The Rejected LaGuardia AirTrain Proposal

AirTrain LGA Rendering

One of the more interesting transit concepts proposed in the last decade was the LaGuardia AirTrain. In January 2015, as part of a $400 million mega project to provide better transportation options to the historically underserved LaGuardia Airport former Governor Cuomo announced the plan unexpectedly as part of one of his many state addresses. It was to be opened alongside the major renovations that were being constructed at LGA.

This idea was definitely not the first to improve transportation options to the airport, as they have actually floated various ideas over the years with the first of nearly a dozen big ones being to extend the N and W subway lines up there, which was actually back in 1943, and since then they’ve floated numerous proposals including subway, rail, an automated people mover, and even ferries. Then came AirTrain LGA.

At first this idea felt like a solution to an age old issue of getting to LaGuardia, however, people soon realized it wasn’t as efficient as it had initially seemed to be. This is because of one major design flaw that eventually killed the project. Unlike other proposals, which aimed to bring people to Manhattan, the main crowd for the airports, this one actually did the opposite going east instead to Mets-Willets Point, where connection would be available to the IRT Flushing Line and LIRR for service to points west through doubling back. 

Proposed route of the AirTrain

While people were in support of some sort of rail link, “the backwards airtrain” as it was commonly called did not gain much support from experts given that it would be doing the opposite of what it should be doing which is getting you to alternative transportation closer to Manhattan. This backwards rail route would essentially offer little to no time savings given the fact that you have to double back which is time consuming. And, to add, Mets-Willets Point isn't the most well-equipped to handle all the additional ridership that would be heading to the airport. The only options are the LIRR, which really doesn't run all that frequently, and, the 7 train, which runs frequently but is often at capacity, especially during the peak times when the most people need to get to the airport. It's also important to factor in the fact that this doesn't help people who live to the east on Long Island or in Brooklyn as there's no easy way to get the AirTrain without having a minimum of 3-way transfers. This doesn't really help people like me, who live on Long Island unless you live west of Port Washington. 

So as you can probably figure, the project was eventually scrapped by Kathy Hochul in 2023. For the better or for the worse, NYC will once again lay silent without dedicated rail transportation to the airport.

For me, as someone who generally flies out of LaGuardia, I agree that there should be better transportation there. While with my experience a cab normally isn't terrible, traffic to NYC airports (specifically LGA) is known to be some of the worst, and during peak times and around holidays traffic can be even worse. 

I personally though would still really like to see another dedicated transportation option, as coming from Long Island the only other option besides the cab is the bus, which many for one (including myself) will avoid and also doesn’t really do anything about the traffic. And while I personally would still like to see another AirTrain built, considering the fact that LGA will only grow and traffic will only get worse. It should be built from a location that is both conveniently accessible by both Long Island and NYC, something that really can’t be said for the old concept. 

My personal choice would be Woodside- for one it’s a convenient 10 min trip to Manhattan, two it’s already configured to handle quite a bit traffic going to LGA thru the bus connections, and three, it’s well equipped to handle the boost in ridership that would go along with it with combiner access to both the LIRR and IRT Flushing Line with both provide fast and frequent service. However, the issue lies in where to put it- Woodside is already a very busy complex and is double stacked with the 7 train running above the LIRR, and it’s also important to note that it would be running above dense urban neighborhoods as well for the final stretch.  

So, in conclusion, while an AirTrain to LGA is a solid idea, one that would be a big piece of the puzzle to provide adequate transportation to New York’s airports. It’s a concept that while a strong idea, has been noted to be too costly and difficult to build for the moment. Hopefully someday we will see some sort of rail link there, whether it be another automated peoplemover, a rail/subway extension/or some other new idea. We will just have to see what happens. Perhaps an idea might be right under our noses as we speak.

New subway gate rollout rigged with issues

Photo: AMNY

The NYC Subway's new fare gates- a pilot program which started being unveiled in December 2025 at a select couple of subway stations have recently been getting bad press after a 5 year old girls head got stuck in the fare gate at the Broadway-Lafeyette station. 

That wasn't the first time either that a situation similar to that happened with these new fare gates, as various kids had the gates closed on them, separating them from their caregivers and putting them in a potentially very scary situation for both the parent and child. 

Janno Lieber, in an interview conducted by PIX11 news, said that "the gates are being tested at select locations and that the officials are learning about them". He also said "the one thing I'm concerned about is making sure the parents know how to proceed safely through with a child", you got to have a child in front or close by to you; the system is designed to child, small person. What it’s not designed to do is if the child wanders behind, five feet behind you, then the doors close and that’s not great.”

The thing that bothers me about this whole situation is that it's 2026 and we are still having issues designing a fare gate, something that should be, in terms of the MTA's scale, relatively straightforward. While I understand it's not easy to test every little situation, like where a kid is a couple feet behind their parents, but in a world of modern technology, I can't imagine there isn't some sort of sensor they could implement that would be able to determine whether it's a young child behind their parents or person trying to get a free ride. 

