Metro-North making schedule improvements to “supper express” trains from upper Hudson Valley into NYC

So in a press conference held a couple days ago, Metro-North announced that they’d be tinkering around with the times for the super express trains from the Upper Hudson Line into Grand Central. They’d be shaving time off of many of the super express trains from Poughkeepsie to Grand Fentral (specifically the ones during rush hours that run nonstop between New Hamburg, Beacon, and Harlem-125 St and Grand Central). These new schedule improvements, listed as it follows, will go into effect on Monday, October 6th.

• The 6:08am express from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central will arrive into Grand Central 5 minutes earlier.
• The 6:42am express from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central will now depart Poughkeepsie two minutes later, and will arrive into Grand Central 7 minutes earlier! 
• The 7:03am express from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central will now depart Poughkeepsie two minutes later, and will arrive into Grand Central five minutes earlier. 
• The 5:08pm express from Grand Central to Poughkeepsie will now depart Grand Central at 5:09pm, and will now shave off 7 minutes off the runtime. 
• The 5:30pm express from Grand Central to Poughkeepsie will arrive into Poughkeepsie 6 minutes earlier. 
• The 6:11pm express from Grand Central to Poughkeepsie will now depart Grand Central one minute later and will arrive into Poughkeepsie 7 minutes earlier.

I think this is a great thing. People that commute from the upper Hudson valley into Manhattan already have some of the longest commutes on the railroad, and by shaving even a couple minutes off their commute, that’s time they’ll be able to spend with their families, and overtime, that adds up. Metro-North already has a lot of fat in their schedules, specifically on the express portions, and it’s a really good thing to see them trim away some of that extra padding. 

They claimed that they used “specialized train simulation software and in-depth analyzes of GPS and signal data to find-tune the schedules to shave off up to 7 minutes off the schedule. They also said that improvements to signal infrastructure also helped to allow for speeds to be increased. Kathy Hochul also said that the new SC42DM’s that entered service last week also had something to do it it. 

While all of this is likely somewhat true, and the signal infrastructure probably helped a lot, I think the main culprit for slower speeds is really excessive schedule padding. I personally feel that schedule padding is especially unnecessary on express portions, since you can easily make up time by going slightly faster. 

I personally think that the LIRR should also look to adopt a similar mindset. They specifically pad a lot in the Hamptons, and while it’s necessary on some of the summer getaway trains, on many of the overnight trains it just isn’t necessary. Trains on the Ronkonkoma Branch also used to be advertised to be able to go from Ronkonkoma to New York in one hour, but now it takes up to 80 minutes! The one train that could almost do it in an hour (a super express from Ronkonkoma to Hicksville and New York) was eliminated. That train should be restored because it would help to reduce crowding on other trains! 

In the end, it’s good to see Metro-North cracking down on schedule padding, something they’ve been doing a good amount recently as they did it with some of those New Haven-GCT super express trains too. It’s definitely an improvement that can be made relatively easy, but now what it comes down to maintaining the schedule. Since leaving Grand Central, they now have 5, 6, or even 7 minutes less before they become marked late, they must make sure that the line is clear so they can get these trains out of the traffic and congestion in Grand Central and around Harlem-125 St and get them onto the racetrack which is the Hudson Line.

Metro-North Siemens Charger locomotives enter service on Hudson Line

Train 805 on the second day of service

Metro-North’s newest addition to the fleet- the Siemens “Charger” SC42DM locomotives, soon to come to the LIRR, have now entered service on Metro-North. These more modern, greener, tier three locomotives entered service on train 825 (the 11:35am service from from Grand Central to Poughkeepsie), returning back home on train 870 (the 2:48pm service from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central).

(Photo: Metropolitan Transit Authority)

The rollout, which came unexpected, came just in time for Climate week and was announced in a press conference Tuesday afternoon, along with the rollout came an announcement of a time reduction on Metro-North’s “super express” services during rush hours between Poughkeepsie to Grand Central. 

The new locomotives have been advertised to be more "cleaner and greener" while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions by a whopping 85 percent, while boasting about the 1,000 horsepower boost in the same boat. 

