The Issue With Mineola Station

One of the LIRR’s biggest accomplishments, rolled out alongside with the opening of East Side Access was the opening of the Third Track project. This project brought huge capacity improvements to the Main Line allowing for additional trains to be ran down out in the peak direction, and even more specifically during the reverse-peak periods.

And while this project was HUGE for the railroad and while limited in peak service improvements, provided groundbreaking improvements to reverse-peak service on the Main Line between Floral Park and Hicksville and to other points connecting to it. 

There was one huge problem with the final draft that was a huge dealbreaker for reverse-peak and intra-island commuting on the Main Line, specifically at Long Island’s third biggest job hub, Mineola. Mineola is not only a busy station, but  a beautiful station that serves as an important job hub. In the original draft for the Third Track Project, it called for all stations from New Hyde Park thru Westbury to have their platforms demolished in favor of new 12-car platforms, and it also called for Mineola station to like Hicksville, receive an island platform allowing for express trains to simultaneously stop at Mineola without having to bother switching tracks. 

In the final plan, however, this was dropped as a cost-saving measure and Mineola was slated to receive 2 normal 12-car platforms like the other stations. This was a major flaw with the final design and really dragged down the value of the project, since, trains, that run express down the Main Line from/to places as far away as Port Jefferson, Ronkonkoma, Patchogue and Speonk could no longer stop at Mineola without switching to the third track serving as a deterrent for these trains to switch tracks and cause backup on the Main Line just to stop there and provide intra-island service opportunities.  

(Photo: Fan Railer)

And when asked, the project team said that the decision was made to “avoid residential property impacts both east and west of the station” and “ because the LIRR believes that the revised NASSAU Interlocking configuration (moving NASSAU 1 and 3 closer to Mineola) would permit sufficient stopping flexibility for "intra-Island" service." This proves to be untrue as having a train running down the express track slow down to switch to the local track, stop at Mineola, then switch back to the express track proved to be very disruptive to local track operations as if your trying to do this during the height of the rush hour (when most intra-island travel is occurring) then your likely to cause delays to a local train that’s waiting behind to also make its Mineola stop. And while this is going on, things have already been made worse as you also got the Oyster Bay Branch junction which requires Oyster Bay Branch trains to go through Mineola and onto the junction at 10 mph which gums up the local track already.

I’m conclusion, this was a huge loss for Mineola and for this project as a whole. By neglecting to build a middle platform, the LIRR essentially turned down an opportunity to provide tons of additional intra-island service opportunities to the places that need it most, but decided to instead just drag their foot and cut their losses.

LIRR & MNR Thanksgiving Service 2025

During the busiest travel period of the year, Thanksgiving weekend, both the LIRR and Metro-North both are stuffed up with extra trains operating for various proposes, from serving as early getaway trains on Thanksgiving Eve to transporting people to the Macy’s Thanksgiving day Parade.

This year, which is expected to be a busy one, both the LIRR and MNR will be providing a host of extra trains throughout the weekend. 

Thanksgiving Eve - November 26 

On Thanksgiving Eve, the LIRR will operate on a normal weekday schedule. Train 14 (the 4:07pm from Penn Station to Montauk) will operate.

Metro-North will combine or outright annull a couple of trains (particularly express trains) during the both the morning and evening rush hours. 

They will also provide a couple of additional mid-morning departures into Grand Central on the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven lines to accommodate those traveling into the city for leisure purposes.

Thanksgiving Day - November 27 

On the Babylon Branch, the LIRR will provide 3 additional westbound trains to the parade: 

• A 6:33am local from Babylon to Penn Station, making all stops through Rockville Centre, Jamaica, and Penn Station. 
• A 6:54am local from Babylon to Grand Central, making all stops through Lynbrook, Jamaica, and Grand Central.
• A 7:25am local from Babylon to Penn Station, making all stops through Rockville Centre, Jamaica, and Penn Station.

On the Ronkonkoma Branch, the LIRR will also provide 3 westbound trains getting people into Manhattan:

• A 6:14am train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station, making all local stops to Hicksville, Mineola, Jamaica, and Penn Station.
• A 6:56am train from Ronkonkoma to Grand Central, making all local stops to Hicksville, Mineola, Jamaica, and Grand Central.
• A 7:01am local from Farmingdale to Penn Station, making all local stops through New Hyde Park, Jamaica, and Penn Station.

Heading back out to Long Island after the parade, 

Heading eastbound on the Ronkonkoma Branch, the LIRR will provide 4 additional eastbounds.

