Winter NY-Penn Station Trackwork to Impact Peak Trains

This item appeared first in News and Notes: December 30, 2017

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Updated 12/30 from a previous version posted on 12/5 to reflect LIRR's announced plan:

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While this summer’s NY-Penn Station trackwork marked one of the more intensive and disruptive set of peak service changes we have seen in quite some time, officials had said they weren’t finished playing catch-up, and future disruptions would likely be required to bring a larger portion of the busy complex into a ‘state of good repair’.

While Amtrak has said that the majority of the work can be conducted on weekends or during the overnight periods, when train traffic is lower, they had said that they would require at least three extended, around-the-clock outages of individual tracks to perform replacement work.  At the end of the summer, that work was originally supposed to happen over the course of three separate months, originally starting as early as this November, but that has since been pushed off to the first few months of next year.

A few weeks ago, Amtrak and NJTransit announced schedule adjustments for a second, less impactful, round of work to take place between January 5 and May 28, 2018.  The work to be done over the winter involves the closure of tracks 15, 18, and 19—which are primarily used by LIRR trains—one at a time for demolition and replacement work, as well as other localized renewal work throughout the station.

According to a press release, Amtrak will conduct a section of concrete demolition and replacement on track 15, localized concrete demolition and steel hardware replacement on track 18, and rail replacement throughout the station.  LIRR president Patrick Nowakowski also said in November similar work will take place on track 19.  You can compare and contrast the rebuilt tracks with what’s there now in these photos from November. Amtrak also plans on renewing and replacing three switch turnouts in C Interlocking.  Used primarily by LRR trains, this interlocking lies just east of NY-Penn Station connecting tracks 14-21 to Lines 3 and 4 of the East River Tunnels.

The two other railroads that use NY-Penn Station, Amtrak and NJTransit, released their plans for service changes on November 13 and November 14, respectively.  Like they were for the summer work, the LIRR was once again the last to the game, by nearly a month.  The LIRR sent a release outlining changes on December 8 and TrainTime and the online schedule files have also been updated with changes.  True to LIRR form, it seems, what the LIRR announced on December 8 and what they have had in TrainTime and online are not the same, with a number of minor but important changes being left out of the announcement.  Whether LIRR will issue a more detailed list of changes or leave people to be surprised when their train leaves 4 minutes earlier is yet to be seen, but there hasn’t been much customer-directed communication, with the work now starting in less than 2 weeks.  Branch timetables were updated on the website just yesterday.

A summary list of the changes is shown on the next page, and you can see the attached pages for a specific stop-by-stop breakdown of the changes:

AM Peak: Five trains diverted to alternate terminals, stop or time changes to four other peak trains:

• Train 1009, the 6:56a express train from Wantagh to NY-Penn Station, is diverted to Brklyn-Atlantic Terminal. This train makes an added stop at Jamaica at 7:26a and arrives ATL at 7:45a.
• Train 1107, the 8:25a train from Freeport to NY-Penn Station, is diverted to Brklyn-Atlantic Terminal. It arrives ATL at 9:07a.
• Train 823, the 8:03a express train to NY-Penn Station, is diverted to Brklyn-Atlantic Terminal. This train makes added stops at Jamaica at 8:36a, East New York at 8:43a, Nostrand Avenue at 8:48a, and arrives ATL at 8:54a. (ENY/NAV stops not mentioned in release)
  
  • Train 821, the 7:56a train from Long Beach, drops stops at East New York and Nostrand Avenue and instead arrives Brklyn-Atlantic Terminal two minutes earlier at 8:49a.
• Train 1017, the 7:44a express train from Merrick to NY-Penn Station, is diverted to Hunterspoint Avenue. This train departs Merrick and Freeport three minutes earlier, Baldwin four minutes earlier, adds a stop at Jamaica at 8:06a, and arrives Hunterspoint Avenue at 8:25a. (time changes not mentioned in release)
• Train 2823, the 8:10a train from Far Rockaway to NY-Penn Station, is diverted to Hunterspoint Avenue. It no longer stops at Kew Gardens or Forest Hills and arrives HPA at 9:04a.
  
