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.

What The Port Washington Branch Timetable Could Look Like

Our first post will begin with a look at the Port Washington Branch. The Port Washington Branch is a unique branch because unlike virtually ever other branch it doesn’t pass through Jamaica, instead, merging into the Mainline at Woodside. The Port Washington Branch definitely isn’t the easiest as far as scheduling and service patterns go given it being a busy branch and the severe capacity constraints east of Great Neck, but it is easier in the sense that you don’t need to worry about coordinating transfers through Jamaica. However, it is imperative that you make an extra effort to evenly distribute trains between the two terminals and to try to allow for easy transfers whenever possible at Woodside. 

Included in the linked PDF file below is the fill sample weekday and weekend Port Washington Branch timetables. Peak, off-peak, reverse-peak and special-event trains have all been included. Note that this is a new and improved timetable design. 

The timetables only show revenue trains, not equipment or deadhead moves. I have planned out the deadhead moves, equipment rotations, etc as I was doing this project and I have most of these moves written down on paper and I have yet to insert them into the actual excel timetables. Nonetheless, I have tried whenever possible to minimize the amount of deadheading, since it’s essentially just wasted crew and equipment hours but in some cases it was unavoidable to make the most out of the resources available.

Key Assumptions:

• One of the first things you'll notice about these fresh new timetables is the reintroduction of the Corona and Elmhurst stations onto the timetable. There's been talks for years about reopening the Elmhurst station which was closed many moons ago due to low ridership, which has came back to this area. It was even featured on the MTA's 2025-2044 20-year needs assessment to relieve crowding and congestion on the IRT Flushing Line. I feel that if they were to reopen Elmhurst, there's a decent chance they may also open the nearby Corona station to go along with it. I feel strongly that this would go along way in providing better access to transit for these Queens communities and help to relieve crowding on one of the subway's busiest lines.
• While this could probably be worked-around should the need present itself, I feel very strongly that the LIRR should invest in going through the trouble of constructing a second track between Great Neck and Port Washington. While this would be extremely difficult given not only is there a viaduct, but that it's also a very fierce NIMBY area, with currently only one track, capacity is severely-limited east of Great Neck,  which is actually the busiest segment o the branch, and this would allow for service levels to be increased to match current demands and would improve reliability too. I designed these timetables in a way to reflect the second track, which sooner or later will have to be built

Service Guidelines:

• At a minimum, service will be provided half-hourly to all stations along the branch during the off-peak periods (except overnight). During off-peak hours, trains will generally alternate between New York Penn and New York Grand Central, allowing for hourly direct rides to both termini.
• During the weekday peak period, service, on average, consists of roughly 20 minute headways branchwide (there are a couple of exceptions). As a standard, the branch is split into two main halves: trains that operate East of Great Neck, and trains that begin their runs at Great Neck, turning via the Great Neck pocket track. To increase capacity, during the peak of the peak, additional trains have been ran from Little Neck, Bayside, and even one from Auburndale to increase capacity.
• During the reverse-peak period, many equipment trains that operate against-the-flow to/from Great Neck to/from western terminals will accept passengers for all or part of their runs whenever possible to allow for robust reverse-peak service opportunties all the while reducing deadheading.
• On weekends, service is increased during the busiest travel times (specifically 9am to 12pm WB, 4pm to 8pm EB) with half-hourly express service provided east of Great Neck, and half-hourly local service west of Great Neck.
• Additional scheduled service to support events at Mets-Willets Point and Flushing Meadows has been included, however, this does not include unscheduled extra trains that run following the event as these cannot be planned, in normal cases, however, these trains will come fresh off the Great Neck Pocket track.

Link to Port Washington Branch Timetable

I specifically designed service on the Port Washington Branch to cater specifically to to those who live past the IRT Flushing Line's namesake terminal of Flushing-Main St, while still providing acceptable service levels in Queens to promote growth. Providing acceptable East of Great Neck wasn't by any means an easy task, considering the enormous capacity constraints, but I was able to work through it to the best of my ability. 

As of now, the best I could really guarantee for the most part is 20-minute headways in the peak direction, and whatever "scraps" were left went to reverse-peak, however, frequencies regularly exceed that especially in the portion west of Great Neck.

During off-peak periods, half-hourly service is provided with trains alternating terminal. While I believe that providing service along the branch every 20 minutes would be a good improvement that would promote growth, especially in the Queens communities, I don't feel like the Port Washington Branch is ridership-ready for that yet, and I think it won't be ready for a long while.

