The Great Port Washington Branch Terminal Mess of 2023

In today’s post, I will be telling a tale of LIRR scheduling— a story that is crazy on many levels (well, not really)

It all started when the LIRR noticed ridership feedback suggesting people wanted more express trains to Penn Station, so with the fourth round of major changes to the timetables came GO 203- which had quite a lot in store for the Port Washington Branch! The LIRR announced that based on “community feedback”, they’d be making several changes to morning rush hour service to provide more express trains from Nassau County to Penn Station.

They announced these changes on the Port Washington Branch:

• Train 415, the 6:47am from Port Washington to Grand Central would be renumbered to train 315, would depart 5 minutes earlier at 6:42am, and be rerouted to Penn Station. This train would also now run express from Great Neck to Mets-Willets Point, dropping stops at Little Neck, Douglaston, and Bayside. Riders at these local stations would either have to depart 29 minutes earlier or 5 minutes later. Riders for Grand Central would either have to depart 32 minutes earlier or arrive 42 minutes later. 
• Train 1413 (the 6:28a from Great Neck to Grand Central) would add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to fill the gap in service. 
• Train 1315 (the 7:03a from Great Neck to Penn Station) would depart 1 minute earlier at 7:02am and add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to the fill the gap in service. 
• Train 419, the 7:19am from Port Washington to Penn Station would be renumbered to train 319 and would run non-stop from Great Neck to Penn Station arriving there at 7:54am. This train would no longer stop at Little Neck, Douglaston, or Bayside. Riders looking to travel to Grand Central would have either have to depart 37 minutes earlier and transfer at Great Neck and Woodside or drop back at Great Neck to a local train and arrive 12 minutes later. 
• Train 1319, the 7:38am train from Little Neck to Penn Station would be renumbered to train 1419, would add a stop at Great Neck at 7:35am, and also be rerouted to Grand Central. Riders looking for Penn Station would either need to depart 33 minutes earlier or arrive 43 minutes later.

Now, chances are, after reading this, your wondering whether or not this was really a good idea. And, I can assure you, it wasn’t.

The LIRR claimed they gutted all morning rush hour service to Grand Central based on calls from riders for more fast express trains to Penn Station. But, the truth is, the LIRR still cannot understand that commuters want more trains, not the reshuffling of existing trains. And as you can see, this made riders furious.

For riders traveling via the North Shore to Penn Station during the morning rush, this new GO offered 9 PEAK trains (8 direct, 1 transfer at Woodside, and 2 useless trains with no connections). For those unlucky travelers looking to get from the North Shore to New York via Grand Central, the November service plan offered riders from the busiest part of the Port Washington Branch just 6 trains— one of which only 3 of those were direct, and 3 of those require transfers. The other 55 were useless with no viable connections.

One of the main issues of that service change was the fact that of these trains, 7 don’t even have viable connections! If your going to run more trains to one terminal, at the least almost all those trains should have viable connections to the other terminal. The fact that the Port Washington Branch doesn’t pass through Jamaica had actually been celebrated until East Side Access, when it became a big problem. Without Jamaica, Port Washington Branch riders have many less transfer opportunities. In many cases, their only options are to either drop back to an earlier train on the Port Washington Branch (i.e drop back to a local train at Great Neck or Bayside) or make a very irritating up-and-over at Woodside. The first case is normally the better option but it adds lots of travel time since not only do you have to sit through all those annoying local stops, but you also have to wait out in the cold, snow, rain, sleet, heat, etc.

Soon afterwards, the LIRR riders noticed how badly things were getting and demanded changes. A Change.org petition was started on October 26, 2023 to run more trains to Grand Central and got over 1,000 signatures. However, the LIRR ignored this and my guess for this is that they wanted to see the damage being done before they decided to correct it.

One frustrated rider recorded the nonsense and frustration onboard the 7:19am train right after the November 2023 service changes began. Feat. a trainload full of cold and pissed passengers disembarking onto the cold platform at Great Neck to wait for the local while their 12-car train that was nearly empty pulled away. If you’d like to view the video, here’s the link.

Now, for the part of the tale that will keep you on the edge of your seats (not really). The LIRR decided to schedule two express trains from Port Washington to Penn Station 5 minutes apart!!!!!! These trains, 315 and 319 would depart at 7:14 and 7:19am respectively, and only the second one had a 6-minute wait for a Great-Neck local connection. When’s the next train you ask? 36 minutes later. And yet the LIRR boasted about how it’s new schedules would make wait times more consistent across the rush hour.