  • Train 47, the 8:03a train from Babylon to NY-Penn Station, stops Forest Hills at 8:58a. It still arrives NYK at 9:11a. (added stops not mentioned in release)
  • Train 2033, the 7:57a train from Ronkonkoma to NY-Penn Station, stops at Kew Gardens at 9:00a. It still arrives NYK at 9:17a. (added stops not mentioned in release)
• Train 907, the 7:36a train from West Hempstead to NY-Penn Station, operates 2 minutes earlier at stops West Hempstead through St. Albans and leaves Jamaica 1 minute earlier. It still arrives NYK at 8:29a. (time changes not mentioned in release)
• Extra fluff train 1191, departing Freeport at 5:43a, Baldwin at 5:46a, Rockville Centre at 5:49a, and Jamaica at 6:06a for NY-Penn Station, operates
• Extra fluff train 2391, departing Farmingdale at 5:05a, Bethpage at 5:09a, Hicksville at 5:15a, and Jamaica at 5:40a for NY-Penn Station, operates. (release incorrectly states the train makes local stops on the Main Line)
• Train 43, the 7:35a train from Babylon to NY-Penn Station, will operate with two extra cars.
• Train 825, the 8:08a train from Long Beach to NY-Penn Station, will operate with two extra cars.

PM Peak: Two trains canceled outright, two trains originate at ATL, one train originates at Jamaica, stop or time changes to five others, one reverse-peak train diverted to ATL, and stop or time changes to two others:

• Train 1724, the 5:06p express train from NY-Penn Station to Huntington, is canceled with no alternative transportation provided.
• Train 362, the 5:50p train from NY-Penn Station to Great Neck, is canceled with no alternative transportation provided.
• Train 766, the 5:38p train from NY-Penn Station to Hempstead, instead originates at Brklyn-Atlantic Terminal at 5:46p.
  
  • Train 156, the 5:36p express train from NY-Penn Station to Babylon and Patchogue, makes added stops at Forest Hills at 5:51p, Kew Gardens at 5:53p, and Jamaica at 6:01p. It allegedly still arrives BTA at 6:40p. (added stops not mentioned in release)
• Train 774, the 7:05p train from NY-Penn Station to Hempstead, instead originates at Brklyn-Atlantic Terminal at 7:09p. It adds a stop at Hillside Facility at 7:33p and operates two minutes later at stops Jamaica through Hempstead. (time changes and added stops not mentioned in release)
• Train 2868, the 5:32p express train from NY-Penn Station to Far Rockaway, originates at Jamaica at 5:52p.
• Train 664, the 5:30p train from Long Island City to Port Jefferson, adds a stop at Huntington at 6:45p. It makes all other stops as scheduled. (added stop not mentioned in release)
• Train 1256, the 5:33p train from NY-Penn Station to Hicksville, is extended to Cold Spring Harbor, leaving Hicksville three minutes later at 6:34p, making a stop at Syosset at 6:41p, and arriving CSH at 6:46p. (time changes and added stops mentioned in release)
• Train 158, the 5:45p train from Atlantic Terminal to Babylon departs Brklyn-Atlantic Terminal one minute earlier at 5:44p. It makes all other stops as scheduled. (time changes not mentioned in release)
• Train 364, the 5:56p train from NY-Penn Station to Great Neck leaves Auburndale through Little Neck one minute earlier and arrives Great Neck one minute earlier, at 6:30p. (time changes not mentioned in release)
• Reverse-peak train 2899, the 5:53p train from Far Rockaway to NY-Penn Station, is diverted to Brklyn-Atlantic Terminal. It arrives ATL at 6:42p. (diversion not mentioned in release)
  
