LIRR vs MNR schedule padding

The LIRR and MNR, as both separate railroads, have relatively different ways of doing things. While they both share similar equipment to one another, as separate companies if you will, they both have different ways of doing things. One of those many ways involves a practice adopted by railroads known as "schedule padding."

The term "schedule padding " refers to the addition of additional travel time added to railroad schedules beyond what's needed to complete the run with the goal of accounting for potential delays such as congestion, this is done to beef up OTP numbers

While adding a little schedule padding is always a good measure as it allows for trains to recover from minor delays for things such as minor congestion, slow loading, etc, too much schedule padding is exactly the opposite. It

I personally favor endpoint schedule padding. This is because this will allow the train to operate normally and arrive early to it's final destination without waiting around at stations unnecessarily ,

This is what Metro-North does, and while I feel they take it a step too far as for example New Haven Line that terminate at Harrison an average running time of 13 minutes between Mamaroneck and Harrison, while only giving through trains 3 minutes. I definitely feel this is a bit excessive and just looks bad on the schedules, but, at least it won't require the engineer to either one hold in every station, or, 

And while endpoint schedule padding isn't great, as it's usually very excessive and leads to unrealistic OTP numbers, it's better than excessive intermediate schedule padding.

The LIRR, on the other hand, generally prefers intermediate schedule padding. This is when they pad the actual running times between each station, and I feel this is generally more intrusive to the actual run. Let's take for example the running time between Westbury and Carle Place. It can easily be done in 2 minutes, however, most of the trains are allotted 3 minutes, and this is done purposely to While I will admit it's not the worst idea to give that extra minute on the Main Line. While that extra minute isn't a terrible thing on the busy Main Line where delays can build up easily, it means that if the train is running on time that chances are the engineer will go at a lower speed between Westbury and Carle Place so they won't have to wait around, and this builds up travel time. 

I want to clarify that my point isn't that they should eliminate all intermediate schedule padding rather just look to see whether or not it's really worth it or not. There are definitely examples where intermediate schedule padding is a good thing, and a good example is between Jamaica and Kew Gardens. While in technically the run could be done in 4 minutes,  like the LIRR schedules for, rarely can trains actually get there in four minutes, 

As far as running times themselves go, thew LIRR definitely tends to be more aggressive and ambitious at times, while Metro-North tends to be more realistic, however the LIRR also tends to throw in little bits of schedule padding here and there into intermediate run times.

I plan to talk further about schedule padding more in the future, and I plan to go in-depth on exactly how the LIRR and MNR calculate there schedule padding in an attempt to look at ways to reduce the fat in both railroads' schedules.

Alstom Officially Awarded $2.3 Billion Contract for M9A Cars

After years of waiting, the contract for the M9A cars has finally been awarded. The annoucement came on Monday, June 23rd at the MTA's Board Meeting, where they voted on it. The base order consisted of 316 railcars, 160 for the LIRR, and 156 for Metro-North, and the contract also includes options for up to a impressive additional 242 cars, (180 for LIRR and 62 for MNR) to support future ridership growth. 

The M9As will finally replace the M3 fleet, which if I remember correctly, were supposed to be fully replaced by the M9s. On the Long Island Railroad, they'll also provide additional capacity, and as the M3s can't go into Grand Central, giving the railroad even more flexibility (maybe this will make them be more willing to at least divert service to Grand Central since they're not willing to do it to the more then capable Hunterspoint Avenue).

Concept rendering of the M9A

To me, this concept almost reminds me of something that would be made by AI, but nonetheless, it's a very futuristic-looking concept. The blue front is definitely something that'll take some time to get used to, but these are pretty sleek looking cars.

Is it just me or are the M9As the train-version of Kathy Hochul?

And while little is known still about the M9A's actual design apart from those concept renderings, we can expect these features: glass windows less prone to sun damage, push button doors on the bathrooms, and USB ports in every row. 

The Long Island Rail Road expects to have M9As ready for testing by 2029, with them scheduled to enter actual revenue service on both railroads in 2030, and be completed by 2032 (hopefully Alstom won't screw up like my beloved Kawasaki did!) It's crazy to me that the next generation of railcars will be out the year I graduate highschool! 

The LIRR sent concept interior photos just an hour or so after I finished this post, so I better add them in. The design, which I can probably guess the prompt in Veo 3, is very similar to the M7. This was the first thing I noticed when I saw these images. While I expected some similarity, considering this is being made by the same company who made the M7s (Bombardier and Alstom merged), it was a bit startling just how similar these cars look. While I expect this will change from an AI prompt concept to an actual change, the inside is basically just an M7 with the display boards changed to look more modern in addition to a couple of other changes. 