To make matters worse, this second 7:19am train still ran with 12 cars and barley averaged 15-20% loads after people got off at Great Neck to transfer to other trains. And spoiler, even to this day, I still quite often see this train with barely anyone on it thanks to how close they are.

@LIRR congrats, you’re running a virtually empty 12 car westbound 7:19am express train from PW to Penn just 5 minutes after another Penn bound express departed! This as the GCM bound is packed after the GN xfer. This is absurd. Please explain your rationale. pic.twitter.com/vF5wTY4zM7

— Biz (@ebisman) November 13, 2023

After mounting pressure from local officials including one of the NYS senators, the LIRR finally reverted two of those trains to go back to Grand Central. 

Of those changes, these are the ones that have been modified or reverted:

• Train 415, the 6:47am from Port Washington to Grand Central would be renumbered to train 315, would depart 5 minutes earlier at 6:42am, and be rerouted to Penn Station. This train would also now run express from Great Neck to Mets-Willets Point, dropping stops at Little Neck, Douglaston, and Bayside. Riders at these local stations would either have to depart 29 minutes earlier or 5 minutes later. Riders for Grand Central would either have to depart 32 minutes earlier or arrive 42 minutes later. 
• Train 1413 (the 6:28a from Great Neck to Grand Central) would add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to fill the gap in service.
• Train 1315 (the 7:03a from Great Neck to Penn Station) would depart 1 minute earlier at 7:02am and add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to the fill the gap in service.
• Train 419, the 7:19am from Port Washington to Grand Central would be renumbered to train 319 and would run non-stop from Great Neck to Penn Station arriving there at 7:54am. This train would no longer stop at Little Neck, Douglaston, or Bayside. Riders looking to travel to Grand Central would have either have to depart 37 minutes earlier and transfer at Great Neck and Woodside or drop back at Great Neck to a local train and arrive 12 minutes later.
• Train 1319, the 7:38am train from Little Neck to Penn Station would be renumbered to train 1419, would add a stop at Great Neck at 7:35am, and also be rerouted to Grand Central. Riders looking for Penn Station would either need to depart 33 minutes earlier or arrive 43 minutes later.

In conclusion, if this was happening in 2025 it would be a huge problem, and even then, I believe it was poor service planning, but considering the LIRR was still a bit disoriented after the opening of ESA with all these changes, complaints, comments still going around, I think it should be a lesson learned. 

The rest of the posts this week will focus on the Port Washington Branch as we lead up to unveil of our first timetable!

Interlocking Walkthrough: WOOD

Up next for our Interlocking Walkthroughs is WOOD interlocking. It’s not that old anymore, but for a part of the railroad that has been around for so long, I expected it to be older. This interlocking first went into service on March 21, 1988, right around my birthday! As crazy as it may seam for an area so congested, WOOD only consists of three crossovers with two on the Port Washington Branch and one located on the Main Line.

Switches

WOOD interlocking covers the short span east in which the Port Washington and Main Line both run parallel each other. There are three crossovers. The Port Washington Branch’s crossovers, going from west to east, consist of a crossover from track 1 (the westbound track) to track 2. Not to far down the line, there’s another back from track 2.

The Mainline, however, only has one little crossover from Mainline 2 (the eastbound express track) to Mainline 4 (the eastbound local). This switch could be used for an eastbound that is bypassing Woodside but needs to make local stops in Forest Hills and Kew Gardens. However, normally I’ve noticed the LIRR will run trains stopping at Forest Hills and Kew Gardens down Mainline 4 in the first place, so these switches don’t get much use outside of a couple of peak trains.

Signals

For it’s 20th birthday present, in 2008, the LIRR gave WOOD Interlocking a nice little revamp. They installed high-speed switches which must have been the big present as high-speed switches are perfect for operations like what’s being performed on the Main Line. The signals used here are tri-color light signals arranged in a triangle pattern.

WOOD interlocking, like many Port Washington Branch interlockings, was controlled by HAROLD tower until it was closed in 1995. Nowadays, it’s remotely-controlled by Penn Station Control Center.