At stations like Great Neck,  I tried to create situations whenever possible . Take in the AM peak for example, in which train 413 (the 6:47am from Port Washington to Grand Central) stops at Great Neck at 6:57am, and a couple short minutes later, train #1315 (the 7:02am local from Great Neck to Penn) rolls in fresh from the Great Neck pocket track. So, technically, you could transfer between the two for service to the opposite terminal or for service to the latter zone. So, while connections aren't 100% guaranteed, it allows a traveller from Plandome, for example, to transfer trains at Great Neck to a local to Penn Station that follows behind the express, promoting quick and seamless intra-island travel without having to go all the way to Woodside. 

Like I emphasized above, the fact that the Port Washington branch doesn't pass through Jamaica makes traveling on the branch more difficult and cumbersome in that you don't have all the transfer options everyone else has at Jamaica, and by, coordinating these mini-transfers at Great Neck, it makes it difficult to provide I tried to keep most trains stopping at Woodside, besides a handful of key express trains along with a couple busy locals, as this is the closest thing this branch would have to Jamaica, and it allows for someone who may want to do the trek from the Port Washington Branch to somewhere else on the island to go via Jamaica and avoid the headache of going all the way to Manhattan.

Reverse-peak weekday service includes a number of newly added "revenue deadheads" that exist mainly to transport equipment for trains that turn at Great Neck, but now stop on the line with the sole purpose of providing supplemental service. During the evening peak, there's actually a nice assortment of reverse-peak trains up the branch out of Great Neck to the point where I subconsciously said evening peak!

I think I've now given you a good understanding of what service along the Port Washington Branch could look like in my new timetables. Feel free to comment if you have any questions about the scheduling or if you notice anything. I don't have the time to write a full in-depth analysis of every train and my reasoning behind it and time probably doesn't permit you to read it either, so, if anything is unclear and you'd like to know my reasoning behind it, just ask, I'd be more then happy to clarify. Additionally, I've made like millions of tiny little edits to the spreadsheet over the 18 months or so that I've been working on this project so it's very likely it’s very likely that some tiny or even major typos may arise, and if you catch any, please let me know of that, too. And finally, if you have any suggestions, and want to see something change, please let me know by leaving a comment at the bottom of these posts or leave me an email.

Interlocking Walkthrough: SHEA

Today's interlocking is SHEA Interlocking, which I chose since it's prime Baseball season. SHEA Interlocking is located just west of Mets-Willets Point, on the LIRR, and is named after Shea Stadium which was former name of Citi Field. The interlocking didn't exist at first, and instead went into service on March 21, 1988.

SHEA Interlocking is a fairly simple interlocking, only consisting of a crossover from the westbound track to the eastbound track, then a couple hundred feet later, another crossover back to the westbound track. Besides that, only the final switch out of Shea Yard is actually part of the interlocking as the others are all hand-thrown. 

I'm definitely going to do another post on the on Shea Yard since there's more I'd like to discuss about it, and that'll be in a future post. SHEA Interlocking still uses position-light signals. 

Well that concludes today's interlocking walkthrough, I really hope you enjoyed this short one! Our next interlocking will be the busy JAY Interlocking, followed by the much less busier PD and SH interlockings.

2025 Ticket Sales Data

I think one of the most important pieces of data the LIRR can get is ridership patterns- it tells you where the most people are coming from and want to go so you can fine-tune your service to best meet everyone's needs. And while the data the LIRR gets (through the train-by-train ridership counts they refuse to give out for no good reason and the ticket sales data aren't perfect, they give a very good general idea of what the patterns look like).

I decided to anazlye the LIRR's ticket sales data, which I retrieved through a FOIL (Freedom of Law request). This data gives a general overview of ridership between two given stations, and when you put it all together it gives a general overview of the current ridership patterns.

I can't link the actual excel sheet I used to put together the tables, graphs due to it being too large, if you'd like to see that information, you can send me an email and I'll find a way to get it to you.

Station pairs

Shown on the top of the chart are the busiest station pairs in the system. Hicksville and Ronkonkoma tickets to NY-Penn Station continue to lead, however if intra-city travel continues to grow, I could see Hicksville being overtaken by Jamaica.

Surprisingly, this year, there were only two station pairs with over a million riders, mostly thanks to the effects of the pandemic. The average number of rides across all those were 4,356, and that’s about how many rides was taken between Port Jefferson and Stony Brook. Out of the pairs ticketed, Riverhead-Merllion Avenue and Yaphank-New Hyde Padk were ranked lowest at only one ticket. Not surprising.

