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| Rendering of the proposed Belmont Park arena (NY Arena Partners, LLC) |
Belmont Park represents a good compromise location for a team that wants to provide decent highway access for those driving from Long Island while keeping some sort of transit link to allow for the team's NYC fanbase to continue to grow. The arena would be positioned just a stone's throw from the LIRR's Belmont Park station, which received a $4.26 million in upgrades in 2015 (including two new 10-car high-level platforms) after the LIRR caught national attention after being overwhelmed by record crowds the year before. Presently, the only time the station is really used is on the day of the Belmont Stakes each year--the LIRR runs two round-trip trains on the handful of other days horseracing happens at Belmont Park, but those trains are barely used, and were even cut for a period of time during the last recession.
While Belmont Park might ultimately be the best place for the Islanders, it sure isn't the most convenient one. Past efforts to further develop the large Belmont Park site, including a new soccer stadium for the now-defunct Cosmos, have been frustrated by politics and community opposition to further development in a congested area. Pushback from the community over plans for the Islanders arena still persists, chiefly due to concerns over traffic congestion and the environmental impacts the new stadium and adjoining hotel/retail complex would bring.
Concerns over transportation headaches can be a well-placed concern. The Cross Island Parkway can't be said to be one of the region's most traffic-free roadways and the arena would be located at the junction of the Cross Island and Hempstead Turnpike, a major artery for the surrounding area. Added traffic on normal racing days is negligible due to low attendance and the Belmont Stakes is just once a year, but a couple thousand extra cars 40+ nights a season for Islanders home games may present some unwelcome added challenges.
That is why the integration of the LIRR into the new Islanders arena and ancillary facilities is so important. If executed properly, the railroad could carry thousands of riders to and from Islanders games using the Belmont Park spur and remodeled Belmont Park station, significantly mitigating the impacts of traffic congestion around the event.
In the press for the announcement of the Islanders' move to Belmont Park, both the Governor's office and Islanders ownership pledged improved LIRR service to Belmont Park to support events year-round. Though despite both the Islanders and the state making year-round, daily train service a cornerstone of the deal, the LIRR has so far resisted service improvements at every step of the way.
Right out of the box, former MTA Chair Joe Lhota expressed concern that the LIRR would be able to handle added service to support the development at Belmont Park, and said that a study would be required to determine what the infrastructure would be able to handle and would upgrades might be required, but did not say what that might cost or when such a study might be ready. Officials from the railroad and Empire State Development, the state's economic development agency, said last in July that such a study was underway and would be completed at the end of September, but that study has still yet to see public light. Throughout the entire process, the LIRR has refused requests for further elaboration on how they plan to serve Belmont Park with the new development.
The LIRR has long ignored calls for improved service at Belmont Park outside of the limited racing schedule. In addition to added service for Islandes games, Belmont Park station also offers great potential for daily service for those who live in the surrounding communities of Elmont, Franklin Square, and North Valley Stream, who presently have no real viable access to the LIRR (nearby stations don't have great service and have restricted parking, making driving to other lines difficult, if not impossible). In 2017 the LIRR refused calls from state, county, and town officials to provide full service at the Belmont Park station, stating they had no plans to expand service at Belmont Park. Even after news of the redevelopment, the LIRR continues to prevaricate when it comes to full time service. Despite the fact that state and local officials in conjunction with Islanders' ownership have continued to press the importance of daily, year-round service at Belmont Park, Empire State Development told Newsday's editorial board last August that "...while there have been discussions regarding the provision of additional LIRR service for the retail village during off-peak periods during times with no arena events, the transportation analyses in the DEIS will conservatively assess future conditions with additional LIRR service provided to Belmont Park station for arena events only”...which basically means they are going to plan as if the LIRR has no intention of serving the new facilities outside of arena events.
It wasn't until the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) of the overall redevelopment effort came out in December did we get any concrete details about what LIRR would look like. As part of that report, it was shown that the LIRR would be providing just two additional LIRR trains from Jamaica to Belmont Park for arena events. The study said that New York Arena Partners, the Isanders' development team financing the construction of the arena, would contribute an unspecified amount towards the service. There was no real mention of daily service beyond the party line that ESD and state officials were continuing to explore opportunities for a full-time station, but at that time there was no plan for a commuter station at the site. MTA officials did not respond to Newsday's request for comment at the time.