Neighbors

This interlocking is bordered to the west by HAROLD interlocking and is bordered to the east by JAY interlocking. Due to the LIRR typically running the majority of trains that are stopping at Kew Gardens and Forest Hills are routed down Mainline 4 in the first place, this switch isn't used too often. During rush hours, having trains slow for crossovers is nt the greatest thing when you have to operate so many trains so close together, and it's much more efficient and streamlined to not have to switch tracks.

Well, this should wrap up WOOD interlocking!

The Sunnyside Ordeal

In today’s post we’re going to take a look at the long-proposed Sunnyside station. Sunnyside station is a long-proposed station in the Sunnyside neighborhood of western Queens, the stations location is proposed to be very close to Sunnyside yard, with the actual location being at Queens Blvd and Skillman Av. The project, which, has been promised since 2001 would provide better transit options for residents of Western Queens.

Advocates for transit in western Queens had wanted this station for a long time, and it’s been promised for a long time, but, it hasn’t come. Then came the construction for East Side Access and the MTA claimed it would cause issues if they tried to build it during the construction of East Side Access. Then, fast-forward a long and grueling several years, and now we’re in 2025, and we still haven’t gotten any promises for the station.

A map part of the Sunnyside Master Plan

As you may or may not have picked up from my various posts overtime, I’m an advocate for better transit in Queens, especially in Eastern Queens, however I feel this area of western Queens is also underserved. A good argument for this station is that commutes on the Queens Blvd Line typically take 12-15 minutes while taking the LIRR could probably shorten it to 6 minutes. Another good argument is that both the Queens Blvd Line and the Flushing Line are very overcrowded, so, this would decrease the trip time. The project has been included in the MTA’s 20-Year Needs Assessment, so that really increases the likelihood of this coming. 

The station is proposed to consist of two side platforms and an island platform. They also claim it would be a connection point between LIRR and Metro-North (as part of Penn Station Access). Apparently there’s a possibility for Amtrak service, but to be honest little is known about the project right now.

If it’s true that you can easily go across the platform like you would at Babylon for a connection to Metro-North, that could be groundbreaking for Long Island - Upstate/CT commuting as it’s rather painful to have to get off the train at Grand Central Madison then walk all the way to the GCT concourse.

The current Sunnyside Yards as of 2025.

If this station ever comes to fruition, it’s likely that it’ll be built after Penn Station Access is completed. I also believe be similar to Woodside in that certain LIRR trains will make stops there. I’ve included it in my timetable project so for those of you that know about it make sure to look out for Sunnyside! 

Photos: Manhasset (2/2025)

 

Switch Heaters

In my opinion, one of the best ways to experience the LIRR is through snow. Not only is it beautiful, picturesque, but there's almost nothing better then looking over the edge of the platform at Jamaica on a cold, snowy morning and seeing the interlocking glowing. Wait, what? Why is the interlocking glowing?

When snow and ice tighten their grip, the LIRR will "fire up" dozens of heaters under the switches formally known as "switch heaters" to prevent the ice and slush from getting the best of the switches. These heaters play a silent, yet essential role in maintaining the rush hours. One disabled switch at let's say, Hicksville, for example, can cause one branch or even the entire rush hour to go down FAST! 

For a casual commuter, the site of a switch heater may look very alarming, however, it turns out that it's very normal for the switches to look like their on fire while the heater is on. 

Here are a couple of switch heaters at Jamaica in action (credit to NYC Subway Life):

Credit to NYC Subway Life

Credit to NYC Subway Life

Credit to NYC Subway Life

Credit to the MTA/Facebook

These days, many of the switch heaters on the LIRR are actually electric. They are made up of very high resistance metal bars that are bolted to both sides of the actual rail. One end is tied to the third rail through a knife switch, and the other is grounded to the rail.

Most of the switch heaters are activated onsite, while some are remote controlled. The gas-powered ones were much less reliable, and the gas was cheap. Today, they run using natural gas that is provided by the ulity companies and the gas is supplied to the heaters by a one-and-a-half inch pipe. Still, the gas heaters are unreliable. They can be blown out by wind, and then they have to be re-lit. Which, isn't exactly easy during a bad snowstorm or during the middle of rush hour.

Trackmen use "switch oil" to thaw out frozen switches. "Switch oil" is Hexane, which is a hydrocarbon oil that is dumped along the rail from a can that looks like a flower watering can. Another trackmen will follow with a brazing broom and soak up the stuff which then is used to light the switches, effectively de-icing the switch. 

