LIRR expands gate collection for special events

The LIRR is expanding its practice of "gate collection" before and after special events, and it's not being met with open arms by riders.  When LIRR gate collects tickets, they restrict access to and from station platforms, and position conductors/collectors at the entry and exit points to collect tickets from passengers before they board or after they alight a train (instead of collecting tickets onboard the train like usual).  The railroad often does this when it expects a large volume of riders travelling in a short period of time (like before or after an event) and expects onboard fare collection to be a challenge.

The LIRR has historically used this practice sparingly—usually just for Mets games and a one or two major events a year—since the operation is quite staff heavy.  They need enough collectors to check tickets (and sell tickets to people who don't have one) quick enough so the crowd does not backup on the platform and become problematic.  They need MTA Police on hand to help control the crowd and intervene if there are any disputes.  And they need management there to oversee the whole operation.  All of those people either need to be called in on extra shifts (and paid overtime) or pulled away from their normal duties.  In return the railroad collects a bit of extra revenue, though arguably not enough to justify the additional cost.

But under the guise of MTA's oft-misdirected campaign against "fare evasion", the LIRR has been expanding the practice over the last year.  LIRR has long had a bad record at providing service for special events, with insufficient service and overcrowded trains.  Overcrowded trains means LIRR's train crews often won't attempt to do their jobs and collect tickets, and revenue can be lost.  This has only gotten worse since the start of East Side Access service cut back service to NY-Penn Station and off-peak capacity on the major branches, generally.  In MTA's latest round of huffing and puffing over "fare evasion", they are increasing the practice of gate collection.

An ineffective system

This core of the problem stems from the fact that the LIRR (and Metro-North) continue to rely on an extremely expensive and inefficient fare collection system where conductors are responsible for the onboard collection of every fare.  This is a practice that has been phased out by most other suburban railways around the world in favor of proof of payment, which takes the conductors out of the equation and makes passengers responsible for validating/canceling their ticket prior to boarding, and riders are then only subject to random checks onboard trains.  This significantly reduces labor costs connected with checking tickets, reduces encounters (and opportunities for conflict) between passengers and staff, and makes it much more affordable to increase service.  But the LIRR is stuck in the old ages—and its train crews aren't even all that effective at collecting fares.  Before the MTA stopped reporting this data in mid-2022, the LIRR would routinely have a fare collection failure rate between 5% and 9% and an incorrect fare collected rate ranging between 10% and 20%, markedly higher than evasion rates seen on most well-implemented PoP systems.

While train crews do a less than stellar job of checking tickets under normal circumstances, relying on train crews to manually check each ticket becomes very problematic when trains get very crowded and the conductor can't efficiently move through the train.

Treating the symptoms not the cause

This train departing NY-Penn Station is not packed at the
height of rush hour, it's 10:30p at night after an event at MSG
(Photo: The LIRR Today)

As discussed further below, all of these problems with fare collection before/after events stem from trains being too crowded for the train crew to collect tickets.  But these problems are entirely of the LIRR's own creation by failing to observe its own loading guidelines.  The trains are overcrowded because the LIRR is not running enough capacity.

When trains are very crowded, at best the train crew moves through the train slower and may not have enough time to collect each ticket before a passenger alights (this is particularly problematic on local trains, when the conductor frequently needs to stop checking tickets to operate the doors).  But more often after special events, trains become so crowded that conductors just don't bother attempting to collect tickets, and instead just hang out in their cab for the duration of the trip.  To be clear, crowding conditions usually aren't so crush-loaded that the conductor can't physically move through the train—the more intrepid conductors will elbow and wriggle through the train—but that can be impractically time consuming, especially if they have to be back at a cab to operate the doors by time they arrive at the next station.  And riders who are forced to stand after an event usually end up being pretty ornery and grumpy.  So most just won't bother.

LIRR's expansion of gate collection is a classic case of treating the symptoms, and not the root cause of the problem.  If LIRR did a better job of operating service before/after events, actually following their loading guidelines and properly matching capacity to demand, there would be more than enough time and space for train crews to do their jobs and collect tickets onboard.  Instead, LIRR is spending more money to add more staff to deal with the symptoms (overcrowding) instead of the root cause (insufficient capacity during off-peak hours).