I feel like this situation should represent a larger issue at the MTA- failing to perform adequate tests. The real problem lies in the timing for the gates; either you close them to early and it creates the potential for a situation where the gates would close on a child's face, but, if you keep them open for too long after the fare is paid, then it creates the potential for people to follow others behind and get a free ride. Similarly, I prefer the model of gates that isn't the tall one, as this will prevent the unlucky scenario where the gate would slam close right in your face-quite a good way to start your morning. However, this creates the potential for the more athletic crowd to simply turn into a hurdle and hop over it.

Photo: ABC7

 The fare gates are aimed to replace the current turnstyles at over 200 subway stations by 2029, in an attempt to crackdown on the cities fare evasion problem. Whether or not these new "fare gates" are going to make a difference is another question, one that can be debated given the fact that many say the MTA is making it "easier" for fare evasion by allowing people to potentially follow behind others through the gate. 

The Future of the MTA - And my thoughts on it

The next couple of decades for the MTA are probably going to be some of the most promising for the system, with a bunch of very fulfilling projects on the horizon. There's also another round of fleet replacements, specifically for the railroads but also on NYC transit

I thought it would be interesting to round-up all these ideas from the 20-year needs assessment and review them while also giving my opinions where necessary.

I've divided this article into multiple parts based off where these projects fall. We'll start with rolling stock, then switch to extensions/capacity improvements, while finishing off with stations.

Rolling Stock:

Currently, the future is very bright for rolling stock, has multiple rolling stock programs have been announced and are coming soon. 

The New Locomotives

While it will be sad to say our final goodbyes to the P32/P42 and DE/DM30AC fleets, both Metro-North and the LIRR (specifically) are in need of new locomotive fleets. It took me a bit to get warmed up to the idea of the Chargers, given that the LIRR livery is so strong.

While the order for the chargers will hopefully fix the reliability issues that the LIRR's current struggling diesel fleet suffers from, unless the LIRR options the full 66, then it won't help much with the confined feet. They only ordered 44. One of the biggest problems with the current LIRR diesel fleet is it's size. The small fleet has hindered growth in diesel territory for years.

Unless the LIRR plans to actually commence electrification to Port Jefferson in the next 4 or so years, than the LIRR should at minimal order 56 of these new locomotives. Look, I'm telling you that Long Island won't wash into the Atlantic Ocean if they end up having a couple extra locomotives lying around, as they can have various uses. Firstoff, with the influx of severe weather storms associated with climate change, storms that have the potential to wipe out entire branches' power can become all that more common When Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, they barley had enough resources to provide bi-hourly diesel service to/from Long Beach. If something more severe was to happen, such as a storm wiping out the Main Line (god forbid), then the LIRR would be screwed. Not to mention, if they are having a slower summer, they can always lease a couple!

The M9As

The Alstom M9As, recently annouced in June, will finally replace the 40 year old and aging Budd M3s. While it will be sad to have to say the final goodbyes to the M3s, which have long-served the railroad, this date is long overdue and the M9A's will provide even more lavish amenities than those found on the M9s. They'll also provide additional capacity during all times, especially during peak periods. My hope is that they'll use them to their advantage to give better Brooklyn service and provide more service on all electrified-branches. The M9As will follow a design more similar to that of the M7s, at least interior-wise. Surprisingly, Bombardier is fulfilling the contract.

The New Coaches

The LIRR is also looking at ordering brand new Alstom multilevels to supplement the beloved C3s. While the order hasn't formally been announced, I know for a fact that the LIRR is definitely looking into it.

Since I found about it back in April, to a lot of your surprise, given my fondness for the C3s and C3s only, I've been very ecstatic about the idea. The LIRR is not only short on locomotives, but they are also short on coaches. All more locomotives will do will allow them to split consists, it won't actually give any extra capacity. So, on Summer Fridays, the fleet will still be as constrained. With more coaches to supplement the C3s, they can do so much to improve service in diesel territory, something many desperately want to see. 

While the idea of the Alstom multilevels racing by towns on my home line is rather far-fetched, I look forward to seeing what comes of it. Little is currently known, but the LIRR should look to order them in the next come of years so they'll have them when the M9A's enter service. 

While it's sad to see that the clock is ticking and time is limited on my favorite coaches, they still have another 10-15 years of life left in them, and the multilevels would provide much-needed capacity upgrades. Guys, this could be huge for diesel territory!

New Subway Cars

With all this railroad stuff, you may think that's all the MTA's rolling stock department has in store, but no, you'd actually be wrong as New York City Transit is also looking to get rolling stock of their own, the R262s. 

The R262s are proposed to replace the aging R62 and R62A cars, and the option order would provide additional capacity. They'll be used on the 1, 3, and 6 lines, and will support CBTC on the Lexington Avenue Line, something that will be huge.

Funding was included in the 2025-2029 capital program, and it's likely that they'll be ordering them in the next year or so.

The Work Locomotives

Along with the coaches, the LIRR is also looking at ordering work locomotives to replace the aging MP15ACs that currently roam the railroad. I personally along with the coaches absolutely LOVE the paint job that they gave these concepts and I'm looking forward to seeing the order for these new locomotives.