The electric heaters are normally maintained by the signal department, while gas heaters by the Building and Bridges department.

While we're on the subject of ice and snow on the rails, let's talk about another common phenomenon that is seen.

I'll send the link to the video, but as you can see this NYC Subway train was making crackling noises as it was at 52 Street. Then as it began to depart, the contact shoe kinda lit on fire a bit and sparks came up. This is also a normal thing, as the snow, ice, and salt can cause it. 

In conclusion, switch heaters are a very imperative piece of railroad infrastucure that you should thank for getting to your job ontime during one of those snowy mornings that we all love. The concept of switch heaters has been around for hundreds of years, and it's evidence that many of the oldest pieces of railroad technology are some of the most reliable. Next time you see a switch on fire, please make sure to not call the fire department!

LIRR & MNR to run on a weekend schedule on President’s Day

Monday is Presidents Day, and while it’s a holiday for some (including me), it’s also a working day for others. For those with employers that don’t give a hoot about presidents, the LIRR will be operating on a weekend schedule, and MNR will operate on a Saturday schedule. In many previous years, the LIRR has at least added one to three trains to the schedule , but this year those who commute are unlucky. I’m not too worried about loads, especially with the snowstorm coming, however, some of the Ronkonkoma and Babylon Branch trains may become crowded.

Late Friday Links 2/14

Happy Valentine’s Day! Here’s a couple of links for your commute home:

• Ronkonkoma Connection To LIRR

So there’s plans to introduce a new connection from the Ronkonkoma LIRR Station to MacArthur Airport. The plan is to build a walkway between the two, along with more parking and road improvements.

• Metro-North Quiet Car Gone For Good

So apparently Metro-North also has a quiet car program, something I hadn’t actually ever realized. It’s disappointing to see it go since commuters seemingly really liked it.

• New MNR President

And, finally, Metro-North has gotten a new president. 

The forecast is hinting towards more snow tomorrow, so make sure to bundle up. I’m lucky enough to have next week off from school. And remember, the LIRR will be operating on a full weekend service this Monday for Presidents Day. Have a good weekend! 

Interlocking Walkthrough: BABYLON

In today’s interlocking walkthrough we’ll be taking a look at the large BABYLON interlocking. Unlike many of the other interlockings we’ve looked at recently such as WANTAGH and AMITYVILLE, this interlocking is actually extremely busy.

Not only is BABYLON much more busy, but it’s also much bigger, too. In fact, it stretches 2 miles from end to end.

Switches

First, let’s focus on what’s west of the station platform. The first crossover that trains encounter when heading eastbound is a crossover right inside the interlocking that is going from the westbound track (Montauk 1) to the eastbound track (Montauk 2).

Then, after a couple hundred feet, The Central Branch merges onto Montauk 1 (Montauk trains that use the Mainline will branch off here in order to head towards Hicksville, Mineola, and Jamaica.)

After that, we have another crossover, with this one also going between Montauk 1 and Montauk 2.

Then, after going a bit further down the line, there’s another crossover this time going between Montauk 2 back to Montauk 1. Then there’s another one that does the exact same thing a couple hundred feet later.

Now, both tracks now approach the platforms. While Montauk 1 and Montauk 2 are curving to form the platform, a third track is created that also comes into Babylon smack in the middle. Montauk 1 splits into 2 tracks, with the north one becoming station track 1 and the center 1 becoming station track 2. Station track 1 is next to platform A, and station track 2 can open its doors on both platforms A and B.

Many electric trains that end their runs at Babylon will go east on Montauk 2, then continue onto Station track 3 to terminate before heading east towards the yard. Station track 1 is primarily used by trains that are starting at Babylon and just came from the yard. The middle track (station track 2) is typically used for Montauk branch scoot trains that will terminate at Babylon and then turn around, load, and head out east. This allows for a cross platform transfer for both sides. 

Now, once we get east of the station, things get much more complicated. First, there is a crossover (just east of the station) that goes from station track 3 to station track 2. Then station track 3 becomes known as the “LEAD track” (as it goes to the yard).

