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| The area in question is in orange. (click to enlarge) (Photo credit: Town of Brookhaven/Long Island Advance) |
However, the Town of Brookhaven itself is not happy with the LIRR's plans to merely cap the contaminated soil, rather they would like to see the LIRR spend the extra money and completely take care of the contaminated lot. The town's main concern is based on the environmental unstableness of the nearby Carmans River. They fear that the contaminates, which the town says can go as deep as 25 feet, could creep too far into the Carmans River watershead and cause trouble for the residents if not treated properly. The LIRR, which is presumably looking to stick with the DEP's recommendation to just cap it, has the option to take on the Town of Brookhaven in the lawsuit.
This marks the second time in as many weeks where the Town of Brookhaven is trying to meddle in some sort of rail operations. Last week, the Town of Brookhaven got a federal court to prevent the Brookhaven Rail Terminal from sand mining on a parcel of land they wish to expand onto. In a response to that, Brookhaven Rail Terminal president Jim Newell said that the Town of Brookhaven had "profoundly overstepped its municipal jurisdiction".
And the Town of Brookhaven isn't the only municipality on Long Island that is trying to meddle or stifle rail expansion here--it will be interesting to see how the LIRR handles this in the coming weeks.
"Appellation" is just a marketing train name with the same C-3 equipment as every other train. That is not a legal recourse to charge a premium fare. This isn't Amtrak or VIA Rail.
ReplyDeleteIf the extra Friday Greenport Scoot, were run from Jamaica, called the "Shelter Island Express", and had people laying along the luggage racks in its 2 cars, you still couldn't charge an extra fare. (It is evident to me now why the LIRR does NOT want that business).
So charge for "reservations". The "Cannonball" is more of a friggin giveaway than most of the LIRR, which is so significantly under-priced, the legislature demands state employers subsidize it through wage-tax surcharges.
ReplyDeleteA pity.
ReplyDeleteWhat about some sort of wet lease arrangement with Amtrak? Or better yet have Amtrak run some sort of weekend special starting in Jersey or Westchester, they could make a killing!
ReplyDelete(But from my previous questions about interoperability I know the last one will never happen, it's a royal shame.)
Amtrak has nothing to lease, Amtrak is not interested in running their own weekend specials, and Amtrak has no motive power other than P32DM's that can run through the East River tunnels to Jamaica, which are not available for hire on weekdays, if at all, and they cannot operate with LIRR ASC and pulse codes.
ReplyDeleteI would appreciate a reference to the supposed state regulations which purportedly require this.
ReplyDeleteAmtrak runs fully reserved operations -- you have to reserve a seat on a particular train for a particular run, period. It's obviously legal for public transit agencies to do this. I know that many *choose* to run unreserved trains, but if overcrowding is an issue, reservations are the way to do it.
Obviously this would have to be done with lots of advance warning and changes to the ticketing system. But it seems almost certain to be legal.
I doubt that the regulations you are describing exist. I would appreciate a reference to them.
ReplyDeleteObviously any change in fare or reservation policy would require MTA Board approval, they always do. But as far as I can tell, the MTA Board could just change the policy if they chose to do so.
Yes, I'm pretty sure the LIRR could charge a premium fare. It would have to be approved by the board and go through public hearings, but if it passed all of those political hoops, they seem to have the legal power to use whatever fare structure they like.
ReplyDeleteIf you disagree, you had better provide an exact statute citation, because I already did the research in the law books, and you seem to simply be wrong. See above.
The ways that the LIRR can and cannot impose their tariff is spelt out in their charter that they received 180 years ago. Each operating agency receives a charter when they first stat and it specifically lays out a bunch of different terms, and it is different for each agency. Amtrak was chartered as a Class I Passenger Railroad, the LIRR a commuter system, two completely different games.
ReplyDeleteUnder the terms of the LIRR's charter, they railroad can only charge premiums for passengers riding in private cars. To this day, the Hamptons Reserve cars are considered private cars for terms of ridership data and revenue collection. The LIRR's Charter lays out specifications for private cars, and it states that private cars can only operate on revenue trains that have other cars open to the public. The LIRR can make 11 out of the 12 cars on the Cannonball reserved (i.e. private), but there has to be at least some space open for whoever wants to pay the peak fare.
Of course, you can get the charter changed, but that is a very long and arduous process, and is it really worth wasting so much time and so many resources on something like that? Probably not. Simpler solutions exist.