After an eventful opening of the new Grand Central Madison concourse a couple weeks ago, the Long Island Rail Road, hereinafter referred to as “LIRR”, just released the new “full” train schedules, which are set to go into effect Monday, February 27. We, among many other LIRR commuters on all branches, are outraged about many aspects of these schedules, which are outlined below. We will try to offer solutions whenever possible.
* Overall Service
* 2 trains per hour should be the bare minimum for ALL lines during off-peak hours. That is the minimum for any train line in the Netherlands, and it is very effective. Refer to our proposed service model below to see how that could look.
* 15- to 20-minute headways should be the bare minimum for ALL lines during peak hours.
* 1 train per hour should be the bare minimum for ALL lines overnight.
* Main Line (Ronkonkoma/Greenport and Huntington/Port Jefferson Branches)
* The last eastbound Ronkonkoma train of the day that connects to the Greenport train will now depart Penn Station at 5:04 PM (train 1964) instead of 5:41 PM (currently train 2070). This is unacceptably early, as many commuters who are unable to catch this earlier train will become stranded.
* Train 956 (currently 258), the last eastbound Greenport train, will depart Ronkonkoma at 6:24 PM, over half an hour earlier than it currently does, at 7:03 PM. This means about an hour-long layover in Greenport, with the last westbound train departing at 8:54 PM. Currently, train 256 arrives in Greenport at 8:27 PM.
* This particular issue would be resolved if train 956 also departed Ronkonkoma at 7:03 PM, making train 2068 (the 5:39 PM train from Grand Central) the direct connection. This is a very easy fix, and would involve no conflict with other train times, as well as no scheduling conflicts (keeping in mind that there are no signals on the branch).
* More service is needed at New Hyde Park, Merillon Avenue, Carle Place, and Westbury.
* Hempstead Branch
* Westbound trains serving Queens Village and Hollis will not see an increase in service, instead running hourly on weekdays from 10 AM to 2 PM.
* More service every 15 to 20 minutes is needed at Queens LIRR stations to compensate for the loss of direct service to Brooklyn.
* Service has also not improved for the AM and PM rush hours, as well as for weekends and the off-peak direction.
* Elmont-UBS Arena is a bad transfer point because of the 15-mph switch that trains will need to use to get onto the local track from the express track. Floral Park is a much better transfer point (and it should be rebuilt the same way Lynbrook was, too).
* Long Beach, Far Rockaway Branches
* There needs to be more service at stations in southeast Queens: Locust Manor, Laurelton, and Rosedale during the day.
* West Hempstead Branch
* The first train of the day out of West Hempstead needs to be much earlier.
* Oyster Bay Branch
* Service could be increased by having a shuttle train run every hour between Mineola and Oyster Bay, especially on weekends and off-peak hours.
* Montauk Branch
* There is a massive service gap on weekend mornings from Montauk (7:01 AM to 3:16 PM). That gap needs to be filled.
* More trains should stop at Mineola and Hicksville, using the Central Branch.
* There needs to be at least one extra train from Montauk on Sunday evenings.
* Some of the trains using the Babylon Branch should stop at more stations along the branch.
* Babylon Branch
* More trains should stop at stations in Queens, including Woodside, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, and St. Albans, to fill in the equity gap.
* Many of the trains that have been added during the AM and PM rush hours are unnecessary and could be better run on other branches that lack such service.
* Port Washington Branch
* There needs to be more service across the board. Our proposal calls for 3 trains per hour during off-peak hours and weekends.
* Atlantic Branch (Brooklyn)
* Service needs to be increased to 6 trains per hour during mid day hours and weekends. The LIRR has the capacity to do this.
* There should be NO peak fares on shuttle trains between Jamaica and Atlantic Terminal.
* All stations between Jamaica and Atlantic Terminal should be in Zone 3.
* At least 1 train from the Babylon, Hempstead, Huntington, Far Rockaway, Long Beach, and Ronkonkoma branches should originate and terminate at Atlantic Terminal during the AM and PM rush hours.
The goal of the LIRR is to provide fast, equitable service for ALL commuters, but, as we have seen, the new schedules are not equitable for Long Island. By following through with these demands, the LIRR can get closer to providing true equity.
