A Look at What the Long Beach Branch Timetable Could Look Like

This post was published in 2014 and was a discussion on a series of concept timetables for East Side Access developed by The LIRR Today.  The LIRR published a proposed service plan and draft timetables in 2022.  Read about the proposed East Side Access service plan here. 

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On Tuesday, I took a look at what the Port Washington Branch timetable could look like following the completion of East Side Access. Today, we will continue that with a look at a new Long Beach Branch timetable.  The Long Beach Branch is a fairly short branch but it sees a fair number of riders, especially from its eastern terminal in the city of Long Beach.  Today's current Long Beach Branch schedule can appear somewhat random with trains departing within 10 or fewer minutes of each other at times (including evening departures from New York three minutes apart at 5:20pm and a 5:23pm).

Included in the linked .pdf file below is sample weekday and weekend Long Beach Branch  timetables that include service to Grand Central Terminal.  Peak, off-peak, reverse-peak, and special/event trains are all included.

The timetables only show revenue trains, not equipment or deadhead moves.  I have planned out each deadhead move, equipment rotation, etc., as I was doing this project, and I have most of those moves handwritten down on paper, but I have yet to insert all of them into the actual excel timetables.  Nonetheless, I tried whenever possible to minimize the amount of deadheading, since it is essentially wasted crew and equipment hours, but in some cases, it was unavoidable.

Just like the Port Washington Branch timetable, here are some "Key Assumptions" and "Service Guidelines" which I built the timetables on:

Key Assumptions

• The LIRR will be able to restore traction power and signal systems damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 to allow for full capacity along the branch.

Service Guidelines

• During peak hours, train service will operate on a "clockface schedule" with departures from Long Beach every 15 minutes.  The timetables are also rotary, meaning that each subsequent train operates to a different terminal in one big wheel.  Penn Station, Grand Central, and Atlantic Terminal are each served hourly, with one additional Flyer each hour to/from Penn Station or Grand Central.
• Lynbrook will be served exclusively by trains to/from Long Beach.  Babylon Branch trains will no longer stop at Lynbrook.
• During the off-peak hours, service is provided approximately every hour to and from New York.  
• During the weekday reverse-peak period, additional trains are run in the reverse-peak direction from Atlantic Terminal to provide service every half hour during reverse-peak times (these trains turn off of other Long Beach-Brooklyn trains, allowing for more appropriately sized consists).
• On weekends, train service is increased during the busiest travel periods (approximately 9:15am-11:20am in the westbound direction and 4:15pm-6:20pm in the eastbound direction).  During these periods, train service operates twice an hour between New York Penn Station and Long Beach.  These trains emulate the "shoppers specials" run in November through early January to accommodate increased loads during these times.
• On summer weekends, and winter Saturdays, a non-stop express round-trip will operate to/from Long Beach.

Link to Long Beach Branch Timetable

Peak hour service on the Long Beach Branch is set up in a way that allows passengers on the branch to get to all three of the main electric terminals easily.  The move to a clockface schedule (meaning all of the trains depart at the same times each hour, i.e. westbound trains to Grand Central depart at :35 past the hour) will hopefully reduce confusion and bunching of the trains.  The evenly spaced service also allows for additional off-peak service to be snuck across LEAD drawbridge.  As a result, reverse peak service can be provided every half-hour to the city of Long Beach, which is an improvement over today's sporadic schedule.

While the fifteen minute headways might seem like a lot at first, many of the Long Beach trains take on additional stops west of Lynbrook.  Most peak-hour trains stop at Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, and one or two of the Rosedale-Laurelton-Locust Manor stations.  The hope is that since service is so frequent, these particular trains won't become overrun with the additional stops.  Having been a commuter on the Long Beach Branch for roughly a year quite a while back, I would imagine that most of these trains would be well-trafficked.

Almost all of today's current Long Beach Branch trains exceed 100% end seat load, and the trains are paced starting with the very first run on the branch (leaving Long Beach at 5:35am).  An earlier 5:20am departure and frequent service throughout the rush hour should help the crowding issues on this growing branch.

Service during the off-peak period is typically provided once an hour.  That matches today's current service levels (and those trains that operate today aren't necessarily full).  Increasing service to half-hourly can be done if the demand is met (with trains alternating between Penn Station and Grand Central).  But until that demand is there, the Long Beach Branch will call Penn Station its home and run there roughly once an hour.

During times on the weekend when travel is usually heavier, service has been expanded to include some additional trains into/out of New York.  In my experience, such trains should prove to sustain themselves ridership-wise year round, but if that doesn't prove true, cutting these additional weekend trains to operate only from Memorial Day to New Years Day could be possible.

Currently, the LIRR currently runs an extra train during the summer on weekends departing New York at around 10:00am and running non-stop to Long Beach (the only weekend Flyer).  These timetables include that train, but expand it to run on Saturdays year round (as well as Saturdays and Sundays during the summer).  Additionally, the LIRR had an eastbound express train, but they had nothing similar coming back home, so a westbound Flyer similar to the eastbound one has been added in.

With a clockface schedule, there aren't too many complexities as to how trains are run, so there's not all that much more to talk about.  The peak-hour schedule for the Long Beach Branch could be considered a little ambitious, but I think after some of the additional  stops west of Lynbrook are added on, the service should be able to support itself.

As always, you very welcome to leave comments, thoughts, suggestions, corrections, etc.  They are appreciated (and I think I got rid of all of the copy and paste typos that snuck into the Port Washington Branch timetable with this one!).  The Disqus system seems to be working pretty well so far after Sunday's switchover, so you can leave a line there, or e-mail me at mail@thelirrtoday.com.  If all goes well, I will post an additional timetable either later today or early tomorrow morning.

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