Belmont Stakes service means fewer trains for Hempstead Branch riders

The annual running of the Belmont Stakes takes place Saturday, June 8, and the LIRR just this week released their service plans for Saturday, including additional service to and from Belmont Park station and reductions in regular weekend service on the Hempstead Branch.

Throngs of passengers disembarking
a train before the 2015 Belmont Stakes
(Photo: Salvatore Arena/MTA)

The LIRR upgraded station facilities and their service plans for the Belmont Stakes after a major meltdown following the 2014 triple crown contest made national news.  But even with the upgrades, performance has been mixed on a day when the railroad often seems to court trouble.  The LIRR stepped up to the plate for American Pharoah's triple crown contest in 2015 and the whole operation went pretty well in what some called "a double dose of history".  In 2016, with no triple crown contest, the railroad carried 10k fewer riders, and that service went fairly well, too.  The last two years, however, have seen a reversal in course, with Belmont Stakes day service in both 2017 and 2018 significantly disrupted by controllable delays, both near Queens Village.  In 2017, there were significant delays in service after a train struck and killed a LIRR track foreperson on the tracks near Queens Village.  The NTSB blamed that incident, in part, on lax enforcement of safety rules and policies by railroad management, saying “NTSB is concerned LIRR management is overlooking and, therefore, normalizing noncompliance with safety rules and regulations for proper clearing of tracks while using ‘train approach warning’ for worker protection.”  Last year, in 2018, a signal failure near Queens Village—a key interlocking for Belmont Park service—caused significant delays on all Main Line Branches, including severe overcrowding conditions on trains to Belmont Park.

After last year's slip-ups, LIRR president Phillip Eng said that the railroad would be conducting an internal review of its actions to determine why, despite repeated assurances that the railroad would be up to the task of transporting event attendees, things went off the rails.  The results of that review were never made public, and the railroad has not enumerated any specific actions they are taking this year to prevent a repeat of issues from years past, so I guess the proof will be in the pudding on Saturday.

Collateral damage?

One of the changes LIRR made after the 2014 meltdown included an upgrade of the East Leg of the Belmont Wye, and then the East Leg was used to stage trains east of the station. Because the west leg of the wye is single-tracked, all westbound service must halt for eastbound equipment trains to make their way back onto the spur so they can load passengers and proceed west. Using the East Leg allows the railroad to bring additional trains into the station while westbound service can continue with fewer interruptions.

The current configuration of QUEENS Interlocking means that the East Leg of the wye can only reach the eastbound Hempstead Branch track—with no way to crossover to either the westbound Hempstead Branch track (until they merge to a single track in Garden City), or to either of the Main Line tracks. There used to be a way for eastbound trains from Belmont Park to reach any of the four tracks east of the station, but the LIRR—in their infinite foresight—removed that switch as part of the QUEENS Interlocking reconfiguration in 2009.

As a result of this restriction, the LIRR stages additional equipment trains along the eastbound Hempstead Branch track for after the Belmont Stakes. In past years, the railroad has staged one additional train at QUEENS Signal Bridge 3, one at Bellerose station, one at Floral Park station, one on the Garden-Mitchell Secondary, plus some others at Hempstead (or run east to Hempstead and double back to use the east leg of the wye). Because these trains are laying up on the eastbound track, the railroad elects to single track the Hempstead Branch, running service in both directions on the westbound track.

In recent years, the railroad has slashed Hempstead Branch service in half on the evening of the Belmont Stakes, reducing service from hourly to bi-hourly from 3:00p to midnight. Every other Hempstead train is canceled at Jamaica, with no alternative transportation provided. The LIRR is planning on doing the same thing again this year. This is, and has been, a major deficiency in the railroad's service plans for the Belmont Stakes...already infrequent Hempstead Branch service is made even worse, with bi-hourly service that's double the maximum vehicle headway required for several stations on this branch under the railroad’s Title VI service standards.

And the LIRR is taking the disruption to Hempstead Branch riders one step further this year by skipping Hollis and Queens Village on all eastbound trains between 10:00a and midnight. Those riders must transfer to bus service at Jamaica, adding up to an extra 40 minutes to travel times. After 3:00p, the replacement buses operate only bi-hourly, meaning the total disruption to passengers is as much as a whopping 1 hour, 40 minutes of additional travel time.

During a period where commuter frustration continues to mount as the LIRR prioritizes service for occasional and special event passengers over its regular passengers, the railroad is again shafting its regular passengers—this time weekend Hempstead Branch riders—to prioritize service for horse racing fans attending the Belmont Stakes.

The worst part is, the disruption to regular weekend Hempstead Branch riders is entirely avoidable... The running time from Jamaica to Hempstead is just about 30 minutes, meaning the LIRR could single track the entire line from Jamaica to Hempstead and maintain hourly service. All that would be required would be for LIRR to shift eastbound trains 16 or minutes earlier, then they could use one track, the north platform at Hollis and Queens Village, and not get in the way of the extra Belmont Stakes service. But because there is no interest in maintaining service for regular passengers, the LIRR just throws their hands up, kicks people out at Jamaica, and says to wait an extra hour for a train going to Hempstead (or board a bus for an extra 40 minutes of travel time on top of that).

If you look at the special timetable in effect for Hillside service on the day of the Belmont Stakes, you’ll note that while the railroad is also having eastbound trains bypass Hillside as well, they are maintaining normal half-hourly bus service in its place. So while Hollis, Queens Village, and all other Hempstead Branch passengers get their service slashed in half Saturday, the railroad sees value in keeping Hillside service for employees at normal levels (which is already better than what's seen at most stations across the system). Just in case you needed any further indication of where the fare-paying passengers remain on the priority list...

Yes, the Belmont Stakes is a big event, and it’s important that the LIRR does its job and transports people to and from the event in a timely manner...but needless disruptions to regular service cause unnecessary frustration and delay to regular passengers. And the problem here is really not all that complex—it's something that any reasonably passenger-focused organization would be able to overcome. Remember, there is much more to service quality than OTP!