Siemens Charger Test Train 

The new locomotives are still being manufactured at the Siemens Mobility Plant in Sacramento, and the last of the 27 are expected to enter service in 2027. This is a sad reality for railfans such as myself, as this shows that the end for the favorited P32s is near. While its extremely sad to see these iconic locomotives fade into the sunset, these new locomotives will bring lots of coveted improvements to the table for Metro-North.

This marks the start of a new era for Metro-North, one in which consists of Siemens diesel trains and newer M9A's roaming the rails, replacing their former P32 and M3A counterparts. The new locomotives will be missed dearly by railfans, employees, and even some passengers alike, but the new locomotives will provide much more reliable service. 

In the end, the end is near for both the P32 and DE/DM30AC locomotives, and it's time to soak up every last bit of time you can get with them because the dawn of the new era for Metro-North and the LIRR diesel territory is here. 

LIRR unions delay strike as they request Trump's board

The looming potential strike by the LIRR that would have catastrophically haulted train service systemwide as soon as "Zero hour" on September 18th at 12:01am 

LIRR providing extra service to PGA tournament in Bethpage

The LIRR is actually providing quite a suite of extra trains for the PGA tournament in Bethpage next week. They are providing trains to/from Farmingdale to both Ronkonkoma and New York  before and after the event, and they are also staging a couple unscheduled extras to help bare the rest of the crowds.

The nice thing is with the way the Ronkonkoma Branch runs, they actually currently run a couple of equipment trains in the morning, in both directions, to deadhead equipment out to the yard in Ronkonkoma eastbound and to also deadhead a couple sets west to Hicksville and Westbury to represent local runs on the Main Line. 

The LIRR innovatively converted all of the eastbound equipment runs in the morning into revenue service, providing some very impressive headways into Farmingdale in the morning. The two westbound equipment runs also provide express service from Ronkonkoma (the busiest station on the line by far) to Farmingdale. This is very innovative. And, the best part is, since those two westbound runs originate on the Main Line, they won't affect peak hour passengers as those passengers wont get on until it gets to the Main Line.

Reverse-peak direction

• Train 1996, a 4:34am departure from Penn Station, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 5:30am.
• Train 2006, a 5:13am departure from Grand Central, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 6:06am.
• Train 1998, a 5:48am departure from Penn Station, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 6:46am.
• Train 2008, a 5:54am deaprture from Grand Central, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 6:50am
• Train 4906, a 6:36am departure from Penn Station, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 7:35am
• And here's an interesting one, train 2128 (currently a shuttle that deadheads to Farmingdale for whatever reason), a 6:37am departure from Atlantic Terminal stopping at at Nostrand Avenue, East New York, Jamaica, and Farmingdale. 
• Train 4908, a 7:15am departure from Penn Station, stopping at Wooside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale.

Now, see a common theme here? All of these trains are actually scheduled deadhead equipment runs already, so essentially, the LIRR is running these for zero cost. 

Peak direction

During the peak direction, the LIRR doesn't directly add any service, and I don't blame them for this as the line is already pretty much at capacity at that time of the morning, and, by adding more service they'd be screwing the LIRR's most important market, westbound commuters.

• Train 2501, orginates at Ronkonkoma at 5:40am, runs express to Farmingdale stopping there at 6:09am, then runs to Westbury before resuming it's normal route making all local stops.
• Train 2103, originates in Ronkonkoma at 6:54am, stopping at Farmingdale at 7:19am (it orginates there), before resuming it's route making all local stops.

In the afternoon, the LIRR doesn't provide close to as a impressive lineup, but, in their defense, they also provide more service during the afternoon reverse-peak, and they do have some unscheduled extras that'll run. 

Reverse-peak direction

• Train 4955, a 4:57pm departure out of Farmingdale, making Jamaica, and Penn Station.

Peak direction

• The LIRR will add stops on the express trains, providing a very frequent service to points east on the Main Line. 

Weekend

On the weekend, the LIRR is only providing eastbound service in the morning to the event, (I find it supriisng that they aren't convering the very early westbound equipment moves to service but whatever) but my guess is that they'll run unscheduled extras on those days, too.