Highest intra-island pairs

This included ticket-pairs that were to/from two stations that aren't city terminals (NYK, GCT, KGN, FHL, WDD, HPA, LIC, JAM, NAV, ENY, ATL). 

The top of the chart was almost entirely dominated by intra-island travel among Port Washington Branch stations, and that's a good thing considering it's easy to add intra-island stops on the two-tracked Port Washington Branch! For the most part, the rest of them were rather expected.

I was planning on including more information and information about the ticket types, however, this post took a long time to make since I had to plug all the information in to make the charts, compile the information, not to mention I'm still waiting for the FOIL request to comeback, therefore it would be much harder to compile the rest of the information, therefore, I decided to just skip out on the rest, this post took much longer than it was supposed to make, but I think this gives you a good idea of how things are going.

How to get to Citi Field from….

Okay, now that tomorrow is the first day of the Mets Home Opener, let’s celebrate by taking a look at “How to get to Citi Field from _______” different places via the train.

There’s two Mets-Willets Point stations, my personal favorite, the subway station, and there’s a railroad station on the Port Washington Branch.

from Penn Station…

Board a Port Washington Branch train (it’s colored red on the destination sign) going to Great Neck or Port Washington. If it’s during rush hours, make sure to check the TrainTime app or timetable to guarantee your train stops there. Mets is the second stop.

from Port Washington Branch stations…

Board a westbound Port Washington branch train (they typically run every 30-60 minutes). If it’s during rush hours, make sure to consult to the TrainTime app or timetable to guarantee the train stops there.

from Jamaica 

Board a westbound train stopping at Woodside (they typically depart from tracks 1,2, and 3, and check the destination signs to make sure your train is stopping there, many trains don’t stop there. At Woodside, wait on the middle platform for an eastbound train to either Great Neck or Port Washington. During weekday evening games, check the schedule to guarantee your train is stopping there.

from all other stations EAST of Jamaica…

Board a train at your home station and take it to Jamaica, may require a transfer at somewhere else (take Babylon for example) if you live in diesel territory. If your train happens to stop at Woodside, you can stay not, otherwise, transfer at Jamaica to a train stopping there. Once you reach Woodside, wait on the middle platform an eastbound train to Great Neck or Port Washington. During weekday evening games, check the schedule to guarantee your train is stopping there.

from Kew Gardens or Forest Hills…

Board any westbound train to Penn Station  (unless your traveling there at 3:42am or 8:40am, in which you can get off at Woodside and skip to step 2), and ride it all the way to Penn Station, then, at Penn Station, board a Port Washington Branch train (it’s colored red on the destination sign) going to Great Neck or Port Washington.

from Hunterspoint Avenue to Long Island City…

Board any eastbound train, once you reach Jamaica, use the overpass to crossover to tracks 1, 2, 3, where you should board a westbound train stopping at Woodside, check the destination signs to make sure your train is stopping there, many trains don’t stop there. Once you reach Woodside, wait on the middle platform an eastbound train to Great Neck or Port Washington. During weekday evening games, check the schedule to guarantee your train is stopping there. However, if your traveling from either station, I’d highly recommend just taking the no.7 train, which stops in both neighborhoods and is a much easier and cheaper alternative. 

from Atlantic Terminal, Nostrand Avenue, or East New York…

Board any eastbound train that stops at Jamaica (not that any don’t!), then, at Jamaica, use the overpasses to crossover to tracks 1, 2, or 3, where you should board a westbound train stopping at Woodside, check the destination signs to make sure your train is stopping there, many trains don’t stop there. Once you reach Woodside, wait on the middle platform an eastbound train to Great Neck or Port Washington. During weekday evening games, check the schedule to guarantee your train is stopping there.

Fixing The LIRR’s Intra-City Problem

A question I always asked myself back years ago was why are there so many LIRR stations in Queens? Why just why are there so many when few get close to enough ridership to warrant their existence? Well, at that point I was on the mindset that the sole and only purpose of the LIRR is to bring LIRR commuters to and from Manhattan and Brooklyn, and that intra-island and reverse-peak customers didn’t matter. I didn’t understand enough about how the LIRR works to really understand, but it’s a good question. Anyways, obviously the LIRR prioritizes getting people between their home on Long Island and Manhattan, and Intra-island, intra-city, reverse-peak, off-peak riders, you get the idea, get the backseat over the Manhattan commuters. 

And while that makes sense to a decent extent, since this isn’t the New York City Subway system, this means that intra-island, intra-city, reverse-peak, off-peak riders, whatever, all take a back seat to the Manhattan commuters. And, that isn’t fair to them.

