**Please note, this post is outdated. You can view 2014's post here.**
Daylight Saving Time begins at 2:00am Sunday, March 10 for most of the United States, and since it's the spring, the clock is set to go forward one hour at that time. However, one hour just randomly disappearing off the clock one Sunday morning has the slight tendancy to mess up train operations just a tad.
Since all of the LIRR's territory observes Daylight Saving Time the LIRR has to make some slight adjustments to its schedules to transition smoothly into Eastern Daylight Time. In the spring, 1:59am becomes 3:00am, therefore all the trains in the 2:00 hour sort of "disappear."
This Daylight Saving Time side is fairly simple, if your train departs at its scheduled time, if your scheduled time doesn't exist on that day, then the train doesn't run. So, for example, trains that depart Penn Station at 12:01, 12:14, 12:19, 12:38, 1:06, 1:16, 1:19, 1:42, 3:04, 4:05, 4:13, 4:43, 5:19, 5:45, 5:50 will operate on Sunday, while the 2:39 and 2:53 am trains will not operate on Sunday. So to sum this rule up: if your train leaves its origin station in the 2am hour it will not operate on Sunday. Even if that train is due in at 3:something at a station near you, if it's scheduled to leave its origin station in the 2 am hour the train doesn't operate.
And if your train is in motion while this time warp occurs you proceed normally, just changing all the "2"'s in the timetable to "3"'s. So, for example, take weekend Port Jefferson Branch train #7602, the 1:06am Penn Station departure to Huntington. That train leaves Penn Station normally at 1:06 am EST*, local stops to Jamaica, leaves there at 1:32am EST, stops at New Hyde Park at 1:43 EST, then makes local stops all the way to Hicksville, arriving there just before 1:59 am EST. Now the train's scheduled arrival time at Syosset is 2:06am, however on this one day only, the train actually arrives at 3:06am EDT*. The train then leaves Cold Spring Harbor at 3:11am EDT, before finally arriving at Huntington at 3:17am EDT.
*-EST is Eastern Standard Time, what we are in now (the winter), EDT is Eastern Daylight Time, what we will be in next week (the summer).
For those couple trains that did not operate because they left in the 2am hour, chances are that their equipment will run empty to wherever they were supposed to go so they are in place and all ready to go for the remainder of that Sunday. They might just operate that deadhead train either earlier in the night or closer towards the morning, depending on how things work out.
But this Daylight Saving Time problem is a problem pretty unique to the LIRR. The vast majority of transit agencies across the country do not operate 24 hours a day. Most transit agencies conclude service for the day around midnight or 1am, then start running trains again the next morning around 4-5am. So most agencies wouldn't have any trouble with Daylight Saving Time. To my knowledge, NJTransit doesn't have a single 2am departure and I don't think Metro-North has either (they might have trains in motion when the change goes into effect, but they're mainly just discharging passengers at that point.)
Amtrak, however, operates trains all over the country, and many of them operate overnight. But Amtrak's whole Daylight Saving Time plan makes a lot less sense than the LIRR's. Here's what Amtrak does: in the spring when the clocks move forward an hour all of their trains instantly become an hour late and they try to make up the time en route. However, they're policy for the fall when we have the 1am hour twice is just plain silly. When your train is going along its merry way and suddenly the clocks change, your Amtrak train then advances to the next station and then waits a whole extra hour until it's scheduled departure time. And I've even heard one or two wise tales that some people will stop the train exactly where it is when the time change goes into effect. So if you're in the middle of a tunnel when the clocks change they bring the train to a halt and wait in that position until the bonus hour of time passes. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that makes a whole lot of sense.
So remember to set your clocks forward an hour on Saturday night, and if you're heading out to catch a train, make sure you go at the right time!
I was on the Capitol Limited when the time changed happened last fall. Cleveland was the next stop after the time change, we waited it out there (smokers got an extra long break). Why it happens like this (or how it was explained to me) is they have several trains who's entire trip takes days and they'd rather not adjust their times for days out. They want a uniform procedure to not confuse people and mess up connections.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that Amtrak—a system that operates hunderds of trains over thousands of miles for extended periods of time—does need a prescribed, uniform way to deal with Daylight Saving Time. I think it's just kinda comical how they deal with it (holding trains at one location for a whole extra hour in the middle of the night). But I guess their fall daylight saving time policy helps out when a train is running late—your train can be a whole hour late and then magically your arrive on time!
Delete~Patrick @ The LIRR Today
Actually, here's another tidbit about Amtrak and Daylight Saving Time. The state of Arizona doesn't actually observe Daylight Saving time at all, so all the Amtrak trains that operate through Arizona have a special note for those stations reminding people that the train departs an hour earlier at that station.
ReplyDeleteHere's the note specificially from the Southwest Chief timetable:
This location does not observe Daylight Saving Time. Schedule times for it will be ONE HOUR EARLIER beginning with the Spring time change on March 10, 2013.
I always find it odd how Arizona and Hawaii are the only two states in the union who ignore Daylight Saving Time. But I guess if you live in a place where is 90 degrees and sunny year round you wouldn't really need an extra hour of daylight anyways.
I feel bad for those people who ended up stranded in Jamaica for hours because their connecting train to Port Jeff was canceled...with the wide headways at night are you sure they don't run extra trains in the 3am hour?
ReplyDeleteTechnically eastbound trains are timed by their latest possible Penn connection, so it's very likely that the specific Port Jeff train was not cancelled because its latest possible Penn connection departed before the time change. And this time of year, we go ahead an hour, so there is actually less time in between late night trains, so running extra trains isn't nescescary.
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