  • Reverse-peak train 133, the 5:39p train from Babylon to NY-Penn Station, adds stops at Kew Gardens at 6:36p and Forest Hills at 6:38p. It arrives Woodside two minutes later at 6:43p and NY-Penn Station three minutes later at 6:54p. (time changes and added stops not mentioned in release)
• Reverse-peak train 355, the 6:44p train from Great Neck to NY-Penn Station, departs Great Neck and Little Neck two minutes later, Douglaston one minute later, and makes all other stops as scheduled. (time changes not mentioned in release)
• Extra fluff train 2102, departing NY-Penn Station at 1:49p for Woodside, Jamaica, Mineola, Hicksville, Bethpage, Farmingdale, Wyandanch, and local stops to Ronkonkoma, operates. (release incorrectly states train stops at Pinelawn)
• Extra fluff train 354, departing NY-Penn Station at 3:40p for Woodside, Flushing-Main Street and local stops to Great Neck, operates.
• Extra fluff train 1190, departing Hunterspoint Avenue at 7:02p for Jamaica, Rockville Centre, Baldwin, and Freeport, operates.
• Train 144, the 4:34p express train from NY-Penn Station to Babylon, will operate with two extra cars.
• Train 364, the 5:56p train from NY-Penn Station to Great Neck, will operate with four extra cars.
• Train 462, the 7:27p train from NY-Penn Station to Port Washington, will operate with two extra cars.

While the overall number of changes is much less than the summer, this winter won’t quite be a walk in the park for those on the affected trains.  There’s very few peak trains that can be cleanly canceled without causing a problem someplace else.  The biggest problems in terms of crowding on trains will come when passengers on trains that are diverted to alternate terminals change to the next westbound train to New York.  Over the summer, through ridership on the trains that were diverted was very low, with most riders instead adjusting their commutes to arrive earlier or leave later, or take other regularly scheduled trains to the alternate terminals.  Without aggressive measures to encourage riders to use ATL or HPA instead of just transferring to the next westbound train to New York (i.e. subway cross-honoring, discounted fares), it’s unlikely riders will be as willing to make those detours or changes as they were over the summer (and, not be as willing to make those detours for 20 weeks instead of 8), so crowding on connections should be of much greater concern.

The LIRR is being stingy with providing options for riders on affected trains, other than cramming them on the next regularly scheduled train.  State Senator Todd Kaminsky has called on the MTA to put as much effort into providing alternatives as they did over the summer, telling Newsday “[i]f we do not want 2018 to become the ‘Year of Hell’ then Amtrak and the MTA must exert the same Herculean efforts that we saw over the Summer to give riders alternative service options”.

Having—at the very least—systemwide cross-honoring with NYCT to give a modest incentive to use the alternate terminals would be common sense…so the LIRR’s not doing it.  (As a more general point, the MTA is the only agency in the country that operates a railroad with more than 5,000 passengers and charges rail customers full price for connecting subway or bus services it operates.  The vast majority of other transportation operators in the United States, like NJTransit, MBTA, Metrolink, etc. include connecting bus, subway, or light rail service with commutation tickets for no additional charge…a few others, like Metra, offer combination passes at a 40%-50% discount).

The LIRR has everything to gain by riders using Atlantic Terminal or Hunterspoint Avenue instead of crowded trains to New York.  Many of those who transfer from the diverted trains will be transferring onto even more crowded trains—in some cases, the most crowded trains the LIRR operates on an ordinary day.  Trains like 766 and 1258 are very ‘connection heavy’, being loaded down with big connections between New York and Jamaica or Hicksville.  Shifting those onto already very crowded trains (and in the case of 156, adding stops at Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, and Jamaica onto another train that normally skips all three, without actually accounting for the extra time those stops take) is asking for trouble.  In the morning, two of the most crowded trains on the LIRR, as of their 2016 ridership counts, were trains 819 and 1631…each of which exceed the 95% loading guideline on a normal day, but will be jammed even fuller with additional connections from diverted trains.  I’m not sure if the LIRR’s decision to make the most crowded trains even more crowded was intentional to centralize the misery or just poor planning, but there will be quite a few messes if at least some people don’t use the alternate terminals instead.