• A 11:17am train from Penn Station to Farmingdale, stopping at Jamaica, New Hyde Park, and local stops to Farmingdale. 
• A 12:13pm train from Grand Central to Ronkonkoma, stopping at Jamaica, MIneola, Hicksville, and all stops to Ronkonkoma.
• A 12:30pm train from Grand Central to Ronkonkoma, stopping at Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and then all local stops to Ronkonkoma.
• A 12:47pm train from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma, stopping at Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, and then all local stops from Ronkonkoma

On the Babylon Branch,

• A 12:24pm local from Grand Central to Babylon, stopping at Jamaica, Lynbrook, Rockville Centre, and all local stops to Babylon
• A 12:51pm local from Grand Central to Babylon, stopping at Jamaica, Rockville Centre, and all local stops to Ronkonkoma
  

Finally, the LIRR will provide one additional train heading eastbound to Huntington 

• An 11:53am local from Grand Central to Huntington, stopping at Jamaica, and all stops from New Hyde Park through Huntington

Metro-North 

On the Hudson Line, Metro-North will provide a couple of additional trains into Manhattan for the parade: 

• A 4:54am train from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central, making all local stops to Croton-Harmon, Ossining, Tarrytown, Harlem-125 St, and Grand Central

• A 5:24am train from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central, making all local stops to Croton-Harmon, Ossining, Tarrytown, Harlem-125 St, and Grand Central

• A 6:24am train from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central, making all local stops to Croton-Harmon, Ossining, Tarrytown, Harlem-125 St, and Grand Central

On the Danbury Branch, Metro-North will provide two direct one-seat rides into Manhattan and back out after the parade: 

• A 6:08am train from Danbury to Grand Central, making all local stops to Stamford, Harlem-125 St, and Grand Central

• A 12:19pm train from Grand Central to Danbury, making Harlem-125 St, Stamford, and all local stops to Danbury

Black Friday - November 28 

On Black Friday (aka the day after Thanksgiving), the LIRR will operate on a normal weekday schedule. Train 14 (the 4:07pm from Penn Station to Montauk) will operate.

Metro-North will operate on a WEEKEND schedule with a couple of trains added in for those souls who must commute into the city during the regular peak hours.

They will also provide a couple of additional mid-morning departures into Grand Central on the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven lines to accommodate those traveling into the city for leisure purposes.

Saturday & Sunday - November 29 and 30

Both the LIRR & Metro-North will operate on a normal weekend schedule. Metro-North will operate the hourly New Haven Line "shoppers specials" that run into New York in the morning and back out to New Haven in the evening and run express from Harlem-125 St to Westport before making limited stops.

If your travelling this Thanksgiving, try taking the train. Thanksgiving is already the busiest travel period of the year and this is expected to be one of the busiest years for travel ever. Traffic will be at it's worst so it's a great time to try the train.

LIRR finishes St.Albans accessibility upgrades

The LIRR just announced the completion of some accessibility improvements and small station refreshments  at the little and underused Saint Albans station in Queens. 

These upgrades included a new street-to-platform elevator, new communication systems, and parking lot improvements. In addition, they also reconstructed the station’s tunnel, build new concrete sidewalks, two new Help Point kiosks, more station signage, LED lighting, CCTV security cameras, and a new elevator machine room.

While little St. Albans has long been in need of refreshments, there’s a specific reason why they chose to do them now as it actually coincides with a much larger effort to improve transit in Southeast Queens through the 2022 expansion of the City Ticket, which allows for discounted fares within New York City.

Overall, I believe this project is only a good thing. Southeast Queens, and specifically St.Albans station has long been neglected by the LIRR, and seeing accessibility improvements will hopefully at least partially, combined with improved service, act as an incentive for more travel to/from this under-used station. The truth is that ridership at stations in Queens has only been growing and this should purposely and hopefully continue this trend.

LIRR’s new timetables will go into effect on Nov 10 with one shoulder addition

The LIRR is doing what I call a “soft launch” of the new timetables by releasing them without actually making announcement about it, which I can understand as it only consists of a couple tweaks here and there, nothing really significant.

The only major change to the schedule was the addition of a new shoulder period train to help provide additional capacity during this busy period on the Ronkonkoma Branch:

• A new 3:20pm train from Penn Station to Ronkonkoma, stopping at Jamaica, Hicksville, and all stops to Ronkonkoma besides Pinelawn.

Other than that though, there really isn’t much else going on besides routine fall track work. I was definitely hoping for them to make more adjustments, but at least the addition of a train is something decent. As far as Thanksgiving service goes, from what I’ve gathered, it appears that they aren’t planning on providing any extra service this year to my utter disappointment.

LIRR’s Z trains to make a comeback

Photo: MTA

This weekend, the LIRR’s “Z trains” will make a comeback. Due to signal work at DIVIDE interlocking in Hicksville, for the weekend of November 8th and 9th, the LIRR will be operating the dual-mode “z trains” between Ronkonkoma and New York, which detour via the South Shore by reversing-ends in both Bethpage and Babylon, making local stops to Farmingdale before Jamaica, Woodside, and New York. 

While the Z train isn’t the technical term used by the railroad, it’s the unofficial name given to this type of service disruption by railfans as it refers to the route taking a Z.

These types of moves are pretty uncommon since generally, diesel equipment isn’t seen too often on the electrified portion of the Main Line east of Bethpage, and even more so stopping there. They’ve done the Z trains before and generally while it’s a hour-plus added travel-time detour, it gets the job done pretty well.

For those of you who travel on the Port Jefferson Branch, service will run between New York and Mineola, and between Huntington and Port Jefferson. Westbury and Carle Place stations will not be served at all, and Hicksville, Syosset, and Cold Spring Harbor stations will get shuttle busses to both Huntington and Mineola. 

In the end, while this is extremely frustrating and inconvenient for most people who needs to travel between Ronkonkoma and New York, this is hands down the best option to get people to New York as quickly as possible without using equally inadequate shuttle busses. It’s also a rare opportunity for railfans like myself to see moves like this that don’t happen very often.