Extensions/Capacity Improvements:

Danbury-Southeast Rail Line (MNR)

While not confirmed, by any means, there's a possibility for restoring the rail connection between Danbury and Southeast on Metro-North. It would require a new Danbury station, along with new stations in Farrington Park and Brewster. While it's a cool idea to see east-west transportation, I personally don't know if this would have the highest ridership and I definitely feel that there are better things for them to put this money toward that are more worth it, like additional funding for Penn Station Access incase the project runs late and overbudget. The nice thing would be that it would connect all the lines without the need to go all the way to Manhattan.

Harlem Line Capacity Improvements (MNR)

The MTA is also looking at allocating funding for capacity improvements on the Harlem Line. The project would consist of the construction of a new third track between Crestwood and North White Plains, in addition to signal investments and investments at the yard in Brewster. The goal would be to provide more service during peak periods and to allow for future growth along this growing segment of track allowing for crowding, and more operational flexibility. While it's always great to see more train service, I'd say that the Harlem Line (especially North White Plains, White Plains, Hartsdale, and Scarsdale) already gets exceptional train service in both directions, and while this could be a future project, I feel like there's better places to put the funding, to improve service in another places where it's needed most.

Hudson Line to Penn Station

The Hudson Line to Penn Station project, formally known as "Penn Station Access" is definitely one of the biggest upcoming rail projects in NYC, if not in the country, and this will involve constructing 4 new stations in the Bronx, along with access to Penn Station on Metro-North's New Haven and Harlem Lines. This, coupled with Harlem Line Capacity Improvements, will bring better headways and more robust service opportunties to the entire railroad. My hope is that the Hudson Line will come in the future to

(3) train to Flatlands

This proposal proposes extending the 3 train two stations south at Linden Blvd and Flatlands Avenue. While it is an interesting idea, and it would provide more service opportunties to a transit desert, I feel like there are better things the MTA can do with this money, and the price for it is ridiculous for something of that scale. 

Port Jefferson Branch Capacity Improvements

This project includes electrifying and double tracking the entire Port Jefferson Branch. I think this definitely be a big project, but one that would be worthwhile and this is one that has been requested for decades. Of the LIRR lines in diesel territory, this one easily makes the most sense since not only is there already a large yard there, but, there's also the most demand for it. I also believe it has the most potential with Stony Brook university and I feel like ridership would sink well on it. 

Port Jervis Line Capacity Improvements

Ahh, the Port Jervis Line. The Metro-North line that receives some of the worst headways in the Metro-North system, with some of the worst gaps coming close to 8 hours. This would install multiple sidings on the line, allowing for more trains to be ran, specifically in the reverse-peak direction, which would completely eradicate those atrociously-long gaps we currently see today. On a line like the Port Jervis line where service is limited, adding sidings could improve service significantly. 

Speonk-Montauk Capacity Improvements

Let's now talk about the project that affects my own line, the Montauk Branch. This project involves some signalling work and infrastructure upgrades out on the South Fork. It would involve creating new station platforms, and hopefully, reopening interlockings as well. I personally think a project like this would be worthwhile, but even more so if they would also build new stations too. Unfortunatnely, this project didn't score well, and while I believe it would be HUGE in minimizing the MASSIVE delays we face on summer weekends due to late and packed trains, this project doesn't seam like one thats going anywhere anytime soon. 

Extension of (W) line to Red Hook

This proposal proposes extended the W train to Red Hook. The W train is currently a somewhat unimportant line, as it basically supplements the N train with a couple additional local stops. Extending the W to Red Hook would help reduce crowding on other nearby lines such as the (4) (5) (6) Lexington Avenue Lines. While it didn't score too well, it would mean a lot for communities in Brooklyn like Red Hook and would increase frequencies.

Stations:

In addition to these possible extensions, the MTA also listed a couple of possible new stations.

10th Avenue on the (7)

This proposal consists of building a new station between Times Square and 34 St-Hudson Yards on the Flushing Line. In the original plan for the extension, they had planned to build this station but due to budget constraints, it was dropped from the project. The goal would be to provide another station in the growing area of Hells Kitchen/Hudson Yards. 

Now, in my opinion, I'm pretty skeptical about this as I doubt it'll help too many people and will instead add a additional minute or two to people commuting to 34 St-Hudson Yards and considering the high construction cost, I just don't think it's worth it. There's better ways for MTA to spend their limited money.

I feel like if they had actually gone through and constructed this when the 34 St-Hudson Yards extension was being built in the first place, then it would've been good, but now it would just be disruptive for a relatively low amount of ridership.

Sunnyside Station

Probably one of the most valuable proposals on this list, the MTA is hoping to build a new station in Sunnyside on the LIRR. The new station would also one-day essentially serve as a transit hub connecting the LIRR to Metro-North. I am a big proponent in this project since it would provide an option for people living out on Long Island to get to Sunnyside, a growing area in Queens, while seamlessly providing LIRR employees an easier way to get to the yard, all the while providing more options for people in Sunnyside. 

