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.
It's been some time since I last uncovered a branch timetable in my ongoing sample East Side Access timetables project. I haven't forgotten, it's just this past week has been pretty busy with various MTA announcements and the like. Up until now, we really have been covering branches that can have their schedules set up with simple, easy service patterns and clockface schedules. Today we will delve into running trains on the rather complex Montauk Branch. Weekday service is complex enough, but once you have to add in Summer Friday and Summer Sunday seasonal service, it really becomes difficult.
It is often overlooked, but the LIRR's Montauk Branch, (and even through the entire thing from Long Island City to Montauk is the Montauk Branch, herein I will refer to East of Babylon when I say the "Montauk Branch") sees a fair amount of riders along its length. Montauk Branch ridership has yet to exceed the busier and more frequent Port Jefferson Branch, but I can see with my own eyes that ridership is growing. Ridership on the branch grew 2.6% in 2013, as service that was cut away in 2010 was slowly added back and travel to the Hamptons became more popular.
And ridership is growing on the entire length of the branch. The heaviest portion lies on the segment between Babylon and Patchogue. They have the most trains, serve the densest towns, and as a result, have the most riders. Not to be outdone, Mastic-Shirley and Speonk ridership is also growing, despite some large gaps in service at many times during the week. Additionally, daily/off-season ridership on the far extremity of the branch, in the Hamptons, is also visibly growing. Many riders left the LIRR for those green buses several years ago, but many of those riders have begun to trickle back to taking the train as traffic on Long Island has become more severe and the buses have become more unreliable.
And Summer Hamptons service continues to increase substantially each and every year as well, and there is no sign of growth slowing there (be it a good or bad thing for the railroad). The current schedules the LIRR puts into operation are "cursed" (but moving the Cannonball to Penn Station this year has loosened the curse that ruins Fridays on the Montauk Branch, at least a little bit). They still have yet to find that solution for the Sunday trains, and hopefully they will continue to adjust the schedule each year until they can get it right. One of the things I have introduced in the sample timetable below shows a substantial shift in service patterns on Summer Sundays from what we see today.
As you may or may not have picked up by reading my various posts over time, I am a daily Montauk Branch rider myself, riding it from its very eastern end to its very western end and back each weekday. I have kept many of my observations in mind while crafting the new service patterns (though I tried not to go too crazy).
One of my observations includes the huge increase in intra-island ridership along the Montauk Branch itself. I see it a lot on my trains, and I see huge potential for it in other places. People in the Hamptons are getting tired of trekking all the way to the city everyday, so many of them are seeking jobs in other locations in Suffolk County. Train times to their new jobs are not as favorable as they were when they were going all the way to Manhattan, so they drive instead. This set of Montauk Branch travelers pays particular attention to the intra-island traveler and making sure they are well looked after.
In general, the Montauk Branch timetable shown represents a noticeable increase in trains. But this also represents a smarter use of the LIRR's resources on the Montauk Branch. A particular example can be seen in the balancing of the number of eastbound and westbound trains to/from Montauk. Currently, the LIRR sends out one more eastbound train than what currently comes west, so there is an equipment train that runs empty back to Speonk every night. There are also several other scheduled equipment trains which run carrying no passengers, a pretty bad waste of resources. The timetables included below show sample service patterns for weekday and weekend Montauk Branch service, east of Babylon. Grand Central is shown in the linked .pdf file below, however only three connecting trains are shown, as the LIRR's current Diesel Fleet will be unable to enter Grand Central. Peak, off-peak, reverse-peak, and special/event trains are all included.
The timetables only show revenue trains, not equipment or deadhead moves. Unnecessary deadhead moves have been eliminated altogether from this edition, in a move to promote more intra-island travel along the branch.
There are lots of things to discuss, so let's get right to it. Here are some Key Assumptions and basic Service Guidelines:
Key Assumptions
- The LIRR will complete the Speonk to Montauk Signalization project, allowing for signalized interlockings at Hampton Bays and Bridgehampton and control points at Amagansett and Montauk. As a result, the speed limit will return to 65mph.
- The other infrastructure and yard features will stay much like they are today.
- Service during the rush hour represents a significant increase over current service today allowing service levels to meet the growing commuter ridership along the branch, particularly between Babylon and Patchogue.