After that, there are a couple of crossovers that are used to get trains from the different station tracks over to LEAD so they can be yarded. First, there’s one from station track 3 to station track 2, followed by another back to station track 3. Then to add to the mix, a freight siding merges into station track 3.

Then, station track 3 passes thru the famous Babylon Car Wash. The Babylon Car Wash is kinda a big deal because there aren’t many car washes on the LIRR, with the only other locations being Ronkonkoma and Richmond Hill. Basically, all trains that are going to/from the yard will pass through the car wash to get all clean for their next run. But, for trains that aren’t afraid of the water or aren’t due for cleaning, they’ll go to/from the yard on station track 2, then crossover to LEAD just before the yard.

Now, we’re finally approaching the gigantic Babylon Yard. Compared to many of the LIRR’s yards, it’s quite big. It can store 17 trains, plus another if you use the LEAD track.

The yard is basically separated into 3 clusters of tracks. The first cluster, houses tracks 1 through 10, plus the LEAD and HOUSE tracks. There’s also two other clusters, yard tracks 11-14 and 15-17. Many of these tracks either combine or end in a bumper block at their very eastern end.

Another oddity of Babylon Yard is that the switches are automatically controlled, therefore allowing the employees to not have to hand-throw all of the switches themselves, and leaving the machines to do the dirty work for them.

Once you finally pass the yard, it goes back to the big three: Montauk 1, Montauk 2, and LEAD. These tracks go over Highbie lane crossing then proceed east a bit further before LEAD merges onto Montauk 1, before the final crossover from Montauk 1 to Montauk 2 commences signaling the end of the interlocking. It’s worth nothing that just east of this, third rail ends.

Signals

The signals at BABYLON are all old-style Pensy Postion-Light signals. There’s a good combination of places with those round things on gantries overlooking the tracks, and others on pedestals.

Babylon is slated to get an overall at some point in the upcoming years. It’s likely they’ll repeat what they’ve done at many of the other interlockings, by replacing all the switches with new ones, and sadly ripping out the switch handles. So, instead of a big handle being thrown to switch your train on the right track, it’ll all be done simply by a click of the mouse.

Towers

BABYLON is lucky to still have an operating tower onsite. Babylon tower sits just east of Babylon station.

Photo Credit: Joe Gregory/Trains Are Fun

BABYLON tower controls all the signals at Y, PD, and SK interlockings, too.

Neighbors

BABYLON interlocking is neighbored by AMITYVILLE to the west and by Y interlocking (just E. of Sayville) to the east.

The central speed limit thru all of BABYLON interlocking is 60 mph, though trains switching tracks often go slower. Just to the west of the interlocking, the speed limit is upgraded to 80 mph for trains continuing along the Babylon Branch towards Jamaica. If the train is going along the Central Branch, the speed limit changes to 65 (which is the maximum in diesel territory).

This concludes BABYLON interlocking. If I missed anything, please leave a comment below and let me know.

Interlocking Walkthrough: STONY

In today’s interlocking walkthrough, we’re gonna take a look at STONY interlocking which is located on both ends of Stony Brook on the Port Jefferson Branch. STONY 1 and STONY 2 are two interlockings that make up an interlocking that is very similar to the other Port Jefferson Branch interlockings. Instead of having a passing siding to either side of the station like at stations such as Mastic-Shirley, the station itself is the passing siding.

The two switches that make up the interlocking, that’s simple and very similar to the other Port Jefferson Branch interlockings. Instead of having a passing siding like at stations such as Mastic-Shirley, they turned the station into the passing station itself.

The tracks around here are on a pretty steep angle, making it tough to get a good diagram. But, down below is a satellite image of the interlocking.

Western side of the interlocking

Eastern side of the interlocking

STONY interlocking is roughly about 53 miles away from Long Island City. STONY 1 is west/compass south of the station, and splits the tracks into 2 tracks, and on the other side of the platforms, STONY 2 contains one switch that merges the 2 tracks into 1.

This simple interlocking also doesn’t have much history. Unlike the other Port Jefferson Branch interlockings, this interlocking wasn’t two separate interlockings combined into one. This interlocking is also considerably newer then other Port Jefferson Branch interlockings (both STONY 1 and STONY 2 went into service in 1992.)

In the early 1990s, signals were extended to include the Port Jefferson Branch, and in 1992, both STONY and JEFF interlockings came online.