Elmhurst Station

And now lets finish off with the long-debated Elmhurst Station. Once a station on the LIRR's very own Port Washington Branch, this station closed many moons ago due to low ridership. However, now that the area has grown and nearby lines such as the Flushing and Queens Blvd lines face overcrowding, a new Elmhurst station could be huge for these areas. While it didn't score too well specifically due to it causing time losses for customers elsewhere and due to low ridership concerns. 

I personally believe that if they provided good service to the station that it could takeoff. The problem with many LIRR stations that are in New York City subway network (apart from the city terminals and Woodside) is that they have limited service. Many stations in eastern Queens face headways as bad as hourly and when there's a subway nearby that has headways 10 times that, many will choose the cheaper and easier option. It's particularly important that they provide good service to Elmhurst station considering it would parallel the 7 train, which during rush hours (which would probably be the target time to reduce crowding), the 7 train gets some of the best headways in the system with headways of as soon as every two minutes. I also believe if they are going to build an Elmhurst station, that they should also look into a Corona station since it also faces a similar situation as Elmhurst does.

I will be discussing more about the idea for both of these stations and the potential advantages and drawbacks in a future post.

In conclusion, the future for the MTA is very bright. The fact that many of these projects will probably happen in the near future is a really beautiful thing and while New York transit has it's challenges, the star of the future of transit in the NYC Metropolitan Area is shining very bright.

Platform F, and it’s issues….

One of the worst elements of the modern LIRR has turned out to be the LIRR's revolutnary take on modern Brooklyn service. Platform F. As part of the Jamaica Capacity Improvements project, the LIRR created a new platform, in a way partly isolated from the rest, known as platform F, they then routed pretty much all the Brooklyn trains to use these platforms, running as a shuttle between Atlantic Terminal and Jamaica. The goal with this change was to eliminate crossover moves, and to segregate Brooklyn service in order to free up the Jamaica tracks for both city terminals. While officials called this an "improvement", the thing is, in reality few Brooklyn riders feel they can call it that. Eventually, the LIRR added a couple of thru-trains to Brooklyn, however, I feel very few of them are actually useful. The early trains out of Huntington and Babylon leave literally at the crack of dawn, before 5am, and while the Ronkonkoma train does leave a bit later, closer to 5:30, (and if you saw some of my Ronkonkoma branch posts you'll know there's a mini rush-hour at that time, even the Ronkonkoma Branch train is a bit early and many of the Brooklyn commuters are travelling later in the rush hour so the equipment for this train could be better used later, and at this point, if the LIRR has the logic to make the only thru Brooklyn service run at the least convient times, I think it's better off if they just run those trains to Manhattan. The LIRR has to have the mindset that they can still run thru-trains to Brooklyn, to supplement, and provide more options for Brooklyn and intra-island/city riders alike.

The problem is that platform F is designed in a way that makes it very difficult and beyond cumbersome to run trains beyond Jamaica, therefore, they had all Brooklyn trains end in Jamaica. And while they may try to say they beefed up service, it was actually a 20% reduction, and to make matters worse, before ESA, they were able to match service with capacity, therefore, during busier times, more trains were ran to match the amount of travelers, so capacity was matched. However, when platform F (and the new schedule opened), they ran roughly the same amount of trains during each of the hours, therefore, Brooklyn riders were plagued with overcrowding. Later, the LIRR realized this, and they reworked the schedule to add more trains to match a pre-pandemic headway. Since, in the last year or so, ridership has mostly stabilized and things have been working out. 

The cumbersome up and over...

Another issue with platform F that has continue to plague Brooklyn riders is the cumbersome up and over. Typically speaking, if your someone who's unlucky enough to make a transfer at Jamaica, all it is is an up and over one, two, or at worst, 3 platforms over, however, if your a Brooklyn rider, the LIRR has spared no expense at making you sprint every morning across the entire concourse over from platforms 1, 2, and 3 to platform F which is as far as you can get on the other side to arrive just in time to see your train leaving. Prior to East Side Access, typically all westbound trains would depart from platforms 1,2, and 3, therefore, you'd only have to climb a platform or two over in the mornings and afternoons to reach your connection, but now that most Brooklyn trains board from a platform on the opposite end of the concourse, people have to walk twice as much as they used to reach their connection. Thats another benefit of direct service that not only people on that branch will benefit from, instead everyone will as that gives a better chance of a cross-platform transfer, or at most a up-and-over.

Unfortunately, because of the platform F location, Westbound Brooklyn commuters are hit harder in the morning as the typical westbound tracks 1,2,3 are on the opposite side of Jamaica, therefore, commuters must walk the entire length of the concourse to get to the other side where the shuttle platform is. This often leads to missed connections.

Missed connections

The final key problem with platform F is the missed connections. With the LIRR's new policy of making zero-attempt at holding trains for transfers, when trains are on time, things work, but when trains run late, the system starts to fall apart, leaving riders fuming as doors shut in their faces. 