Mets-Willets Point

A dozen MTA and LIRR employees standing around between trains
during a gating program at Mets-Willets Point (Photo: The LIRR Today)

Historically, the LIRR has gate collected tickets at Willets Point for events at Shea Stadium, Citi Field, and the National Tennis Center.  Gate collection here is somewhat understandable.  Mets-Willets Point is 18 minutes from NY-Penn Station and 7 minutes from Woodside.  This is roughly the same travel time as NY-Penn Station to Jamaica, so even without collectors the train crew should be able to check most tickets, unless the train is very crowded.  Going westbound, it is more challenging on local trains due to stops spaced closely together and most stations having short platforms meaning the train crew is frequently bouncing back and forth to get the doors.  In both directions, crowding can be an issue before and after events, especially when events coincide with either the evening rush hour or the busier times on weekends.  Additionally, Mets-Willets Point does not have ticket machines, so relying on the onboard train crew to sell tickets after events would make onboard ticket collection even more challenging. 

Gate collecting tickets can cause significant delays if there is insufficient
staff on hand to handle the large crowds after an event
 (Photo: @AllanPandaring/Twitter)

Due to Mets-Willets Point only having a short, 8-car island platform, crowding on the platform is frequently an issue after major events (made worse by LIRR traditionally scheduling both the eastbound and westbound trains to arrive and depart around the same time), so LIRR staff and MTA Police need to be on hand anyways to regulate the flow of people down to the platform.

Unlike the other instances where LIRR has expanded gate collection (outlined below), the Mets-Willets Point station was only used on event days until it became a full-time station earlier this year.  Even with its new full-time status, fully addressing the root causes of crowding conditions on the Port Washington Branch before/after events at Willets Point is a challenge because of the cost of the upgrades that would be required as well as the unique capacity issues on the Port Washington Branch.  Also, overcrowding is primarily an issue mostly only as far as Woodside (a 7-minute journey), after which people travelling east towards Long Island alight and free up space.

LIRR also charges full zone 1 fares to/from Mets-Willets Point, so making sure all tickets do get checked can net them quite a bit of extra revenue.  For these reasons, doing gate collection at Mets-Willets Point makes some sense.  

Other special events

Gate collection queues at the temporary Shinnecock Hills
station for the US Open (Photo: The LIRR Today)

In addition to events around Willets Point, the LIRR has also employed gate collection before/after other major ridership events where overcrowding is expected.  This typically includes the Belmont Stakes, the Oyster Festival in Oyster Bay, the US Open and other major golf tournaments, and on summer Sundays at Hampton Bays and Westhampton stations.  In most of these cases (except on summer Sundays at Hampton Bays and Westhampton) the ridership volume is so significant in a short period of time that keeping trains under capacity is difficult, and the events are infrequent enough that capacity upgrades just for a once per year event are difficult to justify.

Forest Hills

The LIRR's first big expansion of gate collection for event service came at Forest Hills when renovations were completed to Forest Hills Stadium and the venue reopened for summer concerts in 2013.  On event days, LIRR will add stops at Forest Hills to most trains to/from the Manhattan terminals to provide extra capacity, but because Forest Hills only has a 4-car platform (still "temporarily" extended to 6-cars) riders have to cram into the very front of the train, which often resulted in extreme crowding in those first few cars.

While the 15-minute travel time between the Manhattan terminals and Forest Hills should be enough time for train crews to collect tickets (especially for trains that stopped at Jamaica or made other local stops, which usually had at least one collector—the railroad did not really add stops on flyers), the concentration of riders in the first 4 or 6 cars made it very difficult to get all tickets checked onboard, so the LIRR instituted a gate collection program.

This was the first big occasion where LIRR started using gate collection to treat the symptoms, not the cause.  Delays and crowding issues due to slow/heavy loading at Forest Hills and Kew Gardens have been a problem for many years, and the railroad has yet to address the short platforms at these stations.  While the incremental ridership at these two stations isn't as big as other stops (though it has grown in the last several years and is nothing to sneeze at), having short platforms at these stations frequently results in extended dwell times, gumming up the Main Line.

While the LIRR built "temporarily" platform extensions at Forest Hills and Kew Gardens in 2018, lengthening the platforms from 4 cars to 6 cars.  This has helped with slow loading delays, but has not done enough to fully resolve them—6-car long platforms are still only half the length of a full-length, 12-car train.