This interlocking still houses the position-light signals installed in the early 90s.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The nearest interlockings are the POST interlocking to the west in Smithtown, and the JEFF interlocking in Port Jefferson.  

The Flushing Line Improvements Project

So, today, let’s take a break from the Long Island Rail Road and take a look at one of the hottest NYC transit construction projects that’s currently going on.

First off, the goal of this project is to improve conditions to meet ADA requirements, address the dire conditions of some of the stations, and boost reliability along the IRT Flushing 7 train.

As of now, both the Manhattan-and Flushing-bound (7) platforms at 111 St and 82 St- Jackson Heights have reopened.

A YouTuber I know, known as JC if your interested, as broken the project into multiple phases, which is helpful considering how confusing things can get.

Phase 1-

• The Manhattan-bound platforms closed at 111 St and 82 St- Jackson Heights.

Phase 2- 

• The express track at Woodside-61 St closed.

Phase 3-

• Phase 3, the one that was just completed, the Flushing-bound platforms were closed at 82 St-Jackson Heights and 111 St.

Phase 4-

• In Phase 4, all Manhattan-bound <7> trains will run express between Main St and 46 St, and then local via temporary platforms at 46 Street- Bliss St, 40 St- Lowery St, and 33 St- Rawson St, then local to Hudson Yards 34 St.

Phase 5-

• In Phase 5, Queens-bound <7> trains will run local to 46 St, then making express stops after Woodside-61 St to Flushing-Main St,

Phase 6-

• The Flushing-bound platform closed at 103 St-Corona Plaza.

Phase 7-

• The Manhattan-bound platform closed at 103 St- Corona Plaza.

As for when the start of Phase 4 will occur, we’re currently waiting for work on Woodside-61 St to finish, so, when that happens it should begin. My guess is that it’ll begin sometime in the middle of the year like May, June, or July.

And, the most asked question is “when will full <7> express be restored.” And, the best answer to that may be small periods in between phases.

I hope this clears up some stuff about this project, which I consider to be extremely confusing.

Exciting Things Coming

I apologize for the lack of real interesting posts, and the reason for that absence is because I’ve been putting the final touches on a bunch of larger projects that I’ve been working on for a long time. I can guarantee you everyone will really enjoy these upcoming projects, so I apologize for the brief “intermission”. 

It’ll be worth the wait!

-Gavin

LIRR ridership increasing since start of Congestion Pricing

Somehow, it’s officially been one month since the MTA introduced its new congestion pricing program- which, if you don’t know, essentially tolls anyone entering Manhattan below 60th St a small fee, similar to EZpass. Data shows that 30,000 fewer vehicles on an average weekday enter the toll zone.

Long Island Rail Road commuters have noticed more people on trains, particularly at certain stations. While Metropolitan Transit Authority officials hoped and expected for these new tolls to push more commuters out of their car and onto the trains, however the overall 13% systemwide ridership increase didn’t beat December’s 15% increase, suggesting Congestion Pricing isn’t the only thing to credit.

LIRR president Rob Free said this: “I think it’s too early to make any direct correlation as to ridership gains being specific to congestion relief”. While he believes the tolling plan could be one of several factors, it seams he thinks it’s a mix of factors.

MTA officials have pointed to the fact that there’s plenty of room in the transit system for that increased ridership, noting that many LIRR trains operate well-below there capacity.

An interesting point of this is where these ridership jumps are located, with the largest jumps being located at the New Hyde Park and Garden City stations in Nassau County, and the Ronkonkoma station in Suffolk. MTA figures show that ridership at New Hyde Park has climbed 22% since January, and that Garden City has climbed 19 percent, compared to December’s increase of only 3%. Other stations across the network have also seen ridership gains including more western stations such as Douglaston and Woodmere.

Credit: Metropolitan Transit Authority

According to Newsday, who interviewed passengers at New Hyde Park station recently, passengers noted that they saw more passengers out on the platform, and on the train in recent weeks. 

Another factor that could be putting more people onto LIRR trains is the ongoing A train shutdown that offers Far Rockaway riders a $2.75 discounted faire into Manhattan during the four-month shutdown for repairs.

Personally, I’ve noticed additional crowding, especially on the Hempstead Branch.

Now, I know the 5:00pm rush hour isn’t known for undercrowding, however, the fact that the branches hit hardest this month seam to be the Hempstead, Long Beach, and Oyster Bay branches, branches not known to be too crowded.