@LIRR worst day of commute so far. Train to Jamaica pulled in 3 mins late at 6:44. SPRINTED 12 tracks on the overpass. Employee on the overpass told me to stop running, they’re holding the Atlantic shuttle. Get to the bottom of the stairs, shuttle is pulling away. @News12LI pic.twitter.com/v2SlL3qNqJ

— Jen (@BKcommuter53) March 9, 2023

And while things have gotten somewhat better since the first months after East Side Access, this is still an issue with people having to wait because of it. It does seam however, that on many branches, the LIRR seams to have as many connections as possible for other trains be thru-trains, however, limiting the amount people have to do that up-and-over all the way across the concourse.

Everyday chaos at @LIRR Jamaica station. These sprinters made a valiant effort, but alas their Brooklyn connection left without them and they had to wait 19 minutes for the next one. pic.twitter.com/JaDFSZV9wP

— The LIRR Today (@TheLIRRToday) April 19, 2025

This is especially a problem in the evening rush hour as while in the morning if you miss your train the next one is typically in the next 8 minutes or so, but in the afternoon, you may be waiting 10,20,30, 45, or even 60 minutes for the next scheduled train, depending on the branch. This is a big problem and the LIRR needs to figure out a way to fix this so people aren't winging making their connection every day.

In all, it took all of this nonsense for the LIRR a while to realize how important Brooklyn really was, and to appreciate it enough to make changes by adding more thru-trains (and by no means enough, but hopefully at some point we'll get there!)

Late Friday Links 3/21

Hello Everyone! I’ve been very busy this week with both school and other things, not room mention it being my birthday on Sunday, so it’s been difficult to make new posts. Most of the posts this week were made in past weeks, and things have been dull this week so I had to really look to find things worth viewing. Here are some Late Friday Links for your reading pleasure during your afternoon commute:

• 10 Arrested After Trespassing in Riverhead

Apparently some people were trespassing in Riverhead and to be honest they should’ve been just left off with a warning since there’s like basically no service out in Riverhead!

• A Battery-Powered Metro-North

Metro-North is now looking into battery-powered trains on the New Haven Line’s diesel branches. Wouldn’t that be interesting if it came true….

• Metro-North’s Six Heritage Unit

Metro-North has now unveiled its 6th heritage unit.

Anyways, be on the lookout for posts this week as they’ll be posts pretty much everyday this week! The next installment of our Reworked Timetables Project will release on Sunday also, so be on the lookout for that. 

If your going to be traveling on the rails this weekend, switch replacement on the Ronkonkoma Branch will knock out the eastern portion of it, therefore, one train per hour in both directions will originate/terminate in Farmingdale, while the other train per hour will originate/terminate in Deer Park.

Have a good weekend!

Setting Our Sights On Penn Station Access

So today marks the last day of 2024, quite a year, am I right? Anyways, now that East Side Access is completed, we can now focus our attention on Penn Station Access the exact opposite. 

Penn Station Access is a project that will bring Metro-North service into Penn Station. In Phase 1, they’ll start with New Haven line trains via Hell Gate, and in Phase 2, Hudson Line trains will also be able to reach the lower East Side by usage of the Empire Connection. There isn’t much known about how Metro-North will split service between Grand Central and Penn Station, however, I assume Metro-North will go down the Long Island Railroad route by rewriting the schedules entirely. There isn’t that much known about completion dates of this project, however, New Haven line trains are expected to run into Penn Station by 2025. Phase #1 will bring 4 new stations in the Bronx, and one in Queens, and Phase 2 will bring two new stops in Manhattan.

As we ring into the New Year, Metro-North much continue to make strides on this project, and must begin preparing to meet the deadline. My hope is that Metro-North will unveil the new timetables (or at least give us a very good idea on what service will look like) so people will have an idea on what service will look like and they can express concerns on it. I’m hoping they do surveys so they can get a feel for what the transit demand is and The New Haven Line is a huge line so different parts have different travel demands.

As Metro-North sets its sights on Penn Station Access over the next couple of years, let’s hope they meet deadlines and not make the same mistakes as East Side Access!

Capacity Issues at Huntington

Ah, Huntington, the terminal that shouldn’t be. Huntington has an interesting story, like the rest of its branch does. Originally, Huntington was diesel territory, and it was single tracked and it even went Wading River, but service obviously wasn’t frequent one bit. Eventually, they cut back service to Port Jefferson, and in 1970, they electrified to Huntington, and eventually installed a second track between AMOTT and Huntington interlockings. Originally, they were planning on electrifying to Port Jefferson in the 80s, and they even converted the platforms to high-level in anticipation however due to little funding, they ended up ending in Huntington.

Therefore, what we have left is a branch that is unfinished, and Huntington was never properly built up as a terminal, because they were planning on having everything in Port Jefferson but money ran out.

What we have left to deal with is a half-built terminal that barely supports itself. Unlike Ronkonkoma and Babylon, there’s no yard, and if this was a smaller terminal like Far Rockaway or West Hempstead, this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but because this is the head of one of the largest branches, it’s a huge problem. All we got is 2 sidings, and even them can’t support much.