Many countries in other parts of the world (specifically Europe) have successfully managed to integrate their suburban commuter systems into their urban transit systems. While I don’t expect the LIRR to run trains via the subway tracks as hilarious as that is, it would be nice to see them do something to treat the inter-city riders, possibly even introducing a new fare system. There are many people in the city who would love to have to have a direct rail link locally, specifically something the subway couldn’t do. 

A good example of this is the many Queens communities that live past the final terminal of the Subways and many of them would love to have “some sort of connection” to the Subway that didn’t involve a long subway ride or a even more grueling bus ride. Many of them could take the LIRR from places such as Bayside, Douglaston, Queens Village, Hollis, or Locust Manor, but they chose not to because the price versus service provided isn’t worth it. Currently, if you live in Queens Village, for example, to get to Midtown you can hop on the LIRR, 

The common response to discussion about possible intra-city travel in the LIRR is that passengers coming in from Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and I quote from The LIRR Today, who mentioned a very valid point, don’t want to be overrun by the cities “riff-raff” who would like on and take up all their seats once they cross the city line. And while this is a valid point to some degree, I mean imagine an entire (F) trains load worth of people trying to cram onto the already standee-filled #1056 to Ronkonkoma at Jamaica. It would be complete chaos. You can’t exactly charge $2.59 for travel on the LIRR since if you did, all hell would brake loose, and really since the LIRR is a capacity-restricted system with limits. I personally don’t have to worry about this nonsense as I take the Montauk Branch, a branch that rarely makes city stops, however, if I took the Ronkonkoma Branch for example more often, I’m sure I’d notice quite a crowd piling on At Queens Village, especially during the reverse-peak.

I think the LIRR should come up with a way to encourage and incentivize intra-city travel, without going to the expense of longer-distance travelers.

In an attempt to find that workable solution, I have worked on looking after intra-city riders in my sample reworked timetables project I’ve been working on. 

First, to address the issue of service levels not meeting ideal conditions, I have worked to provide more service to stations within the city limits by having more trains terminate/originate at Great Neck and Valley Stream for example. While not directly in city limits themselves, both of them are close to the border and are convenient places to turn trains. I’ve been able to establish manageable headways by providing additional trains from these locations during both the peak and reverse-peak periods, along with expanded service during busier travel times on weekends. Additional service will also be provided to Queens Village and Hollis, which will be handed over to the brand new Belmont Park Branch which will specifically target these riders, and I’ll talk more about this in future posts! 

These trains, while not running with 12-car consists, will run as a manageable alternative to the subway, providing decent headways all day long.

On the topic of fares, while I’m not an expert on railroad fares, and don’t think I have a workable solution worth talking too much about, I’d propose an advanced version of the City Ticket, except it would be valid during all off-peak times. When I end up throwing together the final book and finalize things in this project, I may talk more about a proposed City Fare, however, for now, know that intra-city riders are well taken care of!

What The Port Washington Branch Timetable Could Look Like

Today I’ll unveil the first of the 14 timetables that is part of the LIRR Reworked Timetables project. Our first post will begin with The Port Washington Branch. The Port Washington is known by the railroad and railfans for being the only branch that doesn’t pass through Jamaica, instead it merges into the Main Line at Woodside. The Port Washington Branch is definitely not the easiest as far as scheduling nor service patterns, but it’s a lot easier in the sense that you don’t have to worry about Jamaica. Since I’m aware of this, when making these timetables, I did my very best to evenly distribute the trains between New York Penn and Grand Central, and I will try to have easy transfers available to the other terminal at Woodside.

Included in the linked PDF file below is the Full Sample Weekday and Weekend Port Washington Branch Timetable. Peak, off-peak, extra, and special event trains have all been included. Note that this is a new and improved timetable design.

The timetables have yet to include the deadhead/non-revenue moves which will be planned out along with the crew and equipment rotations using AI and will be written down on paper. They’ll be included in a separate page in the attached pdf. Nonetheless, I have tried whenever possible to minimize the amount of deadheading as it’s essentially wasted crew and equipment hours. However, in some cases, it’s unavoidable in order to make the best use out of the resources available.

Like what was said on the introduction page yesterday, “Key Assumptions” needs to be taken care of and mentioned before this project can become totally feasible. I’ve tried my best to design the schedules and trains in a way that makes these schedules able to be used whether or not these projects are completed but in same cases that’s not possible.

