M-3's slink back into passenger service

Love them or hate them, the LIRR's 1980's M-3 fleet has been particularly absent from the rails these past couple months.  When the MTA implemented the "Essential Service Plan" cutting back to weekend service in late March, the entire M-3 and M-9 fleets were pulled from passenger service.  The M-9 cars returned to passenger service when most weekday trains were restored on June 8, but the M-3's have remained largely absent.  With the continued reduced service and ridership rebounding very slowly, the railroad has not needed its full EMU fleet.  And since "clean" and "disinfected" are not terms that often spring to mind when thinking about the M-3 fleet, benching the oldest cars for the time being has been fine.

Despite their absence, the M-3 cars are not gone permanently.  While the railroad has continued with retiring some cars and shipping them off to the scrapper, there remain about 132 M-3's on the roster and the cars that have been equipped with PTC will likely remain with us for several years to come. The railroad has previously declared its intention to keep 80 M-3's in service until at least 2024 due to continued growing ridership and constant delays with the M-9 and M-9A procurements.  I don't think the pandemic will really change that strategy...as ridership continues to rebound slowly, the railroad will need to press all of its available equipment back into service to help maintain maximum physical distancing for as long as possible, and when the pandemic finally ends most riders will end up back on the rails at some point.

But for now, the railroad has only been keeping a little less than 30 M-3's inspected and available for passenger service on a daily basis, and they have been camping out in yards to pinch-hit for M-7's or M-9's in the event there is a breakdown or an unexpected surge in crowds and another train needs to be inserted (this has been rare).  M-3's have been out and about on PTC test runs and have even snaked into passenger service on a couple of occasions since June, but that has been few and far between.

But over the last couple of days, several M-3 sets have made it onto passenger runs.  Slippery rail conditions during and after Tropical Storm Isaias passed through on Tuesday have sidelined a chunk of the M-7 and M-9 fleet with flat wheels, which has resulted in a handful of M-3 sets coming off the bench and into passenger service.

A M-3 set on train 448 at Great Neck on August 7 (Photo: Eric Shu)

Though it didn't take too long for the return of the older cars to cause some trouble...by 3:00p Saturday a M-3 set had to be pulled from service due to door issues, delaying 3 trains.

The 3:11PM train from Port Washington due Penn at 3:56PM departed 16 minutes late after receving substitute equipment.

— LIRR. YouMustWearaFaceCoveringonTrains (@LIRR) August 8, 2020

So while the M-3's will likely continue to be a rare catch in the coming months, they're not gone entirely just yet...  If you're a fan of the M-3's, you can keep holding out hope that their return will be more commonplace—and if you're not, rend your garments and double check TrainTime before you travel or you might be surprised.