The storage facilities at Huntington mostly consist of the North Side Track which can hold one train and a diesel set; and the South Side Track which can hold maybe 2 trains and maybe a smaller one if you pack them in.

Now, you may think solving the issue just requires deadheading a bunch of trains to and from Huntington and turn them there, however, you must remember that even with the Third Track, there’s still loads of capacity constraints, and even with the trains you can deadhead, it’s still very very costly.

This easily results in crippling capacity in Huntington. While Ronkonkoma & Babylon have to deadhead trains all the time, Huntington barely has enough revenue trains already. On average, 20,000 weekday riders rely on the 3 electrified stations on the Port Jefferson Branch, and that doesn’t count the hundreds more that rely on Hicksville, Westbury, Carle Place, Mineola, Merillon Avenue, and New Hyde Park. On a normal day, the yard empties remarkably quickly in the morning and fills up quite quickly in the afternoon, therefore, they have to run these costly deadhead trains. It’s extremely costly, all but a couple of trains that originated in Huntington must scurry back and forth from places like Jamaica, West Side Yard, and Hillside Facility. This requires extra crew and equipment hours, as it takes much longer to deadhead a train to/from Huntington then to just lay it up in the yard.

I think since it’s Christmas time, I’ll unveil the very special project I’ve been working on the last couple of months for those of you who are listening. I am currently working on a project that mainly consists of rewriting a completely new set of timetables for the Long Island Rail Road’s various branches that fix many of the problems that have been associated with East Side Access, or have been there before. I haven’t gotten to the Port Jefferson Branch yet, in fact, I’m currently working on the smaller branches to hopefully reduce crowding on branches like the Port Jefferson. An issue that will occur with the Port Jefferson Branch that cannot be fixed easily is that these Huntington deadheads will take up a lot of the precious reverse-peak slots, therefore, Ronkonkoma reverse-peak service will suffer.

The one thing that can help this is more storage space for MU sets at Huntington. However, it all boils down to the fact that there’s not enough money nor enough willpower to get it done. They could possibly extend the South Side Track and Electrification to Dunlap Road to fit another couple of sets, which would help, but that’s difficult, expensive, and these days that could take ages.

The other and (much more feasible) alternative is to extend electrification to someplace else on the branch and build a yard there. There have been talks about extending to Northport every now and then, but there is a perfectly good yard in Port Jefferson, and with that would come multiple problems magically fixed. By extending electrification to Port Jefferson, you’d be able to free up more diesel sets, and people east of Huntington would finally get their long awaited electric service into New York. In fact, the side tracks at Huntington could be used to short-turn additional trains like at Farmingdale, Great Neck, and Massapequa therefore giving E. of Huntington riders more express service like before.

It’s unfortunate that very few people know just how bad the Huntington issue really is, but the LIRR has bought some land in Port Jefferson, and people’s conclusions suggest they are trying to build additional yard space there in preparation for electrification. Hopefully, the Huntington issue will be of the past soon and this branch will finally function like the other big ones.

Empire Corridor Impovements

Recently, I’ve been tinkering around with improvements that can be made for Metro-North & Amtrak’s Empire Corridor, a 461-mile route between New York & Niagara Falls, linking New York City to intermediate portions along Metro-North’s Hudson Line, and connecting New York City to the Capitol District and Finger Lakes region. 

Train service along this corridor consists of Metro-North to Poughkeepsie; with all electric territory ending in Croton-Harmon, multiple Amtrak trains including the Empire Service which runs just to Albany or in some cases Niagara Falls, my personal favorite, The Lake Shore Limited which runs from New York Penn Station to Chicago Union Station, The Ethan Allen Express which also runs from Penn to Rutland, Vermont, The Adirondack which runs from NY to Montreal, and The Maple Leaf which runs from New York to Toronto, Canada. All of the routes along this corridor are funded by the NYS Department of Transportation except for The Lake Shore Limited. I’d definitely have to say that this corridor is definitely not the biggest of our problems, especially on the Metro-North side and this corridor does host some of Amtrak’s most popular non-NEC routes, but the poorly-timed and sometimes limited service hinders usability for many people. 

Over the years, they’re have been many studies about upgrading The Empire Corridor to high-speed rail since even the 1990s, however, none of these attempts have proven successful and have just gone back on the bookshelf to collect dust. While decades of officials have been shooting for the stars and missing to fund & plan Empire Corridor HSR, the low hanging fruit options such as adjusting train times, adding trains, and better managing connections have been more or less ignored.

I’ve decided to come up with a small plan for a starting point for better regional-rail in New York State.