- AM Peak service operates with a mixture of trains originating at either Patchogue or Speonk. Trains from Speonk typically originate out of Speonk Yard, and Patchogue trains usually turn from eastbound trains at Patchogue. Service vaguely resembles what is on the Montauk Branch timetable today, though there have been adjustments to stopping patterns and additional trains have been added in. The branch keeps two westbound Dual-Modes in the morning, one following the same schedule as today, the second one leaving slightly earlier, and running non-stop from Bay Shore to Penn Station, speeding travel times for many who ride the branch to Manhattan. Two trains now originate in Montauk in the morning rush to match the two trains that terminate there in the evenings (thus removing the wasteful deadhead each and every night). In addition, the two trains to/from Montauk provide express service for Speonk, Mastic-Shirley, and Patchogue travelers, speeding their commuters by up to 10 minutes.
- During the evening peak period, service is structured slightly differently (is less clockface), but train service should still be able to adequately serve the needs of branch riders. Seasonal service to the Hamptons is included, and service east of Speonk is kept more evenly spaced to reduce delays. An addition of a second evening Dual Mode will allow the LIRR to use the limited DM equipment more wisely over the course of the day. The new train departs New York at 4:17pm, stops at Jamaica, Merrick/Bellmore/Wantagh to augment service there, then Babylon and all stops to Speonk. The second dual mode leaves a few minutes later than it does today, and I have shifted each of the east of Speonk trains to be more evenly spaced.
- A noticeable addition to the timetables are several east-end scoots that run from either Patchogue or Speonk to Montauk. These scoots resemble the South Fork Commuter Connection service ran during a particularly bad highway construction season on the east end a couple of years ago. These trains will strongly encourage intra-island travel east of Patchogue. While the scoots are targeted at intra-island travelers, there are times when trains line up conveniently, allowing passengers from western destinations to transfer. More on these trains later.
- During the midday off-peak period, hourly service is sustained to Patchogue with more or less bi-hourly service to Speonk. This meets current service standards as far as Patchogue and is a measurable improvement for service at Bellport, Mastic-Shirley, and Speonk, as the current schedules feature some nasty gaps in midday service out there.
- Midday Montauk Branch service is structured to allow equipment from Montauk trains to cycle onto Oyster Bay and Port Jefferson trains so those trains can be serviced, fueled, etc., and crews can be rotated out to Speonk so they can have meal periods without having to miss whole headways (turnaround times at all terminals was kept short to maximize equipment at all places except Speonk. Each crew can make their way out to Speonk where they can have their meal period without having to miss a whole headway). During the midday period one Patchogue round-trip and one Montauk round-trip operate with dual modes that come off Port Jefferson trains, so by just chance of equipment, there are those trains that operate to/from Penn Station. (I have a feeling 2711 would be pretty popular in the summer).
- During the reverse peak period, trains that would otherwise be equipment trains accept passengers along their way. In particular, there are several "revenue deadheads" out of Jamaica Storage Yard in the morning. These trains also make select stops on the Babylon Branch to supplement service there.
- On weekends, train service is provided once every 90 minutes between Speonk and Hunterspoint Avenue all day. Train service operates out to Montauk in a similar way as to how it does today, with lots of trains going out before lots of trains come back, however the addition of an extra round-trip to Montauk on weekends fills otherwise large gaps in service.
- Summer Hamptons service is discussed below.
In terms of equipment, it should be readily apparent to many that the LIRR is operating with a significant shortage in diesel equipment. The current fleet is no way capable of handling current service levels, and there is no room for ridership growth with the current fleet's limitations. That being said, all of the diesel branch schedules I have written can be done with the existing equipment levels. It was no easy task, and there is certainly not a significant shop margin, so Hillside and Morris Park are going to have to get stuff in and out very quickly, but it is doable. More diesel equipment should be very high up on the LIRR's priority list, as it is desperately needed.
I suppose the best way to do this is to go page-by-page, from left-to-right across the timetables. On the weekday westbound panel, two additional early-morning trains have been added out of Speonk. This closes the gap between the current last and first trains, as well as helps to balance equipment and keep trains that would otherwise be sitting in the yard out moving passengers.