Key Assumptions:

• I’ve added in Corona & Elmhurst stations to the excel timetables, because I think the LIRR will bring them back into service, as Elmhurst Station was featured in the MTA’s 2025-2044 20-Year Needs Assessment to relieve crowding and congestion on the IRT Flushing Line. I also feel that if Elmhurst Station was revived, Corona could go along with it. This also makes the schedules more adaptable, however, it is very important to note that there is absolutely no time difference for WB and EB trains alike to stop there due to the fact that these stations are very small.
• While this can probably be worked around, a second track between Manhasset and Port Washington would really help build capacity up on this portion of the line.

Service Guidelines:

• At a minimum, service will be provided half-hourly to all stations along the branch (with the only exception being late-nights). During the off-peak periods, trains will alternate between New York Penn and New York Grand Central Terminal for the most part, allowing for hourly direct rides to both terminals.
• During the weekday peak period, service consists of 20-minute headways branchwide (there are a couple of exceptions). The branch is split between two main halves: trains that operate east of Great Neck and trains that begin their runs at Great Neck, turning via the Great Neck Pocket Track. To increase service during the peak of the peak, additional trains have been run from Little Neck, Bayside, and Douglaston.
• During the reverse-peak period, some equipment trains that operate against-the-flow from Great Neck to/from western terminals will now accept revenue passengers for all or part of their runs alternating terminals when possible to allow for robust reverse-peak service, while minimizing deadheading.
• On weekends, train service is increased during the busiest times: (specifically 8:30 AM WB to 11:30am WB and 4:00 PM EB to 7:30 PM EB.) During these times, train service operates with 15-minute headways branchwide and operates on a similar model to the 6 train, with the outer-zone receiving express service while local trains start out of Great Neck.
• Additional scheduled service to support events at Mets-Willets Point/Flushing Meadows Park have been included, however, this does not include unscheduled extras that typically run following the completion of an event as those cannot be planned, but in normal cases, those trains will either turn off EB trains at Great Neck or will come fresh from the Great Neck Pocket Track.

Link to Port Washington Branch Timetable

I designed service on the Port Washington Branch to cater to those who live past the IRT Flushing Line’s namesake terminal of Flushing-Main St, while still providing acceptable service that promotes growth to those who live in Queens. 

As of now, the best I could guarantee was 20-minute headways sustained in the peak direction, however, frequencies regularly exceed that, especially on the busier portions of the branch. 

During off-peak periods, half-hourly service is provided with trains alternating terminals. 

At stations like Great Neck, I tried whenever possible in situations where two trains depart within minutes of each other to operate to different terminals. Take the AM peak period, for example, in which train 413 (the 6:47am train from Port Washington to Grand Central) stops at Great Neck at 6:57am. A couple of minutes later, train 1315 (the 7:02am local from Great Neck to Penn Station) rolls in. So, while connections aren’t guaranteed, it allows a traveller from Plandome, for example, to transfer trains at Great Neck to the local to Penn Station that follows behind the express, promoting quick intra-island travel and allowing for quick transfers. 

Like I emphasized above, the fact that the Port Washington Branch doesn’t stop at Jamaica makes traveling on the branch much more difficult, and by coordinating little “mini-transfers” at Great Neck, that makes things much easier. I tried to keep most trains stopping at Woodside, besides some of the major express trains as it allows for people to easily get to the terminal of their choice, and it also allows for someone who might want to travel to somewhere else on the island to avoid the headache of having to go all the way into Manhattan.

Reverse-peak weekday service includes a number of “revenue deadheads” that exist mainly to transport equipment for trains that turn at Great Neck, but now stop on the line just to provide supplemental service. Some of the deadheads that don’t run as revenue trains, however, have actually been kept in the schedule as Mets Extras that run when the Mets play evening games at home.  During the evening reverse-peak, there’s a notable amount of trains that begin out of Great Neck, to the point where I by accident said evening rush! I was also able to sneak an additional train out of Bayside, too.

I think I’ve now given you a good understanding of how Port Washington Branch service could look like on these new timetables. Feel free to comment if you have any questions about the scheduling or if you notice something. Time does not permit me to write an in-depth analysis of every train and probably doesn’t permit you to read it, either, so if anything is unclear or you’d like to know my reasoning behind something, please just ask. Additionally, I’ve made millions of tiny edits to the excel spreadsheet over the 11 or so months I’ve been working on this branch’s timetables so it’s likely that some tiny (or major) typos will arise, and if you catch any, please let me know of that, too. And finally, if you have any suggestions, and want to see something changed, please let me know by leaving a comment at the bottom of these posts or you leave me an email me at gavin.s.wilcox@gmail.com.