Empire Clocker

The New York- Albany portion of The Empire Corridor has the most potential for increased ridership, and NYS should make this portion the primary focus of increasing & speeding service. Interestingly, despite being a smaller area, Albany is Amtrak’s 9th busiest station, and easily the biggest improvement that could be done could be increasing service to a minimum of hourly and moving to a clockface schedule which would make things a lot easier on this portion of the corridor. Currently, Albany has a hodgepodge of different trains from terminating Empire Service trains to the occasional (I mean daily) Maple Leaf to Toronto. At the time of this writing (I’m sitting on an Delta airplane to Detroit to visit family), Amtrak’s service to Albany is somewhat inconsistent with this station sometimes getting hourly, sometimes getting bi-hourly, sometimes even worse then that, it just depends on the day and time. The other problem is travel time, most trains can make the trip in an average of 2 hours & 30 minutes or less….. which is close to the best you can get on the thruway with no traffic. I think that they should try their best to bring that down to 2 hrs, at least down to 2 hours and 15 minutes at a minimum as this would make taking the train a lot more attractive. In order to do this they have to raise speed limits, which I think can be best done in Metro-North’s territory. 

I’ve decided to introduce a new name for the Empire Service train; The Empire Clocker.

Empire Extension

A couple of years ago as part of an agreement between the Metropolitan Transit Authority & Amtrak for Penn Station Access, both parties agreed that they would jointly study possible introduction of Amtrak rail service to go through to Long Island. Unlike what many people said, it seams that they meant what they said and Amtrak might actually be looking into it. As a Long Islander myself, I have entirely mixed feelings about the idea. As much as I’d love to see Amtrak P42s and Viewliners charging down the Mainline towards Ronkonkoma, one of my closest stops, I also don’t see many people choosing Amtrak over the LIRR since it would cost more and the LIRR has been running trains on the island for a lot longer. Now, I’m desperately hoping that if Amtrak further continues with this idea that they’ll decide to join in on the hype and offer some of their own express trains down the Montauk Branch to intermediate points in Suffolk County for beach service to Fire Island, along with additional trains to The Hamptons & Montauk. Now, I highly doubt Amtrak will run trains from just New York to Long Island, so, I’m guessing they’ll extend certain trains to LI.

I think the best & most likely candidate for this (outside of the NER) will be certain of The Empire Clocker trains. Extending these hourly trains to Long Island (likely to Ronkonkoma) would provide us Long Islanders a one-seat ride to upstate New York, while additionally providing never- seen before one seat rides from Ronkonkoma Branch express stops and Queens to major stops along The Hudson Line. This would also test the waters for through running, which would provide outstanding benefits to rail in the Tri-State Area. 

Unreserved Seats

In addition to increasing the frequency of service, I think that they should slightly change The Empire Clocker to operate in a more hybrid way, and to have and to have unreserved seats as this will make this train’s operation a lot more efficient. Currently, this line operates with reserved seats, but considering how close the line is (it’s faster to take the train or drive to Albany then Montauk!) and a reservation system really limits flexibility. 

Unreserved seats tend to be a common theme on Amtrak’s shorter corridors e.g The Keystone from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, PA. Therefore, I think it would make total sense to implement it on The Empire Corridor.

The Empire Fleet

Such a considerable increase in service would additional equipment, and luckily, this article is being written at a time when Amtrak has already received a couple of their Siemens SC-44 Chargers for their state-supported routes, along with a couple of ALC42’s for The National Network. Now, Amtrak is soon to be arriving on the first of their new locomotives for use on this corridor, The Siemens SC-42DM Charger. Not only this, but the LIRR, MNR, & NYS DOT have also ordered them which makes them perfect for being able to run on LIRR & MNR trackage. 

Amtrak is also looking to replace it’s single level fleet (specifically the Amfleets),as many of them are either approaching or even older then 40 years old with the new Airo train sets. Amtrak has also stated that they will be used on most of the Empire Corridor routes including: The Empire Service, Ethan Allen Express, & Adirondack. 

Another thing I’d like to briefly touch on is electrification, I don’t think Amtrak should try the tedious task of electrifying to Albany, as it would cost way too much and would be very difficult to accomplish not to mention it would take forever. But, I do think Amtrak should electrify the Empire Connection, similar to what the LIRR is planning on doing to the Central Branch, which is used by all of the Amtrak Empire Corridor routes, and branches off from the Hudson Line at around Spuyten Duyvil and allows trains to go into Penn Station. By doing this, it will allow Amtrak to operate their trains for slightly longer, which is a very good thing for the environment, and will make use of the Chargers’ increased DM capacity. Not only that, but this will also allow Metro-North to finally provide direct one-seat rides on The Hudson Line into New York’s West Side, which Penn Station Access can’t help with. 

Another option that may be worth considering is adding a couple of Viewliner 2’s to the overnight Maple Leaf trains, as this would be a very attractive option to be able to sleep overnight instead of sleeping in a Coach seat — ewww, that stinks.

This decade is turning out to be a big-one for Amtrak, with them beginning to the replace the famous P40DC and P42DCs with the newer Siemens Chargers, which have mixed opinions,  and their huge fleet of single-level passenger cars, known as Amfleet, with newer Siemens Venture equipment. I think that all that equipment will work perfectly for the Empire Clocker, and the other state-supported routes!

As far as the consists go, I think demand would warrant 7-car trains on the Empire Clocker and Lake Shore Limited services, while I believe they should use 5-car sets on the other 3 remaining trains. I think that these consists should be able to be hauled by one dual-mode locomotive, as Amtrak normally practices this on the Lake Shore Limited and Metro-North also hauls 7 cars with one DM.