Morning peak service along the branch is structured much like it is today. Service is provided between Patchogue and Babylon every 20 minutes or so. There are two trains that terminate at Jamaica in the morning, as this allows for smarter use of equipment. (For example, train 2601 turns in Jamaica to makeup the first morning eastbound train to Oyster Bay.) The first dual mode train out of Speonk leaves at 5:08 am and follows the same schedule as today's DM. The second DM operates slightly earlier, and runs non-stop from Bay Shore to Penn Station.
There are two trains out of Montauk in the morning, one at 5:00am and one at 6:00am. The trains make stops to Mastic-Shirley, then make Patchogue and Jamaica only before heading to Hunterspoint Avenue and Long Island City. Not only will these trains provide service form the east end communities, they will also allow for express service out of Speonk, Mastic-Shirley, and Patchogue, speeding the commutes of those riders by up to 10 minutes. Intra-island travelers are not forgotten, as trains are timed to allow for easy connections from the Montauk trains/Speonk expresses to local trains on the same platform at Patchogue.
Furthermore, just like I have built up service on the Hempstead Branch in the hope of drawing riders off the incredibly busy Ronkonkoma trains, increased service on the Montauk Branch, particularly west of Patchogue, could help draw riders off the crowded Ronkonkoma trains and to their home diesel branch. Today, many people drive from communities along the Montauk Branch up to Mainline stations because the Montauk diesel service stinks compared to what they can get at one of the Mainline stations. It is clear that additional Mainline capacity will be a long way off thanks to NIBMYism, but building up service on the surrounding branches, particularly the Montauk Branch which doesn't have to involve the Mainline at all, can be a good enough solution to relieve the severe crowding on the Ronkonkoma Branch that is experienced today (and will be experienced for the foreseeable future).
There is also a pretty funny-looking train in the morning rush, train 2763. This train originates in Speonk, makes local stops to Babylon, then operates up the Central Branch, makes all local stops on the Mainline between Bethpage and Floral Park, before operating to Belmont Park via the wye track there. This train is perfectly timed to encourage intra-island travelers to places like Bay Shore, Hicksville, and Mineola. The train operates to Belmont Park so it doesn't get completely overrun making all local stops from Speonk to Floral Park. The LIRR's favorite group of travelers, the Manhattan commuters, aren't left out, though, as they have the option to transfer to an electric express train headed to Grand Central at Babylon. The equipment for this train turns for train 1929 out of Belmont Park to Long Island City where it gets mixed back in with the diesel pool (so it would be possible to ride the train all the way to the city, but you'd spend 20 extra minutes at Belmont Park on your way).
Departing Montauk at 7:00am is the first of the east end scoots. Like I mentioned above, these scoots resemble the South Fork Commuter Connection trains that were run several summers ago. The scoots start out of Montauk in the morning and bounce back-and-forth between Patchogue/Speonk and Montauk supplementing the regular service and promoting intra-island travel. This particular train makes local stops to Patchogue, and is timed to allow riders to arrive at each of those stations in time for a regular start to their workday. This train is replaced by train 2707 on Summer Mondays, and this train will continue west of Patchogue to Sayville, Bay Shore, Babylon, Hunterspoint Avenue and Long Island City to bring seasonal travelers back towards the city.
Midday service on the Montauk Branch is comprised of hourly trains as far as Patchogue, with every other train continuing to Speonk. This provides service bi-hourly or better for the entire day and fills many gaps that are in excess of three hours in today's current schedule. Midday trains that terminate in Patchogue turn right around and head west, through trains that terminate in Speonk provide longer layovers. Speonk is the one diesel terminal (except for perhaps LIC) that I have kept longer layovers. Having tight turns at all of the other terminals allows for equipment to be used to the best of its ability (and I will talk about equipment in a short while). However, all crews typically get a 35-minute meal period at some point during their schedule. In many cases, meal periods result in crews having to miss entire headways, so they would have to sit in Speonk doing nothing for three hours, and that's a bad waste of resources. The way the LIRR currently remedies this is by having nearly all trains have 35+ minute layovers at terminals weather they need them or not. This wastes equipment and wastes crew hours. My idea here is that Speonk is setup as the "lunch" terminal and crews can be cycled off the other branches and out to Speonk where they can have their meal periods without having to miss an entire headway at Port Jefferson or Oyster Bay.
Equipment is also cycled off of the other branches and onto the Montauk Branch during the midday (and rush hour Montauk Branch trains are also cycled onto the other branches). This allows a consist to step out for an entire round-trip during the middle of the day so the train can have time to be cleaned, fueled, serviced, etc.