LIRR does not even carry all that many people to/from Forest Hills for these events.  The stadium itself is not that big, and—before the LIRR began refusing to disclose ridership counts for special events in 2020—the railroad reported an average of just 2,145 passengers arriving at Forest Hills before events and 1,859 passengers departing after events between 2015 and 2019.  These counts also include the regular evening peak and off-peak ridership at Forest Hills, and once you subtract that out, it's about 1,500 extra passengers arriving and departing.  Spread over nearly two dozen trains, that's not a lot of extra riders.

The LIRR should be able to easily collect tickets on the train if the station had 12-car platforms and riders were spread out along the entire train.  And 12-car platforms at Forest Hills (and Kew Gardens) would benefit riders 365 days a year with fewer delays waiting for people to walk up at these stations. 

Elmont

When UBS Arena first opened in 2021, the LIRR had only completed a portion of the eastbound platform at the new Elmont Main Line station, and service for the first year routed passengers through three different stations (a partially completed Elmont, the Belmont Park spur station, and Queens Village).  The LIRR did not do gate collection at any of the three stations in the first season.  Overall ridership has been (and continues to be) well below what was projected in the Belmont Park Redevelopment Project FEIS, and crowding has generally not been a problem.

The LIRR did not do gate collection at the start of the 2022 season either, even after bi-directional service on both the Main Line Branches and the Hempstead Branch became available at Elmont at the beginning of the season.  In addition to the two shuttle trains to/from the Belmont Park spur station, both Main Line and Hempstead Branch trains were stopping at the Elmont Main Line station in both directions, and riders were reasonably well spread out across all of those services.

But after the new schedules went into effect with the start of full service to East Side Access in late February 2023, things started to go downhill.  The LIRR eliminated service to the Belmont Park spur station before and after events, forcing everyone to travel through Elmont station. During the evening rush hour, the number of trains stopping at Elmont on event days was actually cut back a bit (in the few months before ESA opened, Elmont stops were added to a handful of eastbound Main Line trains, now the station is only served by Hempstead trains eastbound in the evening peak).  Couple that with the systemwide problems with train crowding and delays during the first few months after the new schedules were instituted and the persistent crowding issues during off-peak hours due to LIRR running shorter trains, overcrowding on trains stopping at Elmont has become an increasing problem.

LIRR conductors, and the union that represents them, began to make a fuss about trains being too crowded and it being difficult for them to collect tickets.  Instead of addressing the root cause of the problem and providing better service, the railroad took another approach.

Crowds backing up, out in the rain, at Elmont after an
Islanders game in April (Photo: @grn_eyed_panda/Twitter)

The LIRR instituted a gate collection program at Elmont for the last regular season game of the Islanders' 2022-2023 season.  Aside from the nutty timing, picking the last game of the regular season and just before UBS Arena's summer break (when there are only a few concerts between mid-May and the end of August), the LIRR did not tell riders about the change so everyone was blindsided after the event, when there was mass chaos and delays.  LIRR did not provide enough collectors and staff at the event to manage the crowd and move people efficiently.  Queues of people backed up significantly (in the April rain), many people missed their trains, and practically every train that stopped at Elmont when there were gating programs in place after UBS Arena events ended up delayed by 10-15 minutes, with plenty of angry passengers.

I'm all for making sure people have tickets and aren’t riding for free but the fact y’all did this on the last game is absurd. No one was ready for it, no one wants to wait 30 mins for a train when one is in front of them. Just basic stuff that LIRR just misses in an amazing way

— J (@tempusfugit72) April 13, 2023

In a statement to Newsday following the initial outcry from riders, Interim LIRR President Catherine Rinaldi said that the gating program was a "pilot" and that the railroads' goals were "number one, to control customer flow if there’s going to be a lot of people, and, number two, to enhance fare collection."  Which, to be frank, is a pile of garbage.  It's an odd coincidence that the first night LIRR had big crowd control problems at Elmont was the first night LIRR started gate collection.  If LIRR was really concerned about passenger flow, why did LIRR spend $65 million on a brand new station not adequate to accommodate the crowds? (the platforms are Elmont are quite narrow, and the single overpass/staircase at the east end of the station can mean it takes a long time to clear the platform).

