One of the main problems with the Mainline is its capacity, even after East Side Access + The Third Track. If you follow this website, you probably know that there’s a huge train layup yard in West Islip that’s used for storing many of the electric trains used on the Babylon Branch, but, did you know that there’s an almost equally prevalent yard all the way up in the middle of the island too? Well, many of you will guess it’s called Ronkonkoma yard, but it’s actually called Mid-Suffolk Electric Yard and I’m here to tell you about it.
The Ronkonkoma/Mid-Suffolk Electric Yard (however you prefer to call it) now has 18 tracks, meaning it can store a decent amount of train sets. And, while it’s definitely not been full when I’ve been there, it definitely has more trains there then at Babylon Yard, but again, I’ve been to both of them the most during middays when you don’t expect eastern yards to have the most stuff. In addition to the yard, there’s also the “Ronkonkoma Pocket Track” as I’ve named it. It used to be known to store the old and missed train #2017 from Central Islip to Penn Station, however, with the East Side Access train annulments came this trains funeral/final run. I’m not to sure what is stored in that track, as my only guess, #2103 (the 7:19am local out of Farmingdale for NY) appears to come from KO (radar). I’d definitely like to see the LIRR use that siding to possibly fit another peak round-trip out of Central Islip or Brentwood, and I could definitely find some ideal slots.
I believe Ronkonkoma definitely has enough storage space. However, the main problem is Huntington. There’s essentially almost no storage space for trains at Huntington. There’s the North and South Side tracks, but the combined capacity of those tracks is only equivalent to the storage space seen at Far Rockaway, which only sees a third of this branch’s ridership.
Back when it was first introduced, the term “Mid-Suffolk” made little sense to many. The term “Mid-Suffolk” wasn’t specific and it could be used to describe a yard in Yaphank, Medford, or Ronkonkoma, however, as we found out it turned out out to be Ronkonkoma.
When finalized, Mid-Suffolk Electric Yard consisted of 11 new storage tracks, along with work on an “Employee welfare building”, new substations, yard lighting, comm and security systems, new drainage systems, new service roads, and new walkways.
I personally believe Mid-Suffolk Electric Yard was an ideal and great solution to a large problem. Ronkonkoma had long had capacity issues, not being able to run enough trains out of there to meet demand during rush hours, and this allowed them to run more trains without having to deadhead equipment out there. Not only does Ronkonkoma Yard serve the namesake branch, but it’s also been used to store trains beginning in Hicksville and Westbury, providing better service on more western parts of the Main Line.