When designing the diesel branch schedules, the sheer lack of enough diesel equipment caused lots of trouble. Having only 24 DE's and 21 DM's makes things very tight, especially when you consider that trains to NYP need to be equipped with two dual modes. And the C3 coaches are in even shorter supply. Only 134 total cars were ordered, and only 23 of those were cab cars.
In the end, I was able to balance all of the equipment needs on all of the branches using the current equipment (though the shop margins are tight). All but maybe three or four sets are in constant action all day long, so there is really very little equipment sitting around doing nothing like there is during the midday periods today. By and large, consists are typically shorter in their number of passenger coaches due to the fact that more raw sets are needed, though that should not be an issue as more robust service on the diesel branches in general will give riders more options to even out onto the remaining trains.
In an effort to quell the waste of diesel equipment during the midday periods, two midday schedule anomalies pop up. One round trip to Patchogue and one round trip to Montauk are operated with DM equipment and run to or from Penn Station. This is a better alternative than having a decent percentage of the railroad's diesel fleet sunning in West Side Yard during the day. It's a quirk of the equipment manipulations that will hopefully benefit some travelers who might want to take advantage of the direct runs to Penn Station.
You will notice throughout the sample timetable linked above that, apart from the east of Patchogue/Speonk scoots and a small handful of trains that terminate at Babylon during the peak/reverse peak period, nearly all diesel trains run through to Jamaica or Hunterspoint Avenue/Long Island City. The structure of how diesel service should be setup is one of the major areas where I currently disagree with the LIRR. Recently, they have shown an interest in going scoot-crazy on the diesel branches. Under this scheme, nearly every train from the diesel branch destinations like Montauk/Speonk/Patchogue, Port Jefferson, or Oyster Bay will run to electric territory where they will turn back and run east again. At these transfer stations (Babylon, Huntington, Mineola), passengers would have the opportunity to transfer to electric trains to New York Penn or Grand Central.
Much of their thinking here is based on the LIRR's 1994 Network Strategy Study. As of this writing, that study was conducted over twenty years ago, back when I was in elementary school. Long Island has changed a lot since then. And the communities along the diesel branches have changed an extraordinary amount. I have personally not seen the study itself (I hear there is a copy of it in the Stony Brook University Library, but I haven't been up in that neck of the woods in some time), but its presence has been thrown around a little bit recently. Reportedly, the LIRR is currently undertaking another Network Strategy Study that "will focus on a comprehensive look at the markets the LIRR serves, service opportunities for these markets and investments needed to maximize service goals. The study will be completed in multiple phases with the first phase addressing the LIRR's non-electrified territory."
I have a feeling that this edition of the Network Strategy Study will be very different from the one of two decades ago (that is, if the LIRR actually does it properly and doesn't copy and paste the last one and add in their recently thought up hair-brained schemes.)
I will have a lot more to talk about on this topic, but I will save that for another day. In the meantime, I heavily favor through trains to western terminals over trains that cut back at Babylon. Part of the reason for this is due to the fact that Babylon, Patchogue, and Speonk are spaced just so perfectly apart. Each of those three stations are exactly one half hour away from each other, making it impossible to run hourly or half-hourly headways to any of the stations without needing long layovers and whole additional sets of equipment.
The second of the three east of Speonk westbound scoots leaves Montauk at 3:15pm. It isn't the most desirable time, but the equipment is needed back in Patchogue in time for a 5:25pm departure from Patchogue.
While the scoots are easy ways to supplement service east of Patchogue/Speonk without wasting large amounts of equipment, neither Patchogue nor Speonk are set up as transfer stations. There are only single, side platforms at each of the location, though some acrobatics can make it workable. At Speonk, trains can use Speonk Yard and PT siding to orchestrate chasing transfers, much like what is done at Huntington today. At Patchogue, the platform can allow you to to put the first four or five cars of an eastbound train on the platform and pull it right up to the last car of the eastbound scoot (or vice-versa) and passengers can walk forward on the platform to their connecting train.
Next, to speak on the weekday eastbound service: in the morning reverse-peak period, there are a number of diesel sets that will start out of Jamaica Storage Yard and deadhead east to either Patchogue or Speonk to makeup westbound runs. Instead of having these trains run empty from Jamaica to the Montauk Branch, these trains will accept passengers on the off chance someone wants to go where they are going. Several of these trains will also make select stops west of Babylon (but not all of them) to supplement early-morning service on that branch.