This has also added additional inconvenience and headache for riders who live north of the tracks.  The only way to cross the tracks in this area and get to or from UBS Arena is to use the LIRR overpass and then the exit to Superior Road on the other side.  LIRR has said that local residents would not need tickets to cross the tracks, however residents still need to wait in queues and LIRR managers have reportedly demanded people provide their exact home address in order to pass through to the other side, which is highly inappropriate.  LIRR and ESD sold the new station as a big benefit to the local community—but local residents are getting caught in the crossfire with LIRR's haphazard gating program.  

Metal barriers put in place to restrict access to Elmont station and funnel
riders through ticket checks (Photo: The LIRR Today)

This season, the LIRR has increased the number of collectors, police, and management and issues with crowding before and after events have not been as acute this season.  But that has required the railroad to throw many more staff at the problem, as many as three-dozen collectors, cops, and managers.

LIRR's use of gate collection at Elmont is absurd.  Elmont is more than a half-hour and two ticket checks away from the city terminals—that is more than enough time for train crews to check tickets (even without collectors) on uncrowded trains.  And since riders are now disbursed across four city terminals, LIRR should be more than able to punch tickets at least once.  Both times I rode a shuttle train back from the Belmont Park spur station, the conductor and assistant conductor managed to check tickets both going to the arena and departing after the event (in just the short 12-minute ride to Jamaica).

This is a huge example of treating the symptoms, not the cause.  It's no coincidence that these problems with crowding started very shortly after LIRR eliminated service to the Belmont Park spur station and cut off-peak consist lengths with the new East Side Access schedules.

The solution is also quite obvious: run better service.  If LIRR actually followed its loading guidelines and ran trains with sufficient capacity to keep loads below 85% during weekday off-peak hours or 75% on weekends, there should be more than enough time for LIRR to collect tickets on riders heading to the city terminals.  Yes, it would still be challenging to collect tickets from intra-Island riders taking short trips to places like Mineola or Hicksville, but those are $3.50 fares and not worth spending tens of thousands of dollars in overtime to collect (and LIRR never makes a real effort to collect intra-Island tickets anyways).

Providing more service and having LIRR's train crews do their jobs and collect tickets onboard the train both provides better service for riders, and helps LIRR keep costs low.  Spending over $100 million to build a new station a three-quarters of a mile walk away from the arena within line of sight of three other stations was never the right idea.  The spur station is just steps away from the arena, and the railroad could stage four extra trains at the spur—one to NY-Penn Station, one to NY-Grand Central, one to Ronkonkoma, and one to Huntington.  What they should've been doing all along (the Main Line station can remain in use for extra capacity before/after events).  Running an extra train just takes 3 additional crew members off the extra list or as an extension to an existing assignment.  Running four extra trains would require 12 crew members—less than LIRR is throwing at the problem now to collect tickets at Elmont (and not provide any extra service or capacity for riders).

NY-Penn Station

As if LIRR hadn't already one too many screws loose, the railroad announced recently that they would begin gate collecting tickets at NY-Penn Station after events at Madison Square Garden.

The reasoning is similar to Elmont: crowding on off-peak trains after events has gotten so bad that train crews are unable to physically move through the train to collect tickets.  Piously looking to punch every ticket—to heck with the impact to the passenger experience trying to get home at 10:00p or 11:00p at night—the LIRR has invented a new roadblock for riders.

Crowds amass in NY-Penn Station's main gate area following a Knicks
game at MSG (Photo: The LIRR Today)

Madison Square Garden has sat atop NY-Penn Station since 1968.  While busier events will frequently send a large volume of people down into the station, the LIRR has traditionally offered enough trains/capacity to filter everyone onto a train and out of the station without much issue.  It's again an interesting coincidence that this has suddenly become a problem in the last year since LIRR significantly cut off-peak capacity to/from NY-Penn Station after East Side Access opened.

The capacity cuts are quite evident in the 10:00p hour, right after events typically let out of MSG.  Prior to the start of East Side Access, LIRR would have three trains to Babylon (two locals. one express with a Speonk connection) and two trains to Ronkonkoma (one with a Port Jefferson connection at Hicksville), all of which would usually run with 12 cars.  With the start of East Side Access, that was cut down to just one direct train to Babylon and one direct train to Ronkonkoma, which both now usually ran with just 8 or 10 cars.  So for the very busy South Shore, LIRR took three trains with 30+ cars of capacity and cut it down to just 1 train with 8 cars following events.  You don't need a PhD to see that's not going to work.