• Train 7934, a 4:15am departure out of Penn Station, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, Bethpage, and Farmingdale, arriving at 5:13am.
• Train 7936, a 4:39am departure out of Penn Station, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 5:35am.
• Train 8008, a 5:30am departure out of Grand Central, stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 6:28am.
• Train 8012, a 6:33am departure from Grand Central, stopping at Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 7:32am.
• Train 8014, 8016, 8018, and 8020, 7:31, 8:33, 9:33, and 10:33 departures out of Grand Central, all stopping at Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and Farmingdale, arriving at 8:29, 9:30, 10:30, and 11:30am respectively.

Now, we get the bad part, the LIRR strike is happening at what is probably the worst possible time, since, apparently they could go on strike as early as September 18, giving them only 5 days to restore service in time for the Tuesday morning rush hour/PGA tournament. 

In all, I think, for the most part, the LIRR mastered this plan, and as long as the strike doesn't put a giant fork in the plans, then this should work relatively well. I feel like the LIRR converting deadheads to service could be hopeful, since it shows their willing to do that. Possibly in the future they could actually convert these deadhead moves to revenue service, full time, which would be huge to provide even more reverse-peak service opportunities, something that would be a huge step forward.

I look forward to seeing how this service pattern plays out, and it's just great to see the LIRR using their deadhead equipment to their advantage to provide a very robust line of service. This is going to be a huge event, and getting people to and from it as quickly as possible is key, and this should be a huge motivation to not drive. 

If you'd like to view the full timetable including all service to the event, you can do so by visiting MTA.info.

Let's talk about the M3s

For the majority of LIRR riders, at least those in electrified territory, the train that comes rolling into the station each morning. You peer off the platform, and most of the time, a train made of M7 equipment rolls in. That is fair, as the M7 easily represents the largest portion of the fleet, with 836 of them rolling around electric territory. For the most part, the majority of trains are run by M7 equipment, however, every now and then, commuters will get a pleasant surprise and get an M9, or get an unpleasant surprise with a Budd M3s. 

M3s coming into Syosset (Photo: The LIRR Today)

The M3s a dying breed, currently represent a very small portion of the RR’s fleet. That’s bad considering the equipment coordinator will avoid these cars due to their age and reliability. The thing is, you either love their old nostaglic 80s retro design that gives you a blast to the past, or you hate the reality which is beaten-up, held together only by duct-tape.

Recently, the LIRR has finished rolling in the "M3 replacements", the M9s. You may ask why these cars are still in service, well that’s because the LIRR still needs extra capacity after East Side Access opened. These cars are expected to remain in service for another 3 or so years, as the MTA is funding additional replacements to get the last of these cars out of service.

In the rare cases where an M3 would quietly slither into a station, you would normally hear a couple of mumbled annoyances and sighs from commuters. Many people (especially commuters) do not like M3s, and it’s hard to blame them. These cars are from the 1980s, are aging, and did not go through a fancy mid-life overhaul like their Metro-North counterparts did. I mean, for many regular passengers, it’s not a nice surprise to see cars that are dirty and don’t gleam in the sun like the M9s or M7s. 

While I (and most commuters) wouldn’t call the M3s our favorites, there are also some unseen advantages to this equipment. To start, they feature more seats then the M7s, when they were first introduced, a two-car pair could fit 234 passengers seated, and a twelve-car set could seat 1,404 passengers, compared to the M7s which can only seat 1,266 passengers, a mere 138 less!

Now, this may not seem like a lot of extra capacity, but, when it’s rush hour, every seat counts and an extra 137 seats can mean the difference between people sitting or standing. The MTA knows that and they try to assign the M3s to the busiest rush hour trains; however, as these trains age even more, it’s become more difficult to rely on these cars.

If you’re a railfan or even just a normal passenger yet you're dying to some M3 action before they are gone for good, they are very commonly placed on the Jamaica - Atlantic Terminal shuttles during weekdays. They also make some appearances on rush hour trains, like #1515, the 6:44 AM from Huntington to Penn, where I’ve seen it multiple times and they normally are assigned to at least 1 PM rush hour run to Ronkonkoma, however, recently, it's been getting more sparse where. I've noticed in the last month or so they've been running more 12 car sets of them around, and while they still make up a shadow of their former fleet numbers, they are starting to return them to service slowly now that they have the excuse that the new M9As are on the way. During off-peak hours, apart from the Atlantic shuttle, it’s pretty rare to see them, only for equipment moves or passenger extras, they’re normally in yards during those times. They aren't normally found on weekends though. 