In addition to news on the paltry news about the train service, the DEIS also flagged the potential for adverse congestion impacts in and around the development during events, reigniting community concerns over the transportation issues involved with this project. A representative for the Elmont-based Belmont Par Community Coalition told Newsday that "[State officials] are not addressing adequately the transportation issue. They talk about exploring possibilities. That's speculative. They need to take a hard look and have definitive answers."
The talk about LIRR service improvements and mitigation of the overall transportation issues has certainly been overly speculative. It's clear that the LIRR has no interest in a meaningful expansion of service at Belmont Park, whether for the arena events itself or for the people of Elmont, Franklin Square, and North Valley Stream with poor access to existing rail lines. So will the state be forcing the issue, or will further action be needed to mitigate traffic congestion on the Cross Island Parkway and Hempstead Turnpike? Nobody seems to have any answers. At the time, State Senator Todd Kaminsky, who represents the area, said that officials should consider full-time rail service at Belmont Park "immediately", telling Newsday that "the best way to alleviate the serious traffic that the project will generate and benefit a deserving Elmont community is through mass transportation, something that the MTA and ESD must work toward at an accelerated pace".
The viability of increased service at Belmont Park
While it's clear the LIRR is being overly resistive towards improving service, the situation with the Belmont Park spur infrastructure is a bit complicated, so it's not as easy as just adding more trains.The LIRR's Belmont Park station sits on a spur off the south side of the LIRR's Main Line right at the Queens-Nassau border. A wye track brings trains from the eastbound local track in either direction to the spur, which crosses over the Cross Island Parkway and fans out into eight tracks, four of which are adjacent to new 10-car, high-level platforms (tracks 3, 4, 7, and 8) and four more which are used as yard tracks (tracks 1, 2, 5, and 6). The track configuration permits trains leaving from Belmont Park to head on the Main Line in either the westbound or eastbound direction. The east leg of the wye had largely fallen into disuse prior to it being restored in 2015 with the other renovations at Belmont Park station.
While eastbound service to Belmont Park is fairly simple to provide (trains can proceed east on track G4, the eastbound Main Line local track and turn off onto the spur just east of Queens Village station), but westbound service can be a bit trickier. Because the only connection is to the eastbound local track, to proceed west, trains leaving Belmont Park have to use the west leg of the spur and then cross all the way over the active Main Line tracks to get to one of the two westbound tracks on the north side of the interlocking. While not much different than what maneuvers westbound Hempstead trains must make 30+ times each day, all eastbound and most wesstbound traffic through Queens Village has to come to a halt to allow this to happen, which means a dramatic increase in the number of trains doing this could present unwanted challenges.
That said, no challenge is insurmountable, and the potential benefits of full service at Belmont Park mean that the railroad should leave no stone unturned when it comes to better serving Belmont Park. In addition to providing viable rail service for those who live in Elmont, Franklin Square, North Valley Stream, and the surrounding areas. Full service could help alleviate congestion on the Cross Island Parkway, for those that drive most or all the way into the city now. In addition to better service out of Belmont Park itself, daily service also presents a valuable opportunity to increase service at Queens Village and Hollis stations, which trains from Belmont Park to/from points west pass through without stopping. Queens Village and Hollis lie beyond the reach of the subway, therefore are much in need of additional transportation options. The Atlantic Ticket pilot currently ongoing is a welcome mitigation of the high LIRR fares that prevent many people from taking advantage of the rail service that exists now, but the rather infrequent service on the Hempstead Branch service has limited its effectiveness. Regularly scheduled trains to/from Belmont Park could also stop at Hollis and Queens Village, improving service there at a lesser cost than adding full trains all the way to Hempstead. Two birds with one stone.
