Infrastructure maintenance costs

Trains need tracks to run on, and failures with the track itself, the signal systems that control the trains, the power systems that propel the trains, or any of a railroad's other facilities can cause major disruptions to passengers.  Unlike a bus or car travelling over a road, trains can't just change lanes or detour one block over if there is a problem, which is why properly maintaining infrastructure and systems is a key factor in running a railroad.

Spending on track and facility maintenance varies widely from railroad to railroad across the United States.  While the MTA does not actually detail how much is spent on each of the railroad's core functions (transportation, fleet maintenance, infrastructure maintenance, etc.), the LIRR and Metro-North do report their operating expenses to the US DOT's National Transit Database in four different categories: vehicle operations, vehicle maintenance, facility maintenance, and general administration.  

In 2018, the LIRR reported spending over $292 million on facility maintenance (infrastructure maintenance).  America's commuter railroads together spent over $1.1 billion maintaining infrastructure last year.  Evaluating infrastructure maintenance spending on a per track mile basis provides a good comparison between systems for judging who makes their maintenance dollars go the furthest, and who doesn't...  Note: there are two ways to quantify a system's expansiveness: total route miles (e.g. NY to Ronkonkoma is about 50 miles, so that's 50 route miles) and track miles (e.g. a double-tracked line from NY to Ronkonkoma is 50 route miles x 2 tracks = 100 track miles).  For these purposes, everything will be represented on a per track mile basis.

I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you, but the LIRR spent the most on operating infrastructure maintenance per track mile out of any railroad in the country...  The LIRR spent over $475,000 per track mile on operating infrastructure maintenance, which is more than quadruple the national average of $110,479 in operating infrastructure maintenance costs per track mile, and about 25% more per track mile than Metro-North:

 

Railroad	2018 facility operating maint. spending	Total route miles	Total track miles	Operating maint. cost per track mile
MTA Long Island Rail Road	$292,215,832	441	614	$475,844
MTA Metro-North Railroad	$330,574,561	358	867	$381,286
Tri-Rail	$29,798,980	82	141	$210,892
SunRail	$13,008,612	32	65	$200,132
Trinity Railway Express	$9,277,287	31	47	$199,383
NJTransit Rail	$147,002,795	472	950	$154,821
Caltrain	$18,138,136	15	127	$143,023
Metra	$126,507,234	511	1,192	$106,130
Denver RTD	$4,221,854	37	40	$105,546
SEPTA Regional Rail	$58,151,709	26	608	$95,629
NM Rail Runner Express	$8,137,750	99	112	$72,393
SMART	$3,560,018		50	$71,016
Sounder Commuter Rail	$10,165,999	82	159	$63,981
Metrolink	$38,736,663	410	675	$57,409
Shore Line East/Hartford Line	$6,145,361		109	$56,328
UTA FrontRunner	$6,683,804	83	124	$53,902
Northstar Line	$1,800,045		41	$43,416
Virginia Railway Express	$6,822,669	86	189	$36,164
NCTD Coaster	$2,815,883	61	96	$29,424
NICTD South Shore Line	$3,645,540		130	$27,957
MBTA Commuter Rail	$19,067,234	425	744	$25,637
MARC Train	$11,687,165	402	493	$23,730
Music City Star	$450,140	36	36	$12,435
Altamont Corridor Express	$714,768		142	$5,019

You can see the full dataset at this link: Infrastructure maintenance costs.xslx

And this is not just a big railroad vs. small railroad/old railroad vs. new railroad dichotomy...  For example, Metra in Chicago has about twice as much track mileage as the LIRR (lots of big 3- and 4-track lines shared with freight), most of which have existed since the later part of the 19th Century, yet it spent about 4.5 times less per track mile than the LIRR.  Most of the other legacy railroads (NJTransit, SEPTA, MBTA, etc.) all manage to stay closer to or even well below the nationwide average.

Just like we see with fleet maintenance costs, where the LIRR also spends far and away the most per vehicle out of any railroad in the nation for lackluster results, the railroad's inefficient and wasteful practices result in significant overspending.  As the MTA faces a significant, multi-billion dollar operating budget deficit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it must be looking at its maintenance processes and seeing where it can bring costs much closer into line with peer systems.  If Metrolink in Los Angeles can maintain roughly the same amount of track for one-seventh as much as the LIRR spends there must be some room for cost cutting.

If you've ever ridden past a location where the LIRR is doing trackwork, the railroad's exorbitant maintenance costs probably don't seem to far beyond imagination.  It's common to see scenes where there is one, maybe two, people actually working, and then a dozen or more standing around watching...

