up ending in Huntington. 

Therefore, what we have left is a branch that is unfinished, and Huntington was never properly built up as a terminal, because they were planning on having everything in Port Jefferson but money ran out. 

What we have left to deal with is a half-built terminal that barely supports itself. Unlike Ronkonkoma and Babylon, there’s no yard, and if this was a smaller terminal like Far Rockaway or West Hempstead, this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but because this is the head of one of the largest branches, it’s a huge problem. All we got is 2 sidings, and even them can’t support much.

The storage facilities at Huntington mostly consist of the North Side Track which can hold one train and a diesel set; and the South Side Track which can hold maybe 2 trains and maybe a smaller one if you pack them in.

Now, you may think solving the issue just requires deadheading a bunch of trains to and from Huntington and turn them there, however, you must remember that even with the Third Track, there’s still loads of capacity constraints, and even with the trains you can deadhead, it’s still very very costly.

This easily results in crippling capacity in Huntington. While Ronkonkoma & Babylon have to deadhead trains all the time, Huntington barely has enough revenue trains already. On average, 20,000 weekday riders rely on the 3 electrified stations on the Port Jefferson Branch, and that doesn’t count the hundreds more that rely on Hicksville, Westbury, Carle Place, Mineola, Merillon Avenue, and New Hyde Park. On a normal day, the yard empties remarkably quickly in the morning and fills up quite quickly in the afternoon, therefore, they have to run these costly deadhead trains. It’s extremely costly, all but a couple of trains that originated in Huntington must scurry back and forth from places like Jamaica, West Side Yard, and Hillside Facility. This requires extra crew and equipment hours, as it takes much longer to deadhead a train to/from Huntington then to just lay it up in the yard.

I think since it’s Christmas time, I’ll unveil the very special project I’ve been working on the last couple of months for those of you who are listening. I am currently working on a project that mainly consists of rewriting a completely new set of timetables for the Long Island Rail Road’s various branches that fix many of the problems that have been associated with East Side Access, or have been there before. I haven’t gotten to the Port Jefferson Branch yet, in fact, I’m currently working on the smaller branches to hopefully reduce crowding on branches like the Port Jefferson. An issue that will occur with the Port Jefferson Branch that cannot be fixed easily is that these Huntington deadheads will take up a lot of the precious reverse-peak slots, therefore, Ronkonkoma reverse-peak service will suffer. 

The one thing that can help this is more storage space for MU sets at Huntington. However, it all boils down to the fact that there’s not enough money nor enough willpower to get it done. They could possibly extend the South Side Track and Electrification to Dunlap Road to fit another couple of sets, which would help, but that’s difficult, expensive, and these days that could take ages.

The other and (much more feasible) alternative is to extend electrification to someplace else on the branch and build a yard there. There have been talks about extending to Northport every now and then, but there is a perfectly good yard in Port Jefferson, and with that would come multiple problems magically fixed. By extending electrification to Port Jefferson, you’d be able to free up more diesel sets, and people east of Huntington would finally get their long awaited electric service into New York. In fact, the side tracks at Huntington could be used to short-turn additional trains like at Farmingdale, Great Neck, and Massapequa therefore giving E. of Huntington riders more express service like before.

It’s unfortunate that very few people know just how bad the Huntington issue really is, but the LIRR has bought some land in Port Jefferson, and people’s conclusions suggest they are trying to build additional yard space there in preparation for electrification. Hopefully, the Huntington issue will be of the past soon and this branch will finally function like the other big ones.

Jerome Avenue Express: Worth it or not?

So, last Friday, I was looking at the 4 Train Wikipedia page and stumbled across an article reading that in 2009, the MTA did two pilot programs for an express service between Woodlawn and 149 St- Grand Concourse. Basically, the first program was an express service would begin in Woodlawn, stop at Mosholu Parkway, which I thought was interesting considering the fact that the express track doesn’t have a platform there meaning it’d have to take the local track, then run nonstop to Burnside Avenue, then 149 St- Grand Concourse, 125 St, and the regular stops from there. The second program was similar, except it included Bedford Park Blvd and had better headways, also it left 2 minutes before the local meaning that people could transfer between the two at Burnside Avenue (not that many would).

However, both pilots were considered failures, because first of all, it only serves a handful of stations, therefore, loads are inconsistent and the best service is the most consistent service, and all this did was make loads inconsistent, and second of all, it only speeds up travel time by a couple of minutes.