View an index of all the other sample timetables, the post about those timetables, and revision history, right here.

The Great Neck Pocket Track

The Great Neck Pocket Track is an important piece of rail infrastructure (argued to be the most important infrastructure piece). The pocket track is what gives the Port Washington Branch a good boost during rush hours.

The Port Washington Branch, like most branches of the LIRR, is double-tracked for a lot of its length, however, that double tracking is reduced  to a single-track line at NECK interlocking, just east of Great Neck. This single tracked line is probably the worst bottleneck in the entire system. By substantially limiting the amount of trains that can get to Port Washington and turn back west and vice versa, the single track segment could paralyze the entire line if not for the pocket track.

The main problem here is Port Washington Yard. Basically, the LIRR doesn’t have enough room in Port Washington to store the amount of trains needed, and NIMBY’s won’t let them add any more. So basically, once the yard fills up, the LIRR has no choice but to run trains back west, but how do you do that if the line is single-tracked? Well, they have to stop eastbound service to allow enough time to let some of the pressure off the yard. If the LIRR could boost capacity to include even just an additional 2 yard tracks in Port Washington yard, it would help a lot, but they can’t, so, we’re stuck with what we have.

The pocket tracks allows the LIRR to split the line into two segments: Main St to Great Neck and Great Neck (or Bayside) to Port Washington. By running some trains express along the portion between Flushing and Bayside/Great Neck during rush hours as “outer zone” trains and having some trains terminate at Great Neck as “inner zone trains” not only does it fulfill capacity, but it also distributes the loads, and allows for smart terminal management. The thing is, without the Great Neck Pocket Track, the LIRR would have to cut 16 trains from the schedule and make all the trains local! 

As you can imagine, that wouldn’t end well. But then, The Great Neck Pocket track steps in to save the day. The pocket tracks allows the LIRR to get trains out of the way and turn them back west in order to not clog up Port Washington yard. So, the pocket track is in a great location, it allows for trains to turn without being in the way of thru-trains to Port Washington, and it allows the busier stations west-of Great Neck to get the full advantage of double tracking.

I’ll be talking much more about the Port Washington Branch soon, so stay tuned! 

The Great Port Washington Branch Terminal Mess of 2023

In today’s post, I will be telling a tale of LIRR scheduling— a story that is crazy on many levels (well, not really)

It all started when the LIRR noticed ridership feedback suggesting people wanted more express trains to Penn Station, so with the fourth round of major changes to the timetables came GO 203- which had quite a lot in store for the Port Washington Branch! The LIRR announced that based on “community feedback”, they’d be making several changes to morning rush hour service to provide more express trains from Nassau County to Penn Station.

They announced these changes on the Port Washington Branch:

• Train 415, the 6:47am from Port Washington to Grand Central would be renumbered to train 315, would depart 5 minutes earlier at 6:42am, and be rerouted to Penn Station. This train would also now run express from Great Neck to Mets-Willets Point, dropping stops at Little Neck, Douglaston, and Bayside. Riders at these local stations would either have to depart 29 minutes earlier or 5 minutes later. Riders for Grand Central would either have to depart 32 minutes earlier or arrive 42 minutes later. 
• Train 1413 (the 6:28a from Great Neck to Grand Central) would add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to fill the gap in service. 
• Train 1315 (the 7:03a from Great Neck to Penn Station) would depart 1 minute earlier at 7:02am and add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to the fill the gap in service. 
• Train 419, the 7:19am from Port Washington to Penn Station would be renumbered to train 319 and would run non-stop from Great Neck to Penn Station arriving there at 7:54am. This train would no longer stop at Little Neck, Douglaston, or Bayside. Riders looking to travel to Grand Central would have either have to depart 37 minutes earlier and transfer at Great Neck and Woodside or drop back at Great Neck to a local train and arrive 12 minutes later. 
• Train 1319, the 7:38am train from Little Neck to Penn Station would be renumbered to train 1419, would add a stop at Great Neck at 7:35am, and also be rerouted to Grand Central. Riders looking for Penn Station would either need to depart 33 minutes earlier or arrive 43 minutes later.

Now, chances are, after reading this, your wondering whether or not this was really a good idea. And, I can assure you, it wasn’t.

The LIRR claimed they gutted all morning rush hour service to Grand Central based on calls from riders for more fast express trains to Penn Station. But, the truth is, the LIRR still cannot understand that commuters want more trains, not the reshuffling of existing trains. And as you can see, this made riders furious.