Departure times for riders headed to local
stations on the South Shore, with
"half-hourly" service bunched tightly together

The LIRR further shoots itself in the foot by doing such a horrible job of lining up connections at Jamaica.  For example, there continue to be two local trains to Babylon in the 10:00p hour: there is one direct train from NY-Penn Station to Babylon that leaves at :49 past the hour, and there is another that leaves NY-Grand Central at :13 past the hour (except for the 10:00p hour when it randomly leaves 12 minutes earlier, leaving a 47 minute gap in service).  But in order to travel from NY-Penn Station and connect to that other train from GCT, your only option is to take a Long Beach train that leaves at :52 past the hour and wait for 23 minutes at Jamaica.  So the only options to leave NY-Penn Station are at :49 and :52 past the hour—three minutes apart with nothing between.  Hardly effective options, and therefore everyone piles onto the one direct local train per hour.

This is also quite aggravating after events—hockey and basketball games with 7:30p start times at MSG usually let our right around 10:00p.  So now if you are headed to the South Shore, your only option are a local train at 9:49p or at 10:49p, and you have to make a tough decision—do you leave early, miss the last few plays, the last few songs, etc. to catch the earlier train?  Or do you stay to the end and then have to stand around NY-Penn Station for 45 minutes and get home much later?

Many riders expressed their frustration over this last spring, and in response the LIRR shifted several evening trains from NY-Grand Central over to NY-Penn Station to bolster post-event service there.  While that has helped riders facing the predicament of whether to stay until the end or leave early, it has not fully resolved the crowding issues since LIRR is still running trains with only 8 or 10 cars.

The LIRR will occasionally run an extra train to Ronkonkoma following busier MSG events, and the railroad points to this as its magic solution to the problem.  But the railroad has not been running those extra trains with any sort of consistency (sometimes they run, sometimes they don’t), and the extra trains don’t show up in TrainTime, so if you are at your seat upstairs at MSG and looking at travel options to get home, the extra train may as well not exist at all.

So it also hasn’t really solved the fare collection issue.  Trains are still so crowded after events that LIRR train crews often don’t attempt to collect fares.  Faced with the decision to either (A) lengthen trains to provide more capacity and spread people out, (B) add more trains to provide people with more travel options (and, by extension, more capacity) or (C) throw more staff at the problem and inconvenience riders by gate collecting tickets, guess which one LIRR has chosen...

The new system has been met with strong objections by riders—and others, too.  In comments to Newsday, Anthony Simon, General Chairperson for International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers' Transportation Division 505 (the union that represents LIRR conductors) said that he was against the idea since "Gating at Penn would require tremendous manpower to do it effectively..." and that the LIRR would likely "target only certain tracks and trains, which is inefficient to say the least".

This is quite the rebuke—when even the union leader thinks that throwing more staff and more overtime hours at the problem is not a great idea, the plan must be truly screwy...

But nevertheless, that is what LIRR has attempted to do on several nights over the last few months (they have only done it after a small handful of games/events).  LIRR has used conductors and MTA PD to restrict access to certain platforms and require passengers to present their tickets before descending to track level.  LIRR stationed more than a half-dozen employees at each entrance (4 collectors, 2 MTA PD cops, and supervisors) to collect tickets.

@LIRR Terrible idea to close staircases & check tickets after the @NYRangers game for the 949 Babylon train. Already have to miss end of game if we don’t want to wait 1hr for the next 1 & now also get stuck in a line as we’re rushing! Standing room only too.

— Kelly McNamara (@KMac112) December 13, 2023

A very heavy stream of riders filters down from the Main Gate
concourse for the 10:33p train to Ronkonkoma.  Gate collecting
with this many riders has resulted in delayed departures
(Photo: The LIRR Today)

That's a tremendous waste of resources—the NY-Penn Station platforms have a large number of access points (tracks 20/21 have fewest out of the LIRR platforms with 7 vertical circulation elements, tracks 18/19 has 8 elements, track 17 has 9 elements, and tracks 13/14/15/16 have 12 elements).  To gate collect tickets on just a single platform requires more than 50 employees to conduct the operation.  That is more than enough staff and overtime to run several extra trains out of NY-Penn Station to not only have more room to collect tickets, but also provide riders with better service and shorter wait times.

