What The Port Washington Branch Timetable Could Look Like

Today I’ll unveil the first of the 14 timetables that is part of the LIRR Reworked Timetables project. Our first post will begin with The Port Washington Branch. The Port Washington is known by the railroad and railfans for being the only branch that doesn’t pass through Jamaica, instead it merges into the Main Line at Woodside. The Port Washington Branch is definitely not the easiest as far as scheduling nor service patterns, but it’s a lot easier in the sense that you don’t have to worry about Jamaica. Since I’m aware of this, when making these timetables, I did my very best to evenly distribute the trains between New York Penn and Grand Central, and I will try to have easy transfers available to the other terminal at Woodside.

Included in the linked PDF file below is the Full Sample Weekday and Weekend Port Washington Branch Timetable. Peak, off-peak, extra, and special event trains have all been included. Note that this is a new and improved timetable design.

The timetables have yet to include the deadhead/non-revenue moves which will be planned out along with the crew and equipment rotations using AI and will be written down on paper. They’ll be included in a separate page in the attached pdf. Nonetheless, I have tried whenever possible to minimize the amount of deadheading as it’s essentially wasted crew and equipment hours. However, in some cases, it’s unavoidable in order to make the best use out of the resources available.

Like what was said on the introduction page yesterday, “Key Assumptions” needs to be taken care of and mentioned before this project can become totally feasible. I’ve tried my best to design the schedules and trains in a way that makes these schedules able to be used whether or not these projects are completed but in same cases that’s not possible.

Key Assumptions:

I’ve added in Corona & Elmhurst stations to the excel timetables, because I think the LIRR will bring them back into service, as Elmhurst Station was featured in the MTA’s 2025-2044 20-Year Needs Assessment to relieve crowding and congestion on the IRT Flushing Line. I also feel that if Elmhurst Station was revived, Corona could go along with it. This also makes the schedules more adaptable, however, it is very important to note that there is absolutely no time difference for WB and EB trains alike to stop there due to the fact that these stations are very small.

Service Guidelines:

• At a minimum, service will be provided half-hourly to all stations along the branch (with the only exception being late-nights). During the off-peak periods, trains will alternate between New York Penn and New York Grand Central Terminal for the most part, allowing for hourly direct rides to both terminals.
• During the weekday peak period, service consists of 20-minute headways branchwide (there are a couple of exceptions). The branch is split between 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 service during the peak of the peak, additional trains have been run from Little Neck, Bayside, and Douglaston.
• During the reverse-peak period, some equipment trains that operate against-the-flow from Great Neck to/from western terminals will now accept revenue passengers for all or part of their runs alternating terminals when possible to allow for robust reverse-peak service, while minimizing deadheading.
• On weekends, train service is increased during the busiest times: (specifically 8:30 AM WB to 11:30am WB and 4:00 PM EB to 7:30 PM EB.) During these times, train service operates with 15-minute headways branchwide and operates on a similar model to the 6 train, with the outer-zone receiving express service while local trains start out of Great Neck.
• Additional scheduled service to support events at Mets-Willets Point/Flushing Meadows Park have been included, however, this does not include unscheduled extras that typically run following the completion of an event as those cannot be planned, but in normal cases, those trains will either turn off EB trains at Great Neck or will come fresh from the Great Neck Pocket Track.

Link to Port Washington Branch Timetable

I designed service on the Port Washington Branch to cater to those who live past the IRT Flushing Line’s namesake terminal of Flushing-Main St, while still providing acceptable service that promotes growth to those who live in Queens. 

As of now, the best I could guarantee was 20-minute headways sustained in the peak direction, however, frequencies regularly exceed that, especially on the busier portions of the branch. 

During off-peak periods, half-hourly service is provided with trains alternating terminals. 

At stations like Great Neck, I tried whenever possible in situations where two trains depart within minutes of each other to operate to different terminals. Take the AM peak period, for example, in which train 413 (the 6:47am train from Port Washington to Grand Central) stops at Great Neck at 6:57am. A couple of minutes later, train 1315 (the 7:02am local from Great Neck to Penn Station) rolls in. So, while connections aren’t guaranteed, it allows a traveller from Plandome, for example, to transfer trains at Great Neck to the local to Penn Station that follows behind the express, promoting quick intra-island travel and allowing for quick transfers. 

Like I emphasized above, the fact that the Port Washington Branch doesn’t stop at Jamaica makes traveling on the branch much more difficult, and by coordinating little “mini-transfers” at Great Neck, that makes things much easier. I tried to keep most trains stopping at Woodside, besides some of the major express trains as it allows for people to easily get to the terminal of their choice, and it also allows for someone who might want to travel to somewhere else on the island to avoid the headache of having to go all the way into Manhattan.

Reverse-peak weekday service includes a number of “revenue deadheads” that exist mainly to transport equipment for trains that turn at Great Neck, but now stop on the line just to provide supplemental service. Some of the deadheads that don’t run as revenue trains, however, have actually been kept in the schedule as Mets Extras that run when the Mets play evening games at home.  During the evening reverse-peak, there’s a notable amount of trains that begin out of Great Neck, to the point where I by accident said evening rush! I was also able to sneak an additional train out of Bayside, too.

I think I’ve now given you a good understanding of how Port Washington Branch service could look like on these new timetables. Feel free to comment if you have any questions about the scheduling or if you notice something. Time does not permit me to write an in-depth analysis of every train and probably doesn’t permit you to read it, either, so if anything is unclear or you’d like to know my reasoning behind something, please just ask. Additionally, I’ve made millions of tiny edits to the excel spreadsheet over the 11 or so months I’ve been working on this branch’s timetables so it’s likely that some tiny (or major) typos will 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 changed, please let me know by leaving a comment at the bottom of these posts or you leave me an email me at gavin.s.wilcox@gmail.com.