17 guys standing around. 1 guy swinging a hammer. C'MON, @LIRR! @TomLiodice @News12LI pic.twitter.com/sFNP345CcB

— BeerZombie (@BeerZ0mbie) March 10, 2016

(Photo: @bvarghese105)

Given that labor costs are one of the most significant drivers of maintenance spending (in 2018, labor costs accounted for about 85% of the LIRR's operating maintenance costs, according to payroll data), reigning in crew overstaffing is key to bringing costs under control.  The LIRR has actually tried to explain away the "22 people standing around, 1 guy with a shovel" phenomenon before under the guise of safety, but that clearly doesn't pass muster.  Adequate watch protection is important (even though the NTSB has criticized LIRR's Train Advance Warning system as an inadequate substitute for more robust methods of trackworker protection), but needing a 12-to-1 lookout ratio is highly improbable, and, if anything, it's less safe as it creates complacency and confusion between watchpeople ("I thought Bill was watching in that direction").

I do not mean to paint with a broad brush or be overly simplistic, but when the answer to "how many LIRR employees does it take to change a lightbulb?" is 8, overstaffing must be at least part of the equation...  And when you look at the LIRR's operating maintenance costs in comparison to other US railroads—abiding by the exact same FRA regulations and similar safety protocols—the plain fact of the matter is that other systems manage to deliver similar results for significantly less.  And, no, the LIRR is not four or seven times as complicated as Metra or Metrolink or or the MBTA or MARC...

Operating vs. capital expenses

Operating maintenance costs (the day-to-day expenses incurred in general maintenance) only tell part of the story.  There are also capital costs, which almost every agency breaks out and funds/spends differently.  The MTA is no exception, and the agency actually pays for a significant amount of its normal replacement work out of the capital program.  Agency-wide, more than a third of the MTA's 2020-2024 Capital Program was committed to normal replacement...add in state of good repair work (which is just maintenance work that's significantly more overdue) and projects split between the multiple categories, and about 62% of the dollars in the Capital Program end up going towards maintenance in some form or fashion.  Only a little more than a third of the program's funding is dedicated towards system improvements or network expansion projects.

When factoring in capital expenditures, it's important to consider all that is going on with these systems.  Some railroads are in the process of actively expanding by building entire new lines (Denver RTD, TRE/TEXRail), extending existing lines (SunRail, SMART), or undertaking significant modernization programs (like Caltrain's major electrification project), while other systems are very much not.  The MTA has been toiling away underneath Grand Central for the last decade, but other than the Belmont Spur which opened in 1905, the LIRR hasn't opened a new branch since the late 1800's...  The US DOT does not require systems to report normal maintenance/SOGR spending from actual system expansion projects, but it's important to consider both sides of the equation.

Railroad	2018 facility capital maint. spending	Total facility maint. spending	Total track miles	Total maint. cost per track mile
Denver RTD	$91,538,453	$95,760,307	40	$2,394,008
MTA Long Island Rail Road	$968,315,359	$1,260,531,191	614	$2,052,648
Caltrain	$231,584,964	$249,723,100	127	$1,969,114
SunRail	$101,835,500	$114,844,112	65	$1,766,832
Trinity Railway Express	$41,286,387	$50,563,674	47	$1,086,690
MTA Metro-North Railroad	$419,184,453	$749,759,014	867	$864,774
Tri-Rail	$54,335,149	$84,134,129	141	$595,429
SMART	$21,002,385	$24,562,403	50	$489,974
SEPTA Regional Rail	$215,045,568	$273,197,277	608	$449,264
NICTD South Shore Line	$50,483,074	$54,128,614	130	$415,097
NJTransit Rail	$243,258,437	$390,261,232	950	$411,018
Sounder Commuter Rail	$33,594,089	$43,760,088	159	$275,411
Metra	$178,977,657	$305,484,891	1,192	$256,279
NCTD Coaster	$11,611,597	$14,427,480	96	$150,757
Music City Star	$4,797,353	$5,247,493	36	$144,958
MARC Train	$55,891,450	$67,578,615	493	$137,215
Metrolink	$53,555,134	$92,291,797	675	$136,779
MBTA Commuter Rail	$79,034,140	$98,101,374	744	$131,905
UTA FrontRunner	$8,980,533	$15,664,337	124	$126,325
NM Rail Runner Express	$3,851,952	$11,989,702	112	$106,660
Virginia Railway Express	$5,511,139	$12,333,808	189	$65,376
Northstar Line	$905,858	$2,705,903	41	$65,265
Shore Line East/Hartford Line	$0	$6,145,361	109	$56,328
Altamont Corridor Express	$2,230,725	$2,945,493	142	$20,685