Anyone who has boarded a train at NY-Penn Station knows that it is already a harrowing experience under normal circumstances—the track is posted and then people mob the staircases and make a mad dash to get a good seat on the train.  Now try to restrict that passenger flow through a few collectors checking and punching tickets.  It doesn't work, and it has resulted in trains either leaving late, or leaving people behind to wait for the next train.

@LIRR The gating program for msg events is a failure. Slows down loading, and the trains leave late. 1005 left 12 min late

4 conductors at each Penn entrance with mta supervisors and 2 mta cops per entrance. Wasting more than they would lose if they don't collect

— Allen Wone (@awone123) January 5, 2024

Tens of thousands of dollars of OT to inconvenience riders, delay trains, and still stick people with overcrowded conditions for their long ride home late in the evening?  It's truly one of the worst outcomes LIRR could've come up with.

LIRR's expansion of gating programs is the definition of barking up the wrong tree, and treating the symptoms and not the root cause of the problem.  Instead of addressing the root cause of severe overcrowding on off-peak trains resulting from LIRR's steep cuts to off-peak capacity on the major branches, or reforming its fare collection system to a much more economical proof of payment system (and eliminating most conductors onboard trains), the LIRR's solution is to throw more staff at the problem and spend tens of thousands of extra dollars on collectors, police, and management—instead of doing their job right the first time around and providing adequate off-peak service for riders travelling to and from these events.

The busiest and least-used rail stations in New York

Last week, I posted a quiz about the busiest and least-used rail stations across the New York region.  Here are the answers.

All ridership figures were normalized to 2018 levels, the latest year when station counts for all three railroads were available (or could be calculated).  You can view the full Excel tables at this link.

So what are the busiest rail stations in New York?

Busiest terminal rail station
NY-Penn Station
This wasn't a question on the quiz, because the answer is very straightforward.  The busiest mainline rail station in New York—and not just NY, but the Americas—is NY-Penn Station.  As the primary city terminal for both NJTransit and LIRR, it outnumbers NY-Grand Central and the other secondary and tertiary city terminals by far.

(Photo: The LIRR Today)

Busiest non-terminal rail station

Stamford
Outside of the city terminals, Stamford tops the list as the busiest rail station in the tri-state area, by quite a large margin.  With approximately 4.6 million annual boardings, it even beats out some of the secondary city terminals like Hoboken, Brooklyn-Atlantic Terminal, and Harlem-125 Street.  It has over 1 million more riders than the next busiest non-terminal station (White Plains) and 1.5 million more riders than LIRR's busiest stop.  Stamford ticks all of the boxes: it has fast travel times to New York, so it has a traditional commuter base.  It also has significant commercial and office development in the surrounding area, drawing in both reverse commuters and intermediate travelers from elsewhere along the New Haven Line.  Its nexus as the zone split point for New Haven Line mainline services means that it has easy access and one-seat rides to most other places on the NHL, and it sees a lot of intermedaite travel from that as well.

(Photo: The LIRR Today)

Busiest non-terminal rail station in New York City
Fordham
The busiest non-terminal station in New York City also serves a number of different trip types, beyond just the traditional Manhattan commuter.  Fordham is served by nearly all reverse-peak Harlem Line trains and many New Haven Line trains, making it a busy hub for riders travelling between the Bronx and work locations in the Hudson Valley and Connecticut.  At times, the number of reverse-peak travelers outnumber those headed to or from Manhattan.

(Photo: rik-shaw/Wikimedia Commons)

Busiest station in diesel territory
Beacon
This one is a tricky one.  With hourly service direct to NY-Grand Central, service about every 20-30 minutes during rush hour, and super-express service, people often forget that the upper portion of the Hudson Line is diesel territory.  The service on the upper Hudson Line is far better than what's seen on practically any other diesel line in the region, and the ridership figures show, with the line grabbing 3 out of the top 5 spots, led by Beacon with about 933,000 annual riders.  The runner-up is a bit unexpected (to me, at least): Westfield on the Raritan Valley Line.  Perhaps the diesel line with the second best service, the RVL also slots a number of stops into the to 10 busiest diesel stations (including Fanwood, Cranford, and Union).  The busiest LIRR station in diesel territory in 2018, Northport, doesn't even make the top 10 with 368,000 annual riders.