‘Room for everybody’

Not only have the railroads experienced ridership surges though, as many subway lines and express bus routes have also experienced congestion-pricing related ridership increases. Addressing concerns about toll-related potential for overcrowding, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber has said “there’s room for everybody”. He also told reporters that “if every one of the 130,000 commuters who drive into Manhattan everyday took the Subway, bus, or Long Island Rail Road or whatever, instead, it would be a drop in the bucket”.

But, still, it’s not like LIRR riders have experienced this level of ridership recently, though. After plummeting substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic, LIRR ridership was able to rebound to about 86% of what it was in 2019– a year in which the LIRR carried 91 million riders, the most in 70 years. A lot of the credit for ridership not rebounding to its full potential can be given to the fact that many people started working from home.

LIRR President Robert Free, with the goal of extinguishing concerns about potential overcrowding, said that since the opening of Grand Central Madison, the LIRR dramatically increased the amount of trains. Free also noted that during peak periods, the LIRR operates at about 60% capacity. However, in January, a small handful of peak trains operated at 90% or above. While many believe these ridership increases are mainly thanks to congestion pricing, Rob Free believes it’s also important to factor in the testament to the LIRR’s increased performance, which includes growing customer satisfaction scores and a 95.6% on-time performance (OTP) in 2024. 

Apparently, despite so much criticism, the MTA’s congestion pricing plan has been so successful that they have begun hearing from officials off other cities that they are interested in implementing their own plan. Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean New York’s plan is here to stay, as it faces huge backlash and opposition, including more lawsuits. Even our US president, Donald Trump, has even vocally opposed the plan.

Now that we are less then a month away from the new timetables, my hope is that the LIRR will analyze this data, and try to make the best improvements to the new timetables. At this point, only time will tell. 

Interlocking Walkthrough: NECK

Welcome back to the Interlocking Walkthrough show! Today's interlocking is NECK interlocking, which is located just east of Great Neck, which is roughly 14 miles east of Long Island City. The interlocking, which marks the end of double-track territory on the Port Washington Branch, sees quite a bit of use on a good day. This interlocking, like many on the branch, was put into service in the 80s. 

Switches

This interlocking is quite simple in design, as all there is at the end of the two track line, there's a crossover that sends track 2 to track 1, which it goes on the ten-minute section to Port Washington. 

However, NECK interlocking has an added twist: an added pocket track. The pocket track, imperative in an upcoming project, makes the busy rush hour service on this line possible, allowing turns to end early along the line (mainly Bayside, Little Neck, or Great Neck), and like Massapequa, turn on it and head back into the city. Eastbound thru-trains to Port Washington would merge onto track 1 using the crossover just east of the station, while terminating trains to Great Neck pull east and go straight onto the pocket track, where they can turn around. And, once the train has turned around, depending on the length of the train, there's multiple places where trains can exit the pocket track as you get closer to Great Neck. 

Signals

Now let's return to NECK interlocking. NECK interlocking is home to "old style" position light signals that are located on gantries at the westernmost point of the interlocking. There are also signals on pedestals at the easternmost point of the interlocking for trains coming off the Manhasset viaduct. 

Towers

There is no control tower at NECK, From it's inception, like the other Port Washington Branch interlockings, it was controlled by the busy HAROLD tower, near the HAROLD interlocking in Queens. But, when HAROLD Tower was closed in 1999, control of the Port Washington Branch interlockings was interestingly handed over to Jamaica Control Center (JCC) despite these trains not even stopping at Jamaica!

For the first portion of the interlocking, service is topped out at 60 mph (which is the general Port Washington Branch speed limit), but, about halfway through the interlocking, the service speed drops to 50mph for the remaining run to Port Washington.

Neighbors:

To the west, there's BAY interlocking, and, as a matter of fact, NECK interlocking is the easternmost interlocking on the Port Washington Branch as the Port Washington yard switches aren't part of any interlocking. 

That should do it for NECK interlocking. I'll be releasing a post soon that will detail the Great Neck Pocket Track, and the next installment of Interlocking Walkthroughs will appear next Wednesday on STONY interlocking.