While I’ve spent months on this article- I started it on my flight to visit family in Michigan on August 5, and now it’s October 17, I’m not going to do the crew & equipment assignments, but, I think that the current orders should be sufficient and they could always order a couple of additional sets should need be.

Schedules & Connections

A key attribute to the success of The Empire Corridor is well…… scheduling! It’s in all ways imperative for this corridor to have well-timed connections to LIRR & MNR on the NYC-portion, along with better-managed connections to the cross-Hudson ferries. Currently, Metro-North has two ferry connections: one between Newburgh & Beacon, and a second one between Haverstraw & Ossining, and while this is good, I wish there were more connections and more of them since most of them just meet up with certain rush hour trains. This would give communities along the west-bank of the Hudson River way easier access to Albany & NYC. 

A couple of the most viable cross-Hudson ferry connections could be:

• Haverstraw - Ossining (current, just expansion of service)

• Newburgh - Beacon (current, just expansion of service)

• Highland Falls - Garrison 

• Kingston - Rhinecliff

• Athens - Hudson

Ownership & Operation

Like many Amtrak corridors, ownership of this corridor is somewhat complicated; with the only advantage being that the whole line is owned by passenger railroads, so, expanding service wouldn’t require the burden/drama that typically comes with adding passenger trains on freight railroads. The LIRR owns the portion of the line between Ronkonkoma & Harold Interlocking, along with the portion between Montauk & Harold Interlocking, then Amtrak takes charge of the line their and through NY-Penn Station and up to the junction at Spuyten Duyvil, where Metro-North owns it up to Poughkeepsie, and CSX (though under a long-term lease since 2011, which allows under the terms of the lease for Amtrak to maintain, improve, and dispatch the line) owns it between Poughkeepsie & Schenectady. 

As far as operation goes for the Empire Clocker in particular, it could be done by anyone, but I imagine it being done by the Amtrak crew as it currently is as the only expansion of service is to Ronkonkoma on LI. Yes, it could change mid-route (e.g. have an LIRR crew operate the train between Ronkonkoma and NY-Penn Station, before having an Amtrak crew operate it the rest of the way to Albany, however, due to the relatively short-distance of the route this is very impractical and makes way more sense to have a single-entity do it. Now, if Amtrak doesn’t want to do it, they can have NYS DOT literally just bid it out the operating rights and award them to the lowest bidder (for example, Brightline which is in Florida could do it since there looking to expand!) Important to note is so-called ‘issues’ with foreign crews operating over MTA tracks shouldn’t matter since Amtrak crews already operate over these tracks.

Empire & Beyond

In this article, we’ve mainly focused on the portion of the corridor from New York to Albany, barely touching on the Albany-Niagara Falls portion. I believe that Amtrak should put 3 quarters of their current resources into the western portion, while putting all the new equipment into the NYP-ALB portion. The federally-designated Empire HSR Corridor actually extends westward to Niagara Falls, however, current ridership west of Albany does not warrant infrastructure for HSR. 

While the main focus is elsewhere, Albany-west service should definitely be improved to be able to way more efficiently link New York’s “Canal cities”. Currently, it really isn’t all that compelling as it takes an hour longer to take the train then driving from Albany to Buffalo, and if you’re traveling between New York City and Syracuse, Rochester, or Buffalo, there’s more direct road options.

Maple Leaf

New York City & Toronto are two major cities that are fairly close to one another, but aren’t two closely tied in terms of rail transportation. They do well with air travel, with upwards of hourly flights for most of the day and cheap fares of typically below $200. 

However, Amtrak, hasn’t made this route one of their priorities as there’s only one round-trip between these cities and it’s a daytime train that takes over 12 hours, meaning you lose an entire day, making it a non-starter for many….

I think it would make loads of sense for the Maple Leaf to get a second daily round-trip (extending a Empire Service run to Niagara Falls north to Canada). This train would be timed to run over night, leaving NY-Penn Station around 7:30p and arrive in time for the next day. Because the route is a little short for overnight services, it’s not a perfect idea, but perhaps they could let people sleep on the train for a bit so they can get a full night’s sleep.

The Great Lakes Express

I think the Ethan Allen Express, Lake Shore Limited, and Adirondack trains should remain pretty much the same. However, I would personally like to create a new train, named The Great Lakes Express! This train would be similar to the Lake Shore Limited train, however, it would continue up to Detroit, MI and terminate there. Not only would it provide an additional round-trip for that line which I definitely think is underserved, but it would provide a direct train from Long Island to Detroit, MI. I know it’s a very ambitious idea, but I really think it would be very beneficial for many people, and I have a lot of family in Michigan and right now my family always just always flys or drives, and I think while that tradition may definitely continue, it would be great for their to be another option of getting there, and I think many people would make use of this train. 

While I understand these are some pretty big changes, I think that this is a very well-traveled portion in New York, and we strongly believe this has a lot of potential! I worked hard on this article so if you enjoyed I’d appreciate it if you could comment.