For riders traveling via the North Shore to Penn Station during the morning rush, this new GO offered 9 PEAK trains (8 direct, 1 transfer at Woodside, and 2 useless trains with no connections). For those unlucky travelers looking to get from the North Shore to New York via Grand Central, the November service plan offered riders from the busiest part of the Port Washington Branch just 6 trains— one of which only 3 of those were direct, and 3 of those require transfers. The other 55 were useless with no viable connections.

One of the main issues of that service change was the fact that of these trains, 7 don’t even have viable connections! If your going to run more trains to one terminal, at the least almost all those trains should have viable connections to the other terminal. The fact that the Port Washington Branch doesn’t pass through Jamaica had actually been celebrated until East Side Access, when it became a big problem. Without Jamaica, Port Washington Branch riders have many less transfer opportunities. In many cases, their only options are to either drop back to an earlier train on the Port Washington Branch (i.e drop back to a local train at Great Neck or Bayside) or make a very irritating up-and-over at Woodside. The first case is normally the better option but it adds lots of travel time since not only do you have to sit through all those annoying local stops, but you also have to wait out in the cold, snow, rain, sleet, heat, etc.

Soon afterwards, the LIRR riders noticed how badly things were getting and demanded changes. A Change.org petition was started on October 26, 2023 to run more trains to Grand Central and got over 1,000 signatures. However, the LIRR ignored this and my guess for this is that they wanted to see the damage being done before they decided to correct it.

One frustrated rider recorded the nonsense and frustration onboard the 7:19am train right after the November 2023 service changes began. Feat. a trainload full of cold and pissed passengers disembarking onto the cold platform at Great Neck to wait for the local while their 12-car train that was nearly empty pulled away. If you’d like to view the video, here’s the link.

Now, for the part of the tale that will keep you on the edge of your seats (not really). The LIRR decided to schedule two express trains from Port Washington to Penn Station 5 minutes apart!!!!!! These trains, 315 and 319 would depart at 7:14 and 7:19am respectively, and only the second one had a 6-minute wait for a Great-Neck local connection. When’s the next train you ask? 36 minutes later. And yet the LIRR boasted about how it’s new schedules would make wait times more consistent across the rush hour.

To make matters worse, this second 7:19am train still ran with 12 cars and barley averaged 15-20% loads after people got off at Great Neck to transfer to other trains. And spoiler, even to this day, I still quite often see this train with barely anyone on it thanks to how close they are.

@LIRR congrats, you’re running a virtually empty 12 car westbound 7:19am express train from PW to Penn just 5 minutes after another Penn bound express departed! This as the GCM bound is packed after the GN xfer. This is absurd. Please explain your rationale. pic.twitter.com/vF5wTY4zM7

— Biz (@ebisman) November 13, 2023

After mounting pressure from local officials including one of the NYS senators, the LIRR finally reverted two of those trains to go back to Grand Central. 

Of those changes, these are the ones that have been modified or reverted:

• Train 415, the 6:47am from Port Washington to Grand Central would be renumbered to train 315, would depart 5 minutes earlier at 6:42am, and be rerouted to Penn Station. This train would also now run express from Great Neck to Mets-Willets Point, dropping stops at Little Neck, Douglaston, and Bayside. Riders at these local stations would either have to depart 29 minutes earlier or 5 minutes later. Riders for Grand Central would either have to depart 32 minutes earlier or arrive 42 minutes later. 
• Train 1413 (the 6:28a from Great Neck to Grand Central) would add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to fill the gap in service.
• Train 1315 (the 7:03a from Great Neck to Penn Station) would depart 1 minute earlier at 7:02am and add stops in Little Neck and Douglaston to the fill the gap in service.
• Train 419, the 7:19am from Port Washington to Grand Central would be renumbered to train 319 and would run non-stop from Great Neck to Penn Station arriving there at 7:54am. This train would no longer stop at Little Neck, Douglaston, or Bayside. Riders looking to travel to Grand Central would have either have to depart 37 minutes earlier and transfer at Great Neck and Woodside or drop back at Great Neck to a local train and arrive 12 minutes later.
• Train 1319, the 7:38am train from Little Neck to Penn Station would be renumbered to train 1419, would add a stop at Great Neck at 7:35am, and also be rerouted to Grand Central. Riders looking for Penn Station would either need to depart 33 minutes earlier or arrive 43 minutes later.

In conclusion, if this was happening in 2025 it would be a huge problem, and even then, I believe it was poor service planning, but considering the LIRR was still a bit disoriented after the opening of ESA with all these changes, complaints, comments still going around, I think it should be a lesson learned. 