The weekday eastbound timetable includes regular service in addition to summer Friday service. Due to the limited number of slots and equipment, there are limited amount of trains that can run. The early getaway train that leaves Jamaica just after 2pm runs much like its counterpart today. The two Cannonballs run on the same schedules as they do today. It seems to work, despite its troubles, so we'll stick with it.
An eastbound scoot leaves Patchogue a little before 5:30pm and runs for those commuting back out to the Hamptons from jobs in Suffolk County. After arriving in Montauk, the scoot promptly returns to Speonk to allow for a second peak-hour departure from Speonk to Amagansett at 9:19pm. Since this train would be hopelessly fighting upstream on Summer Fridays, the train stays out in Montauk upon its arrival on Friday nights. On weekdays, train 2778 operates from Hunterspoint Avenue to Speonk, then lays up in Speonk yard for the next morning. Passengers wanting to continue east can transfer to the scoot set at Speonk which recently returned from Montauk. The train then makes stops to Amagansett, where it terminates on the siding there. After laying up on the AG siding to allow for train 2713 to pass at 10:40pm, the train proceeds east to Montauk Yard where it laysup for the night so it can be ready for the 7:00am departure the next morning. On Fridays, 2778's equipment is not needed in Speonk yard for the next morning, so the train is combined with the scoot to make all stops to Amagansett. This allows the scoot set to either continue west to Jamaica after coming off of train 2735 where it can be serviced and sent back out for Monday Morning.
A second dual-mode to Speonk has been added to the schedule to balance equipment (currently, there are two dual modes out of Speonk in the morning but only one returns in the evening. The later dual mode leaves slightly later than todays, and like today, it continues east of Speonk to Montauk on Summer Fridays, giving travelers to the Hamptons another option.
Next, to turn to the weekend service, trains operate every 90 minutes between Hunterspoint Avenue and Speonk. Additional service is provided on the branch by Montauk trains. Several run east in the morning/early afternoon, following a similar pattern to today. An early-bird train leaves Hunterspoint Avenue at 5:00am on Summer Weekends to allow travelers who are going out for the day or the weekend to maximize their time out on the east end. A train similar to this one was added to the schedule this past summer, and it proved pretty popular. Additionally, one additional eastbound has been threaded into the schedule to close a huge gap in eastbound service that currently exists today.
Once we move to the westbound weekend schedule, we see all of the Summer Sunday Hamptons trains overwhelm the timetables. Be sure to read the reference notes in the columns carefully to see which trains run which days.
Form my observations of how the Montauk Branch
A workable solution for this involves splitting each of the trains that winds up in Montauk into two shorter trains. Then, split each of the east of Speonk runs into two, with one train making Montauk, Amagansett, East Hampton, and Bridgehampton before proceeding west. The second train would deadhead ahead of the first from Montauk or Speonk to Southampton where it will wait on the siding for its turn. At some point, that train then originates in Southampton and makes stops at Southampton, Hampton Bays, and Westhampton before proceeding west.
This way, if the train has to spend three or four minutes at each and every stop, they only have to do that at two or three stops instead of six, thus minimizing the delays. Splitting the runs in half would allow the loads to split more or less in half, so splitting the equipment more or less in half won't be that much of an issue.
Limited capacity everywhere during rush hours makes a service pattern like this difficult on Friday evenings, but long trains can run out to Montauk in the evening on Friday afternoons with cab cars strategically placed in the consist can allow for the trains to be split in Montauk Yard on Friday evenings before everyone goes home.
The Cannonball's westbound counterpart, which currently only runs Memorial Day through Columbus Day, now runs Sundays year-round to complement train 2710, which runs Fridays year round.
At this point, I believe I have touched on many of the major points in these service patterns. There are still oddities that you might notice, but I have explanations for all of them, so should you want more elaboration, don't hesitate to ask. Commenting below is best, although e-mails, telegrams, or smoke signals are all accepted as well.
View an index of all of the other sample timetables, the posts about those timetables, and revision history, right here.
Sure, I'd love to see them! You could send them along to patrick@thelirrtoday.com.
ReplyDeleteThanks!