Personally, I think it would make sense to do another pilot program, to see if there’s demand, since it’s been many years, and as markets change, however, with a couple of changes. First off, I’d change the stopping pattern of these trains. The trains would run from Woodlawn to Crown Heights- Utica Avenue, like before, to provide the express service to as many riders as possible, and so things would even out after 149 St. The trains would stop at Mosholu Parkway, Bedford Park Blvd, and Kingsbridge Road, to provide additional trains to the furthest north riders, then they’d get on the express track, stop at Burnside Avenue, then just north of 167 St, it would hop back on the local and make that and 161 St- Yankee Stadium, then stop at 149 St- Grand Concourse, still on the express track, before skipping 138th St and making 125th St. Once at 125th St, these trains would continue to Crown Heights-Utica, making the same stops on the Lexington Avenue Express as usual. I did this, mainly, because I wanted to keep the Lexington Avenue line consistent, which is something that is very helpful, and I also did this to help even out the loads.

As far as service frequencies go, the trains, which will run under the <4> bullet, I think they should leave at 7:15am, 7:30am, 7:45am, and 8:00am in the southbound a.m peak, and at 4:45pm, 5:00pm, 5:15pm, and 5:30pm in the northbound p.m peak. If the pilot program is successful, and depending on how popular they are, I think we can improve the frequencies to every 15 minutes during a longer stretch of the rush hour. 

I think a very important element of this new program is to make sure people are AWARE of the changes. One of the main issues with the previous pilot programs is that people didn't know about the changes, therefore, when they boarded the train (i.e at Woodlawn for Bedford Park Blvd), and then they realized it wouldn't stop there they'd have to rush off.

In conclusion, while I never personally thought the Jerome Avenue Express was anything that would attract any amount of ridership visible to the MTA, but since they've done numerous pilot programs that while not being entirely successful, but showed the MTA was interested, maybe in the future we could see this.

Track Calling Patterns at Penn Station

For those of you that have ever traveled eastbound from Penn Station, the ritual you follow is probably well known. You stand in the concourse, semi-patiently waiting, eyes glued to the departure board, and then all of a sudden the track number for your train is posted, and then, along with dozens of others, you scurry towards the staircase to your respective track.

Photo: The LIRR Today

No matter if you take an Amtrak to Chicago or a LIRR to Mets-Willets Point, every single rider is familiar (but not happy) with this ritual. In many occasions, people question why stations like Hoboken & Grand Central Terminal manage to have their track numbers posted sometimes even hours before departure, yet at Penn, you have to suffer thru this cumbersome routine. It all boils down to operations. There is much much more breathing room at stations (i.e Grand Central or Hoboken),so things can be much more consistent and they can post much earlier.

Honestly, most of you know that Penn Station is a madhouse, people going to all over the country (yes, the country!), are all confined into damp, dim conditions, that are crowded, and there’s so many trains on so many tracks. With trains coming in from places as close as Rahway or Jamaica, to trains arriving in from places as far as Miami, Chicago or New Orleans, it’s very difficult to fit everything together especially during the crazy rush hours, so, one late-arriving long-distance train in the middle of the rush hour could result in last-minute changes or shufflings of the track assignments.

For some reason, even when things seam to be going well on a quaint weekend, the ushers at New York Penn are rather reluctant to post track numbers for trains any sooner then 5-10 minutes before given train is set to depart. However, they’re are many patterns one can observe if you travel frequently enough and know what to look for, but the general rule of thumb is that track numbers are generally posted around 5 minutes before departure. By posting them closer to the departure, this can sometimes help with crowding, especially when their are events (such as at MSG) or during the peak.

Photo: The LIRR Today

However, one of the major disadvantages of waiting till last minute is that people will feel rushed, they think that since the train is going to leave so soon, the best thing for them to do is to dive down the first door seen, that way they have the best chance of making the train. Therefore, people will think that if they don’t immediately dive down the first open door they see, then they’ll not get a chance of getting a seat. These two combined reasons tend to lead to fairly uneven load distribution, and this can be common at staircases at the headend of the train such as 7th Avenue.

Another advantage of not waiting to post track numbers is that one, it loosens up the concourse, and during the peak of the peak, that is very helpful. And, if they do post them early, people can leisurely stroll down to the platforms and not feel rushed since “How can the train leave without me if the train hasn’t even made it to the station yet?”, and if people come early they’re more likely to spread themselves along the platform which really helps with loads on the train, because, if people all rush down the staircase into the first 3 cars, then, it’ll be very uneven and people could get a seat if they weren’t rushed.

So, if posting track numbers proves to be so beneficial why don’t they do it? Well, due to the cramped nature of NYP, there are a very limited number of platforms that trains can pull into and discharge on, furthermore, discharging onto a platform with people waiting on it proves to be a very messy thing. It’s also important to note that not every train that leaves Penn Station comes in empty from West Side Yard, a handful of trains during the peak come into Penn Station, discharge, then immediately turn around and head out for places on Long Island (sometimes even not from the OG terminal) without even going to West Side Yard. And, I can only imagine the chaos that could be caused if a busy westbound train during the peak arrives at Penn after the track number has already been posted and there’s tons of people already waiting on the platform…. It would be a fight for the arriving passengers to be trying to get off the train while the eastbound passengers would be trying to get on to get a seat.