The rest of the posts this week will focus on the Port Washington Branch as we lead up to unveil of our first timetable!

Interlocking Walkthrough: WOOD

Up next for our Interlocking Walkthroughs is WOOD interlocking. It’s not that old anymore, but for a part of the railroad that has been around for so long, I expected it to be older. This interlocking first went into service on March 21, 1988, right around my birthday! As crazy as it may seam for an area so congested, WOOD only consists of three crossovers with two on the Port Washington Branch and one located on the Main Line.



Switches

WOOD interlocking covers the short span east in which the Port Washington and Main Line both run parallel each other. There are three crossovers. The Port Washington Branch’s crossovers, going from west to east, consist of a crossover from track 1 (the westbound track) to track 2. Not to far down the line, there’s another back from track 2.

The Mainline, however, only has one little crossover from Mainline 2 (the eastbound express track) to Mainline 4 (the eastbound local). This switch could be used for an eastbound that is bypassing Woodside but needs to make local stops in Forest Hills and Kew Gardens. However, normally I’ve noticed the LIRR will run trains stopping at Forest Hills and Kew Gardens down Mainline 4 in the first place, so these switches don’t get much use outside of a couple of peak trains.

Signals

For it’s 20th birthday present, in 2008, the LIRR gave WOOD Interlocking a nice little revamp. They installed high-speed switches which must have been the big present as high-speed switches are perfect for operations like what’s being performed on the Main Line. The signals used here are tri-color light signals arranged in a triangle pattern.

WOOD interlocking, like many Port Washington Branch interlockings, was controlled by HAROLD tower until it was closed in 1995. Nowadays, it’s remotely-controlled by Penn Station Control Center.

Neighbors

This interlocking is bordered to the west by HAROLD interlocking and is bordered to the east by JAY interlocking. Due to the LIRR typically running the majority of trains that are stopping at Kew Gardens and Forest Hills are routed down Mainline 4 in the first place, this switch isn't used too often. During rush hours, having trains slow for crossovers is nt the greatest thing when you have to operate so many trains so close together, and it's much more efficient and streamlined to not have to switch tracks.

Well, this should wrap up WOOD interlocking!

Photos: Manhasset (2/2025)

 

Interlocking Walkthrough: NECK

Welcome back to the Interlocking Walkthrough show! Today's interlocking is NECK interlocking, which is located just east of Great Neck, which is roughly 14 miles east of Long Island City. The interlocking, which marks the end of double-track territory on the Port Washington Branch, sees quite a bit of use on a good day. This interlocking, like many on the branch, was put into service in the 80s. 

Switches

This interlocking is quite simple in design, as all there is at the end of the two track line, there's a crossover that sends track 2 to track 1, which it goes on the ten-minute section to Port Washington. 

However, NECK interlocking has an added twist: an added pocket track. The pocket track, imperative in an upcoming project, makes the busy rush hour service on this line possible, allowing turns to end early along the line (mainly Bayside, Little Neck, or Great Neck), and like Massapequa, turn on it and head back into the city. Eastbound thru-trains to Port Washington would merge onto track 1 using the crossover just east of the station, while terminating trains to Great Neck pull east and go straight onto the pocket track, where they can turn around. And, once the train has turned around, depending on the length of the train, there's multiple places where trains can exit the pocket track as you get closer to Great Neck. 

Signals

Now let's return to NECK interlocking. NECK interlocking is home to "old style" position light signals that are located on gantries at the westernmost point of the interlocking. There are also signals on pedestals at the easternmost point of the interlocking for trains coming off the Manhasset viaduct. 

Towers

There is no control tower at NECK, From it's inception, like the other Port Washington Branch interlockings, it was controlled by the busy HAROLD tower, near the HAROLD interlocking in Queens. But, when HAROLD Tower was closed in 1999, control of the Port Washington Branch interlockings was interestingly handed over to Jamaica Control Center (JCC) despite these trains not even stopping at Jamaica!

For the first portion of the interlocking, service is topped out at 60 mph (which is the general Port Washington Branch speed limit), but, about halfway through the interlocking, the service speed drops to 50mph for the remaining run to Port Washington.

Neighbors:

To the west, there's BAY interlocking, and, as a matter of fact, NECK interlocking is the easternmost interlocking on the Port Washington Branch as the Port Washington yard switches aren't part of any interlocking. 

That should do it for NECK interlocking. I'll be releasing a post soon that will detail the Great Neck Pocket Track, and the next installment of Interlocking Walkthroughs will appear next Wednesday on STONY interlocking.