I suggested back in 2013 that the LIRR should use the Belmont Park spur to provide park-and-ride service for those who currently commute on the Cross Island Parkway and from the surrounding area, suggesting that trains from Belmont Park be scheduled to closely follow Hempstead Branch trains as to limit the extent of the disruption on the Main Line. I later suggested in 2014 that LIRR's service plans after East Side Access should include full-time, daily service at Belmont Park, and that the impacts of even more service could be mitigated by altering the direction of train traffic on the Main Line between Jamaica and Queens Village to allow trains to/from Belmont Park to single-track on the eastbound local track so no crossover was required--therefore not interrupting Main Line traffic.
Service to/from points WEST for arena events
The LIRR's reasons for not putting up better service, at the very least for arena events, is bunk. Capacity on the Main Line is not a legitimate issue. The LIRR's Main Line has four tracks leaving Jamaica, with the line splitting into two sets of two east of Queens Village. The two northern tracks continue to Hicksville and points east, the two southern tracks veer off east of Floral Park to serve the Hempstead Branch. During rush hours, the LIRR runs many more trains on the Main Line to Hicksville than the other side of the split to Hempstead. Even the Main Line Grade Crossing Elimination project will not dramatically increase the number of peak-direction trains during rush hours. If the LIRR could run an equal level of service on each of the two branches, then it would hold that the number of extra trains the LIRR could provide to Belmont Park is equal to the difference between Main Line trains and Hempstead Branch trains through Queens Village. During the PM Peak period, the LIRR runs about 44 trains east on the Main Line towards Hicksville, but just 9 on the Hempstead Branch towards Hempstead. That means the LIRR could in theory run 35 extra eastbound trains to Belmont Park for arena events before Main Line capacity becomes an issue. Capacity out of NY-Penn Station would of course remain an issue, but the LIRR's terminals at both Hunterspoint Avenue and Brklyn-Atlantic Terminal are used to well below their potential capacity, meaning the LIRR could slot additional service out of one or both of those terminals during rush hour, and squeak them through Jamaica where there's room.
At all other times, service on the Main Line and Hempstead Branches is infrequent enough that the LIRR should have no problem slotting a reasonable number of extra trains out of Belmont Park, regardless of whether they single track or cross all the way over.
And since most Islanders games are in the evening, they would require eastbound service prior to the game (e.g. during the rush hour), which is handy since eastbound service to Belmont Park is the least intrusive to other operations. Weekday games end well after rush hour is over, so getting additional westbound trains back to Jamaica and points west should not be a real issue. Daytime hockey games during the week are much less common then they are for baseball, and on weekends added service should not be a problem no matter what time the puck drops.
Taking these factors into account, the LIRR could very well provide as many as 8 extra trains in each direction for arena events (holding all 8 trains on the 8 station/yard tracks). Further service could be provided by having trains exit Belmont Park and wait on the Garden-Mitchell Secondary or at Hempstead, like they do during the Belmont Stakes now. And since both are east of Belmont Park, they wouldn't have to run against the direction of traffic to get out of the way.
Service to/from points EAST for arena events
While the major focus has been on bringing fans from NYC destinations to the new arena at Belmont Park, others have expressed an interest in having direct service to/from Belmont Park from points east. Presently, the only way people can get to Belmont Park from Long Island is to take a train to Jamaica, change there, then double back on a different train to Belmont Park. It's easily a 20+ minute detour, which will make the train a hard sell for those travelling to/from Long Island.
While service to/from points east would likely be more difficult to provide and attract riders, nothing should be off the table. It used to be possible for trains coming off of the Belmont Park spur to join the eastbound main line track and use a switch to reach any of the other Main Line tracks to continue as far east as Hicksville, Huntington, or Ronkonkoma without needing to change directions. But as part of the QUEENS Interlocking reconfiguration project in 2009 the LIRR, in all of its abundant foresight, removed/relocated that switch further west, so now trains using the east leg of the wye can only get to the eastbound Hempstead Branch track, and must single track all the way from there to Garden City and Hempstead.
That change severely limits the ability to provide direct service from Belmont Park to points east, especially since using the Hempstead Branch requires single tracking (the LIRR doesn't bother with this and instead just blankly cuts Hempstead service to bi-hourly on the afternoon/evening of the Belmont Stakes). That's not to say one direct train to/from Hempstead is not without merit, though, as large chunks of Islanders fans are based in western Nassau County, within reach of the Hempstead Branch.