The LIRR reported putting nearly $1 billion capital dollars towards infrastructure projects, of which nearly two-thirds of that was put towards track infrastructure. Add the operating and capital spending together and the railroad spent $1.3 billion, or more than $2 million per track mile, on infrastructure maintenance.  That is second only to Denver RTD's commuter rail division—but Denver spent 2018 constructing an entirely new rail line (the G Line) that would enter service in 2019, while the LIRR was only finishing adding a second track to 12.4 miles of an existing line from Farmingdale to Ronkonkoma).  If you look at the top five railroads on the list, two were building brand new rail lines, one was extending an existing line, one was embarking on a systemwide electrification and fleet replacement project, and one was finishing 12 miles of double track and doing some station renovations...

The LIRR's total infrastructure spending was about 3.5x per track mile over the nationwide average of $590,366 per track mile.

Track usage and efficiency

As the figures above establish, building and maintaining track is a very expensive undertaking, so it would be silly to spend all that money on infrastructure only to have it go unused for much of the day.  While each additional train running over the track causes wear and tear, the marginal maintenance costs of running additional trains over existing tracks are very low, to the point where it makes sense to utilize infrastructure to the greatest extent possible.  The graph at the right relates the average number of revenue service hours on track to the total infrastructure maintenance costs...the trendline is only slightly positive, suggesting a high return on investment is possible with service improvements.

Frequency is very important, and whether it's improving off-peak service or weighing service cuts, how often trains operate translates pretty strongly to ridership...more frequent service and more hours of service over the course of the day are much more useful to passengers than a 9a-to-5p weekday, peak-direction commuter service.

In this area, the LIRR and Metro-North are already miles better than many of the US commuter railroads stuck in the old days providing a predominately weekday peak service, with little to no off-peak or weekend service.  But off-peak service on both railroads is still very infrequent, and well behind peer systems elsewhere in the world where 10-20 minute headways all day are commonplace.

When looking at the average number of revenue service hours per route mile of track (e.g. the average amount of time a mile-long segment of track is used each year), the LIRR and Metro-North rank fifth and sixth, respectively, out of the nation's railroads.  They both stand behind Denver RTD (which is the closest thing we have in this country to proper regional rail), TRE, SEPTA, and SMART.

The average mile of LIRR track is in use for about 413 hours per year (which is about 1 hour, 15 minutes per day), which is much better than the nationwide average of 240 hours of revenue service per track mile per year, but still not great.  In LIRR's case, the average is brought down by long but little-used diesel branches...while the tracks around Jamaica and west are used pretty much continuously, the East End accounts for a substantial chunk of the railroad's track mileage, but it sees only a small handful trains per day (there is no reason that needs to be the case, though, and service on the East End should definitely be increased).

Railroad	2018 train revenue hours	Avg. revenue service hours per track mile
Denver RTD	35,400	885
Trinity Railway Express	26,058	560
SEPTA Regional Rail	260,725	429
SMART	21,030	420
MTA Long Island Rail Road	253,603	413
MTA Metro-North Railroad	293,643	339
UTA FrontRunner	41,233	333
Caltrain	39,226	309
NJTransit Rail	281,997	297
Tri-Rail	38,431	272
MBTA Commuter Rail	152,274	205
Metra	233,779	196
SunRail	11,136	171
NICTD South Shore Line	21,889	168
Metrolink	76,604	114
NM Rail Runner Express	12,334	110
Shore Line East/Hartford Line	10,071	92
Northstar Line	3,798	92
Music City Star	2,983	82
Sounder Commuter Rail	12,574	79
NCTD Coaster	6,857	72
Virginia Railway Express	11,959	63
MARC Train	16,028	33
Altamont Corridor Express	4,380	31

At the bottom of the list are the more limited, less useful commuter-oriented services: Northstar, Music City Star, Sounder, Coaster, VRE, MARC, and ACE (which runs only four trains in each direction on weekdays, two round-trips on Saturdays, and no service on Sundays...).


Ultimately, both the LIRR and Metro-North need to dramatically reign in their infrastructure maintenance costs.  This is especially important now more than ever as the MTA needs to pinch every penny it can to stave off significant fare hikes and service cuts stemming from the service impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.  If the MTA's railroads brought their infrastructure maintenance costs in line with the US average, the LIRR could save nearly $230 million per year, and Metro-North could save over $240 million annually in operating costs...certainly far from chump change.