Interlocking Walkthrough: HAROLD

In this interlocking walkthrough, we're going to take a nice look at Harold Interlocking, one of the craziest on the LIRR. Harold Interlocking is where the LIRR's Mainline, Port Washington Branch, and even Amtrak's Hell Gate line all merge by the very very end into 4 tracks that go into the East River tunnels toward Penn Station.

It's important to note that Harold Interlocking has been changing recently, and will continue to due to the sheer size of the interlocking, therefore, things might be come inaccurate and I apologize in advance for that fact.

It's extremely difficult to portray this interlocking with any sense of organization, because of again, the fact that so much is going on at once, not only do we got those tracks, but we also got 2 of the biggest yard facilities in New York and the elevated (7) tracks passing by.

I'm going to make my best effort to explain the interlocking with the photos, references, and information that is available to me. As you can see below, it’s extremely difficult to understand this interlocking with any level of accuracy.

To the right, the LIRR’s Port Washington and Mainline branches and Amtrak’s Hell Gate line merge together, forming this interlocking. When they built this interlocking, they also built some flyovers to shuffle the tracks just slightly before entering the interlocking.

These flyover tracks are located just east of the interlocking, and they shuffle the tracks so all the westbound trains are grouped together by their destination, and all the eastbound trains are grouped together by their destination. For instance, there’d be one track for all the Hunterspoint Av. trains, a couple for Penn Station trains, and a couple more for Grand Central-bound trains. If your lucky enough to be onboard an westbound LIRR train, you should be able to tell what’s going on under these flyovers when there’s a brief period where it looks like you have entered the tunnel, but then come right back out (I remember always thinking you’d be in the tunnel but then I’d be surprised when we left so quickly back when I was a kid!) 

By doing this, it makes things much more simple in the actual interlocking, as now trains only have to switch among tracks headed for the same direction, and there’s no need for risky and time consuming things such as crossover moves.

Once you get into the interlocking you can see two distinct sets of tracks…. Westbound and Eastbound.

By starting with the westbound tracks, the Port Washington Branch westbound track merges with Amtrak Hell Gate Line (this is the line that carries Northeast Regional and Acela services coming into New York Penn from places such as Boston and Vermont.) 

West of this point, there are 3 main tracks that flow through HAROLD interlocking. Eventually, 2 of these tracks will become lines 2 and 4 into the East River Tunnels. The third will become a passenger track into Hunterspoint Avenue, and a couple others will go to Grand Central Madison.

Continuing west through the interlocking there are two parallel crossovers that allow trains from the two mainline tracks to shift over one track to the right, and later on, there’s another set of crossovers that allow trains from the northern tracks to move down to the lower ones.

In the midst of all this craziness, the unpowered North Engine Layup Track normally stores a protect engine. Protect engines, as you probably know, have the sole purpose as to jump in and rescue a train that has broken down. For some 50 years, the LIRR has supplied protect engines at HAROLD interlocking. 

Due to the sheer size of this interlocking, I'm not even going to bother explaining the eastbound, however, I'm sure by looking at the diagrams you can get an idea. 

The so called "zookeepers" of the interlocking set up shop at Penn Station Control Center, and HAROLD used to be controlled by a tower onsite bearing the same name, however, when PSCC opened, it moved there. 

As you can see, HAROLD interlocking is one of the busiest interlockings in the country, and while it's definitely not perfect, it should definitely get credit for moving hundreds of trains into and out of the nation's greatest wonder- New York City everyday. I hope you've enjoyed this post and I got quite a bit of amazing things coming soon. Feel free to comment if you have any questions.

Interlocking Walkthrough: ROCKY

ROCKY interlocking, which, before you ask, is not in Far Rockaway, and is instead the key to an interlocking to the brand new spur station to the Rockies, just kidding. It’s instead 2,750 feet east of you guessed it, Rockville Centre. This small little interlocking on The Montauk Branch is 20 miles away from Long Island City by rail.

This interlocking is extremely simple in nature and is essentially a copy of its neighbors’ AMITYVILLE and WANTAGH.

This interlocking first entered service on April 30, 1983, and has been controlled by VALLEY or BABYLON ever since.  Interestingly, on the morning this interlocking entered service, the railroad set up a temporary block station at the site of the crossovers. That block station has the distinction of only being in service for one day!

As you can see there’s not much to say about tiny little ROCKY interlocking. This interlocking is bordered by PORT interlocking to the east, and VALLEY interlocking to the west.