Adding a switch so trains using the east leg of the Belmont wye can continue east on any Main Line track, including those that go to Huntington and Ronkonkoma, would not be earthshatteringly difficult, and such functionality could be pretty easily included as part of the third track/Main Line Grade Crossing Elimination project. Adding direct service to/from Huntington and Ronkonkoma would likely be a good fit for Islanders games.
The railroad's attitude towards the viability of daily service is also unreasonably pessimistic. Despite then-new LIRR president Phil Eng telling Newsday's editorial board in May that the railroad shouldn't "limited ourselves in terms of our imagination" at Belmont Park, the railroad have space in its imagination for the idea of daily service.
While a full slate of trains every 10 minutes from Belmont Park is not feasible, the LIRR could very likely provide a reasonable level of daily service to/from Belmont Park, including during rush hours, without major disruption to current operations.
Using a combination of the ideas I suggested previously, westbound trains from Belmont Park could run west on the eastbound local track between gaps in eastbound trains to Hempstead (of which there are plenty, especially during the AM reverse-peak period). The train would stay on the eastbound local track all the way to Jamaica where it would arrive on the southern station tracks. From there, trains can continue westward on Main Line track 2 in gaps between trains on that line in the morning rush hour to Hunterspoint Avenue, or be routed to Brooklyn along the south side of the interlocking. In neither case would the extra westbound trains need to cross all the way in front of busy westbound tracks, interrupting other traffic bound for New York.
Eastbound it would be even easier--trains to Belmont Park would just need to thread in open gaps between trains on the Main Line from Hunterspoint Avenue or the Atlantic Branch from Atlantic Terminal and use the Main Line local track to reach Belmont Park, as described previously.
Doing this would allow for at least 10 peak trains to operate to/from Belmont Park in either direction. Off-peak service is not constrained, as mentioned previously, so could be hourly or better. An example timetable showing trains as they could slot between existing service is shown in the timetable below:
As everybody but the railroad seems to be aware, the Belmont Park station has real value as a place for daily service. The Hempstead Branch does as well. If the LIRR were truly committed to improving rail service in western Nassau County, they should be thinking long-term about ways to remove these bottlenecks and enable further expansions of service, so major investments like East Side Access could be utilized to the greatest extent possible.
One potential longer-term solution to this bottleneck for both Belmont Park and Hempstead Branch trains at QUEENS Interlocking would be to grade-separate the interlocking, similar to what the LIRR does at Jamaica and HAROLD Interlocking, and what the PRR was famous for doing up and down the NEC. I first suggested this back in October as part of the case for reactivating the Central Branch...the LIRR could construct a flyover allowing westbound trains from Hempstead and Belmont Park, and points further east if the Central Branch is ever restored, to get to the north side of the tracks without interrupting traffic on the Main Line.
While something like this wouldn't be free to construct, it should not cost a crazy amount either...it's not like a major tunneling project or building a whole new line...and it would eliminate a major bottleneck that often delays trains, and clear the way for the better utilization of both Belmont Park station and the Hempstead Branch. If the LIRR were truly not limiting themselves in the terms of their imagination, things like this would be on the table.
We shall see what the future holds with the LIRR at Belmont Park, but if past performance is any indication of future outcomes, the LIRR will make the same exact mistakes they made at the Barclays Center for the Islanders and the Nets. Put up a sloppy and ineffective service plan, poorly execute it, never address major problems, then watch ridership plummet as people find other ways to get where they need to go that don't involve the railroad. The same thing happened with event service for Nets games, which went from boosting ridership in Brooklyn in the first years, to barely registering a blip today (the LIRR has since eliminated all extra post-event service for Nets games).
Despite new leadership, the LIRR continues to be an obstacle to further development on Long Island, not a catalyst. As Long Island grows and changes, the LIRR must expand and build its ridership base in ways that respond to and complement growth, not dig in its heels and put up excuse after excuse about why something can't be done. But as long as the Manhattan and Ronkonkoma Railroad takes no interest in broadening its mission, just two measly trains is all we're likely to see.