In all, the future for LIRR rolling stock is quite positive- we weren't even supposed to get a second  as if the Chargers don't get delayed they should be rolling in on the rails in 2027, followed by these in 2030. Not to mention the While it's sad to see the M3s so close to retirement, customers hate them and it probably has some minor part to do with the LIRR's lower satisfaction rates considering how torn up they are, and at this point they were supposed to be long gone. 

Now the question to be asked is, what will the propulsion sound like?

Track Calling Patterns at Penn Station

For those of you that have ever traveled eastbound from Penn Station, the ritual you follow is probably well known. You stand in the concourse, semi-patiently waiting, eyes glued to the departure board, and then all of a sudden the track number for your train is posted, and then, along with dozens of others, you scurry towards the staircase to your respective track.

Photo: The LIRR Today

No matter if you take an Amtrak to Chicago or a LIRR to Mets-Willets Point, every single rider is familiar (but not happy) with this ritual. In many occasions, people question why stations like Hoboken & Grand Central Terminal manage to have their track numbers posted sometimes even hours before departure, yet at Penn, you have to suffer thru this cumbersome routine. It all boils down to operations. There is much much more breathing room at stations (i.e Grand Central or Hoboken),so things can be much more consistent and they can post much earlier.

Honestly, most of you know that Penn Station is a madhouse, people going to all over the country (yes, the country!), are all confined into damp, dim conditions, that are crowded, and there’s so many trains on so many tracks. With trains coming in from places as close as Rahway or Jamaica, to trains arriving in from places as far as Miami, Chicago or New Orleans, it’s very difficult to fit everything together especially during the crazy rush hours, so, one late-arriving long-distance train in the middle of the rush hour could result in last-minute changes or shufflings of the track assignments.

For some reason, even when things seam to be going well on a quaint weekend, the ushers at New York Penn are rather reluctant to post track numbers for trains any sooner then 5-10 minutes before given train is set to depart. However, they’re are many patterns one can observe if you travel frequently enough and know what to look for, but the general rule of thumb is that track numbers are generally posted around 5 minutes before departure. By posting them closer to the departure, this can sometimes help with crowding, especially when their are events (such as at MSG) or during the peak.

Photo: The LIRR Today

However, one of the major disadvantages of waiting till last minute is that people will feel rushed, they think that since the train is going to leave so soon, the best thing for them to do is to dive down the first door seen, that way they have the best chance of making the train. Therefore, people will think that if they don’t immediately dive down the first open door they see, then they’ll not get a chance of getting a seat. These two combined reasons tend to lead to fairly uneven load distribution, and this can be common at staircases at the headend of the train such as 7th Avenue.

Another advantage of not waiting to post track numbers is that one, it loosens up the concourse, and during the peak of the peak, that is very helpful. And, if they do post them early, people can leisurely stroll down to the platforms and not feel rushed since “How can the train leave without me if the train hasn’t even made it to the station yet?”, and if people come early they’re more likely to spread themselves along the platform which really helps with loads on the train, because, if people all rush down the staircase into the first 3 cars, then, it’ll be very uneven and people could get a seat if they weren’t rushed.

So, if posting track numbers proves to be so beneficial why don’t they do it? Well, due to the cramped nature of NYP, there are a very limited number of platforms that trains can pull into and discharge on, furthermore, discharging onto a platform with people waiting on it proves to be a very messy thing. It’s also important to note that not every train that leaves Penn Station comes in empty from West Side Yard, a handful of trains during the peak come into Penn Station, discharge, then immediately turn around and head out for places on Long Island (sometimes even not from the OG terminal) without even going to West Side Yard. And, I can only imagine the chaos that could be caused if a busy westbound train during the peak arrives at Penn after the track number has already been posted and there’s tons of people already waiting on the platform…. It would be a fight for the arriving passengers to be trying to get off the train while the eastbound passengers would be trying to get on to get a seat.

While posting track numbers is definitely beneficial for trains that originate in West Side Yard/deadhead into NYP empty, but calling trains to early, despite seaming helpful to passengers, can get pretty messy very quickly. Luckily, the ushers know this, and let’s hope that they continue to call the tracks to trains at the right times.

Interestingly, a little-known secret of Penn Station, is that track numbers vary a lot more during the off-peak periods, and this can be expected since there’s much more wiggle room + there’s constantly construction going on in Queens and all over the place.

In conclusion, while in some cases, posting track numbers early is a very convenient treat, in other cases, by going wild with the posting of track numbers, it can cause heavy crowding and other problems. I’m hopeful that one day Penn Station will become less of a mess, but at this point, it’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen.