I'm running a bit behind in LIRR news, since there's been a lot going on lately, but, something that unsurprisingly snuck under the radar was that weekend service along the ridership starved Ronkonkoma-Greenport segment of the mainline will be extended to operate for seven additional weeks.
Back in the 2010 sweep of service cuts the LIRR slashed weekend service to the Main Line's easternmost stops during the off-season. Summer service would run on weekends from Memorial Day to Columbus Day only with no service on weekends in-between. At the time the 2006 station counts were done, the six small stations east of Ronkonkoma only saw, on average, 172 boardings per weekend day. Divide that number by the two trains that operated along the branch each day and leaves you with approximately 86 passengers per train--not even enough for one C3 car.
However, beginning this year, the LIRR is widening the timeframe during which weekend Greenport service operates. Going forward, weekend service to Greenport will begin around the first or second weekend in May and end on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, which this year is December 1st.
During the summer season weekend ridership along the Eastern Main Line does pick up a little bit, but with a schedule that is very unappealing to anyone wanting to take a day trip out to Greenport, the ridership potential out on the north fork still leaves a lot to be desired.
The LIRR is limited in what it can do out on the North Fork, as they only have one diesel set that is relegated to the Greenport scoot for the entire week. Usually, the equipment is swapped out on Friday afternoons when a crew takes a new set east to Ronkonkoma then takes the one that's been out there all week back west to be used elsewhere. During the summer, the crew that runs the equipment out to Ronkonkoma also uses the extra set to run train 254, which normally terminates at Yaphank but is extended to Greenport on Summer Fridays.
That's pretty much it for the actual news behind this...the press conference that was posted a couple days ago is embedded at the bottom of the post. The next couple paragraphs are just a brief summary of how the LIRR could better use that lone diesel set on Fridays and weekends to make Greenport service more usable without throwing off the equipment cycles.
First of all, on Summer Fridays, instead of running the train as an empty equipment train from wherever it originates (Richmond Hill, I think), why not put some people on it and make some money? The Montauk Branch has lots of added trains on summer Fridays and the ridership has responded out there, why not the eastern Main Line?
To make the eastern Main Line more usable, I believe that the LIRR should add three trains to the schedule, a Friday-only one, a Saturday-only one, and a Sunday-only one. All of these trains could be added into the schedule without changing the operating style on the east end. The equipment would still be swapped out on Fridays and there would still be only one set out there on the weekends.
The Friday-only added train would basically run just as the equipment move operates now, just instead of taking passengers on at Ronkonkoma, it would operate as a revenue train from Jamaica. The train would originate at Jamaica around 5:08pm on Fridays. The train would then run non-stop to Medford, skipping Mineola, Hicksville, Ronkonkoma, and everything in-between. Not only would the train running non-stop to Medford speed up the travel time for the people really going to the east end, it would also avoid having the train swarmed by people looking to catch a super-express to Ronkonkoma.
Once the train gets to Medford, it would run roughly half an hour behind train 252, which would terminate at Yaphank like it would normally on Monday-Thursday. Once train 252 terminates at Yaphank it would wait on YA siding for the new Friday-only train to pass. Intermediate travelers coming from places like Mineola, Hicksville, or Ronkonkoma transfer to the regularly scheduled train 252 and then wait on the platform at either Medford or Yaphank for the new Friday-only train.
After the new Friday-only train clears through Yaphank at around 6:08, the train that was waiting on the siding will scurry back to Ronkonkoma and get there in time to represent the normal evening peak scoot to Greenport, train 256.
A train that operated like this would save Greenport travelers just under 30 minutes while giving them a more comfortable trip since they won't have to transfer at Ronkonkoma.
On Saturday's, it would be nice if the LIRR added an extra eastbound train early in the morning. A train that left Ronkonkoma bright and early, at 7:35am (connecting with the 6:12am train out of NYP) would get people to Greenport by 9:02am, with plenty of time left in the day to spend out east. Currently, the first train out to Greenport won't get you there until just after 12noon, and by that point, a decent chunk of the day is already gone. Since the train gets out to Greenport just after 9am, it still has enough time to get back to Ronkonkoma to make up the regularly scheduled 10:35am run, thus not needing an extra set of equipment.
Furthermore, a complement to the very early Saturday train would be a very late Sunday train, which would allow people spending the weekend out at Greenport to maximize their time out on the North Fork. A train that would leave Greenport at 9:11pm would get you to Ronkonkoma around 10:35, and into New York just before midnight. This train would run after the last normally scheduled train runs currently, so again there wouldn't need to be an extra set of equipment.
In my opinion, these small changes which wouldn't drastically effect the way things currently work on the East End could do a better job of drawing riders to a segment of the LIRR which currently sees very few.
I made up a sample schedule for the eastern Mainline with the new trains added, you can check it out at this link.
As promised, here's the video of the press conference from the LIRR's YouTube Channel:
I like that your proposal for Fridays. It basically simplifies matters leaving the current Scoot train alone, and the Friday train runs in addition at no additional cost, yet with better service. It should also run the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteFor weekends, I think 7:12am from NYPS would be better. The new 6:45am summer train to Montauk is very popular, but those train serve the Fire Island market, which North Fork trains do not. But there is still no way for people in the North Fork to make a day trip to the city. What I would do is simply run the 2 trainsets all day providing service every 3-4 hours, similar to the Danbury or Waterbury Branches of Metro North. Compared to the money LIRR is spending half-hour trains to Ronkonkoma for just parts of the day, the comparative costs would be nominal.
The service that would actually add flexibility and be usable by the Tour Department to minimize busing to North Fork attractions form Central Islip or Westhampton. Popular tours and events like Mattituck Strawberry Festival could then be done by train, and use a later train to head out and back to Greenport. They could even do tours via Orient Point, and use Amtrak at New London for a loop trip.
Thanks for the well thought out comments and proposals.
ReplyDeleteWistful, wishful thinking on my part, but what we really could use out here is the return of a station in Manorville with commensurate train service, which would tap into the tremendous growth that has taken place in this area over the past 15 years along the north-south axis running from Wading River to Manorville to Center Moriches.
Greenport Scoot in Yaphank
While obviously better than no service at all, the two Greenport Scoots per day, plus the so-called "Jury Train" to Riverhead, just don't cut it.
In the 20 Year Needs Assessment they mentioned the extension of electrification to Yaphank. If that happens, I can definitely see new stops at Holbrook and maybe even Manorville/Calverton since scoot service between Riverhead and Greenport would be (presumably) increased accordingly.
Delete~ Patrick @ The LIRR Today
The real problem with scheduling this is maintaining connections at KO. A bi-hourly shuttle between KO and Riverhead is easily implemented with one trainset if the connections didn't have to be met (or if they were rescheduled)
ReplyDeleteAll-day half-hourly service along the branch would help, it would probably allow them to tighten up the dwell times between runs and maybe sneak another short-turn to LD or something out of the schedule.
Delete~ Patrick @ The LIRR Today
The Friday-only trains that would originate at Jamaica at 4:54pm also wouldn't have any trouble with the single-tracking east of Farmingdale. The train would go through Farmingdale at roughly 5:24pm, which is 10 minutes after the last westbound before that giant gap in reverse peak service passes through. (2061 passes through Farmingdale at 5:14pm, next westbound isn't due until 7:40, plenty of time for the new train to sneak through).
ReplyDeleteThe train would actually leave Jamaica directly head of train 2096, which is also scheduled to leave Jamaica at 4:54pm (2096 didn't exist when the sample schedule above was originally created). But since 2096 makes all local stops from New Hyde Park to Ronkonkoma, the new train would be plenty ahead of it to cause any trouble.
I think you left a NOT out of the last sentence Patrick !
DeleteShould read
"But since 2096 makes all local stops from New Hyde Park to Ronkonkoma, the new train would be plenty ahead of it NOT to cause any trouble."
This doesn't work since the 424 is supposed to be at Farmingdale at 516, typically more around 519 since its always getting stuck behind the 419 pt jeff train until divide. This new train would have to pass the 424 in the deer park/brentwood area to get in front of it. Since the 424 is scheduled at deer park at 528 and brentwood at 533, I cant see how this would happen????
DeleteWhen I first wrote that train into the schedule, 2096 wasn't on the schedule (it had been wiped off in the 2010 service cuts only to be restored not too long ago) so the timing doesn't fit perfectly now that 2096 is back, but if you were to shift the new train's Jamaica departure up a couple minutes to 4:50, it should be able to get out of ahead of 1722 and 2096 while still being able to not interfere with the last KO westbound. I don't have the schedules in front of me at the moment, but I'll see what adjustments I can make to it later on.
DeleteWhen the "Shelter Island Express" ran until the early 1980's, it left Jamaica around 4:59, IIR.
ReplyDeleteIt had a Parlor car, 2 coaches, with a bar set up on a few seats.
There is definitely a market for it. Unfortunately, LIRR is stuck in a 1960's time-warp with regards to the North Fork.
I also think electrifying to Port Jeff would be a better investment than to Yaphank.