The M3s also aren’t really capable of going on the West Hempstead branch due to the substation near Malverne having issues with dealing with excess amperage, meaning that if they exceed P1 on the throttle, in either direction, the fuses will overload and blow up, causing the M3s and/or third rail to shut off. This makes it especially rare to catch them here.

Now I also recommend checking out Metro-North, which while doesn’t use them that much, it’s much easier to find them their then it is on the LIRR. To be honest with you, I haven’t been on the M3s too many times in my life, so they definitely don’t compare with the M7 or M9s for me, but I do like them and it will be sad to see them go.

Whether you're a railfan that enjoys them or a commuter that loathes them, the last of their replacements are on the way, so I recommend that you enjoy them before the Budd Metropolitans are gone for good.

LIRR strike possibility increasing, service could be suspended as early as Sept 18

As we get closer and closer to the possibility of an LIRR strike, the LIRR has been ramping up it's efforts to prepare for a strike.

The LIRR claims the unions haven't been cooperative, outright rejecting offers. Federal mediators have said that a voluntary settlement cannot be achieved, therefore, unless someone appoints the "Presidential Emergency Board of mediators" then the chances of a strike are high.  

John McCarthy, head of chief policy and external relations at the MTA has said that they've requested a 16% raise over 3 years. While the MTA seams to think that's unreasonable, Kevin Sexton, who's president of the locomotive engineers union says that his organizations demands are "exceedingly reasonable". I'm personally in favor of the raise, since, while MTA employees are some of the highest paying in the nation, they also face the highest cost of living, too. 

Working from home

The LIRR's strike congruency plan consists of a mix of shuttle busses and ferries, specifically aimed for those who can't work from home. They've said that many of the shuttle busses will go to/from Queens, and given the last plan that was announced for the supposed-to-be 2014 strike, the possible shutte routes could be:

• Ronkonkoma (to Mets-Willets Point subway station)
• Deer Park (to Mets-Willets Point subway station)
• Manhasset (to Mets-Willets Point subway station)
• Hicksville (to Woodhaven Boulevard subway station)
• Seaford (to Howard Beach-JFK Airport subway station)
• Bellmore (to Howard Beach-JFK Airport subway station)
• Freeport (to Howard Beach-JFK Airport subway station)
• Nassau Community College (to Howard Beach-JFK Airport subway station)

For now, we'll have to see what happens. It's anyone's guess what will come of this.

MNR fare hike in CT

MNR is once again raising fares, this time by 5% in Connecticut. This will bring the ticket price up a bit, from $16 for example, from Stamford to GCT, to $17. The fare hike separated in two parts, with the first one going into affect this past Labor Day, while the second round will go into effect next summer on July 1st. The reason behind the fare hikes is apparently due to increased ridership on the line, specifically between Stamford and New Haven which is causing funding gaps and to maintain the same lavish level of service provided, they must issue hikes. 

This move is on the contrary to the LIRR which instead of improving service when issuing fare hikes is instead cutting it.

Interlocking Walkthrough: STONY

(Photo: Railfanning Meteorologist Productions)

Since it’s time for school to start up and namesake STONY interlocking is located in Stony Brook near Stony Brook University, I thought this was an ideal time to checkout STONY interlocking on the eastern edge of the Port Jefferson Branch. Like many Port Jefferson Branch interlockings, instead of there being a siding before the station, the station itself is a siding which makes for much more efficient use of time, therefore, STONY is divided into two parts on both sides of the station.

Switches

STONY Interlocking is a very simple interlocking, with STONY 1 splitting the line into 2 tracks west of the station platform, then STONY 2 doing the same to the east. It's located 53 miles away from LIC, making it the second to last interlocking on the Port Jefferson Branch.

STONY 1 (Photo: Tri-State Rail NOW)

Signals

STONY has the old style position light signals, as seen in this photo.

And that's about it for STONY interlocking, which is actually a fairly new interlocking, one that came in service in 1992. I know we've hit a roadbump of some pretty boring programming recently, but we will be getting to more interesting things soon!