While posting track numbers is definitely beneficial for trains that originate in West Side Yard/deadhead into NYP empty, but calling trains to early, despite seaming helpful to passengers, can get pretty messy very quickly. Luckily, the ushers know this, and let’s hope that they continue to call the tracks to trains at the right times.

Interestingly, a little-known secret of Penn Station, is that track numbers vary a lot more during the off-peak periods, and this can be expected since there’s much more wiggle room + there’s constantly construction going on in Queens and all over the place.

In conclusion, while in some cases, posting track numbers early is a very convenient treat, in other cases, by going wild with the posting of track numbers, it can cause heavy crowding and other problems. I’m hopeful that one day Penn Station will become less of a mess, but at this point, it’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen.

Late Friday Links 12/20

 Happy Friday everyone! Now that I’m on break, my schedule has greatly improved and quite a few articles are scheduled the next couple of days so make sure to check every morning.Here  are a good couple of articles for your commute home:

• Drunk Driver On Tracks At Elmont

I didn’t have time to make a post on this; but I have failed to mention this. A brooklyn man somehow managed to drive an SUV onto the railroad tracks at Elmont- UBS Arena.

• NJ Transit Rail Strike in January Possible Dates

I haven’t talked about New Jersey Transit recently, so I thought I’d mention it. There are rumors of a possible rail strike in January.

• MTA Board Approves Chargers

The MTA board has approved a deal to replace the aging DE and DM30ACs. I’m personally saddened by this, as these are my home locomotives, but it’s a very worthwhile investment as these cars are aging and becoming extremely unreliable.

• 2025 SMEE Replacement - MTA

The New York City Subway also announced they’ll begin “replacing” the R62, R62A, and R68 cars in 2025, however, I doubt that.

I hope everything will run smoothly this weekend, as it’s an important one, and I’m hoping the loads won’t be too bad. If you got on vacation today, like me, I hope you enjoy your week (s) off.

'Middleseatphobia'

There it is… the little seat that couldn’t. The dreaded middle seat. Walk down just about every single train, rush hour or not, tons of standees, or no standees, and you’ll see just about every seat but the middle seat filled.

Photo: MTA LIRR

If your most people, like me, you’ll have no problem sitting in the end seat (not that the window seat isn’t much better, but also not that it matters since you can’t see out the window!), but if asked to stand or sit in the middle seat, most people will choose to stand. If you sit in this dreaded seat, your squished in between two other people, have no armrests, and if one of the people next to you is smelly, loud, et cetera, then it could mean a hell of a ride for you.

On the LIRR & MNR, the middle seat is only on the MU equipment (M7s, M8s, M9s), as it’s a 3-2 seating arrangement,  and on the Shoreliners and C3 equipment, the bodies are narrower so they can only fit four seats per row. 

The main reason for these seats is because of ADA requirements. Because of all the ADA required things for accessible riders, which is a very good thing, but also means that they have a significant reduction in seating capacity meaning they had to include the middle seat.

An almost (or more) uncomfortable seat is the facing seats, for the reason of it being impractical to have all seats per car facing the same way as some prefer to sit one way versus the other, and therefore they have to meet somewhere in the middle of the car. However, these seats are annoying because their very cramped and the legroom is abysmal.

Photo: The LIRR Today

What makes this whole “Middle seat” situation even worse is when the LIRR calculates ridership numbers, and more importantly, standee numbers, they calculate loading percentages, assuming that every seat (including the middle seat is filled). So for the vast majority of the LIRR & MNR’s rush hour trains, the standee counts are all screwed up and because of this, the LIRR thinks it’s fine to run less then 12 cars on those trains and everyone will allegedly have a seat.

But the truth is, walk down any rush-hour train, and chances are, only a couple of middle-seats in an entire 12 car consist will actually be filled. I think to help fix this issue, the LIRR should only factor window seats and end seats into their calculations, maybe including one or two middle seats per pair. Because the number of “end seats” and “window seats” tallys up to 144 seats per M7 pair, and that number excludes the 51 middle or facing seats that people will avoid, and the 16 fold-down seats that also are avoided (though not in as high contempt as the middle seats)

As it turns out, ‘Middleseatphobia’ (or whatever you’d prefer to call it) is a real thing among LIRR & MNR commuters, and the fact that people would rather stand then sit their pretty much proves my point. In a perfect world, the LIRR & MNR would try to base their equipment rotations and loading factors better on the seats that are actually used, not just the ones that exist.

Also, before I go, happy last day of work or classes before the holidays!