The table below shows what crowding conditions could be expected on the diverted trains (and, more importantly, their connections). East/west refer to loading East and West of Jamaica.  Updated connection info reflects passengers switching to the next westbound/prior eastbound train.  Passenger counts correct as of the 2016 ridership book (latest available), adjusted for YTD-September ridership growth:

Train	Origin	Destination	NYK	Changes	Cars	Pax e/o JAM	Pax w/o JAM	Load e/o JAM	Load w/o JAM	Standing e/o JAM	Standing w/o JAM	Meets Stds?
1009	Wantagh	Brklyn-Atlantic Term	7:49	ATL	8	727	0	86.09%	0.00%	0	0
31	Babylon	NY-Penn Station	7:49	J-1009	8	488	1,422	57.80%	168.49%	0	578	No
1017	Merrick	Hunterspoint Avenue	8:32	HPA	8	737	0	87.32%	0.00%	0	0
819	Long Beach	NY-Penn Station	8:32	J-1017	12	945	2,086	74.61%	164.80%	0	820	No
43	Babylon	NY-Penn Station	8:48		12	789	1,007	62.31%	79.53%	0	0
821	Long Beach	Brklyn-Atlantic Term	8:53	-ENY -NAV	6	457	406	72.15%	64.18%	0	0
823	Long Beach	Brklyn-Atlantic Term	9:02	ATL	8	695	9	82.40%	1.06%	0	0
825	Long Beach	NY-Penn Station	9:02	J-823	12	571	1,661	45.09%	131.18%	0	395	No
2823	Far Rockaway	Hunterspoint Avenue	9:08	HPA	6	384	0	60.67%	0.00%	0	0
1107	Freeport	Brklyn-Atlantic Term	9:08	ATL	8	509	0	60.26%	0.00%	0	0
1631	Huntington	NY-Penn Station	9:08	J-1107, J-2823	10	1,142	1,913	108.23%	181.29%	87	858	No
47	Babylon	NY-Penn Station	9:11	FHL-2823	12	851	1,049	67.23%	82.88%	0	0
2033	Ronkonkoma	NY-Penn Station	9:17	KGN-2823	12	1,131	1,273	89.37%	100.56%	0	7	No
144	NY-Penn Station	Babylon	16:34		12	695	695	54.93%	54.93%	0	0
1724				CANCEL
1726	NY-Penn Station	Huntington	17:17	1724CMBX	12	1,900	1,900	150.04%	150.04%	634	634	No
872	NY-Penn Station	Long Beach	17:23	J-2868	10	561	1,292	53.13%	122.49%	0	237	No
1154	NY-Penn Station	Freeport	17:24	J-2868	10	695	1,251	65.92%	118.56%	0	196	No
2868	Jamaica	Far Rockaway	17:32	JAM	10	737		69.86%		0
1256	NY-Penn Station	Cold Spring Harbor	17:33	J-766	12	965	1,833	76.25%	144.76%	0	567	No
156	NY-Penn Station	Babylon	17:36	FH/KG/JA-766	12	1,080	1,479	85.27%	116.79%	0	213	No
766	Brklyn-Atlantic Term	Hempstead	17:36	ATL	10	779	0	73.79%	0.00%	0	0
362				CANCEL
364	NY-Penn Station	Great Neck	17:56	362CMBX	12	1,536	1,536	121.35%	121.35%	270	270	No
1738	NY-Penn Station	Huntington	18:56	J-774	12	1,048	2,076	82.81%	163.98%	0	810	No
774	Brklyn-Atlantic Term	Hempstead	18:56	ATL	8	394	0	46.73%	0.00%	0	0
462	NY-Penn Station	Port Washington	19:27		12	675	675	53.29%	53.29%	0	0
2899	Far Rockaway	Brklyn-Atlantic Term	18:54	ATL	8	145	0	17.22%	0.00%	0	0
133	Babylon	NY-Penn Station	18:54	2899-FHL/KGN	12	540	519	42.64%	41.00%	0	0

As I wrote last time, the best and most sustainable solution to NY-Penn Station’s congestion problems is fully utilizing alternate terminals and balancing service between NY-Penn Station, Brklyn-Atlantic Terminal, and Hunterspoint Avenue.  So long as the LIRR goes about cherry-picking the most convenient trains to cancel or divert, there will always be some measurable passenger impact.  If service is balanced between the three terminals—instead of being heavily slated towards one—there is more room to get work like this done, and the system is more versatile and resilient in the event of unplanned disruptions.  But so long as the railroad treats Brooklyn passengers as second-class citizens and Hunterspoint Avenue passengers as fourteenth-class citizens with infrequent service, failing to hold connections, converting direct trains to shuttle trains, etc. people will never switch in any significant numbers, and the crowding problems on trains to New York won’t go away.