(Photo: Daniel Case/Wikimedia Commons)

Busiest station with less than daily service
Montclair-Walnut Street
This is another interesting one.  People often forget that much of the Montclair-Boonton Line doesn't see weekend service beyond Bay Street, but many of these stations are still well used on weekdays.  6 out of the top 10 busiest stations with less than daily service are on the electrified, but not served daily, portion of the line.  Mets-Willets Point is the busiest part-time LIRR station, and New Haven-State Street (for Metro-North purposes) is the busiest on that side.

(Photo: Adam Moss)

Busiest non-terminal station on the LIRR
Hicksville
Ronkonkoma was once the busiest station on Long Island, but it was overtaken by Hicksville about 10-15 years ago.  Significant commuter and occasional passenger growth given Hicksville's excellent service has made it a nexus for significant rider volume day and night.  Though as the COVID-19 pandemic has wound down, Ronkonkoma has retaken the top spot as the busiest LI station since 2021, at least according to ticket sales data.

(Photo: The LIRR Today)

Busiest non-terminal station on Metro-North
White Plains
Excluding the CTrail stations (Stamford), White Plains is the busiest outlying station on Metro-North.  Similarly to Stamford, it ticks a number of boxes: it is the zone split between local and express trains, is in a city with a lot of residential and commercial development, and is therefore a big hub for reverse-peak and intermediate commuters.  If only the LIRR and Long Island would build something similar!

(Photo: The LIRR Today)

Busiest non-terminal station on NJTransit
Metropark
A major hub for both city-bound commuters as well as reverse-peak travelers working in the area, Metropark is an important hub for both NJTransit and Amtrak, which also stops both Northeast Regional and Acela Express trains here.

(Photo: Adam Moss)

Least-used non-terminal station
Mount Pleasant
With only one train in each direction on weekdays and three trains in each direction on weekends, this little one-door stop serving cemeteries in the area is the least-used mainline rail station in the region.  With an average of just 766 passengers per year, it has the lowest recorded ridership by a lot.

(Photo: Usroadman/Wikimedia Commons)

Least-used city terminal station
Long Island City
Poor Long Island City, once the LIRR's main gateway to Manhattan, it has been overlooked by the Manhattan and Ronkonkoma Railroad for decades, and today functions like a train yard that just happens to have a couple of platforms in the middle of it.  Despite the significant residential and commercial growth in the area, the LIRR has not made any effort to increase service beyond a handful of peak-direction trains.  With just about 16,000 annual riders, it's the least used city terminal station by a lot.

(Photo: The LIRR Today)

Least-used non-terminal station in New York City
Belmont Park
Despite LIRR's slight-of-hand claims to sneak Belmont Park station into zone 4 to charge higher fares, the Belmont Park spur station is wholly within New York City, and little used enough to earn it the title of least-used, with about 26,900 passengers in 2018 (still better than LIC).  That record will go even further now that LIRR has practically abandoned use of the spur station outside of the Belmont Stakes day.  Many people chose Boland's Landing as the least-used station, but that actually sees about 34,000 riders per year, all on weekdays around shift changes at Morris Park.

(Photo: The LIRR Today)

Least-used station in electric territory
Mount Tabor
Excluding the cemetery stations, Mount Tabor station on the Morristown Line is the least-used in electric territory, with a measly 8,700 annual riders.  Only about half of Morristown Line trains stop at this station, which has just a single, short, low-platform on the eastbound side.  The station is only about a half-mile down the line from Denville, which has larger parking lots and better facilities.  

(Photo: The LIRR Today)

Least-used station with daily service
Manitou
Located in the Hudson Highlands, this station is often used by hikers on weekends, but it also gets a single AM Peak inbound stop and one PM Peak outbound stop, earning it the title of the least used station with daily service.  Manitou is actually the closest station to the Bear Mountain Bridge, which has made me wonder why Metro-North has never put more of an effort into building it up.

(Photo: Daniel Case/Wikimedia Commons)

Least-used station on the LIRR
Yaphank
With less than 3,000 boardings per year, Yaphank has persistently made the ranks as the least used station on Long Island.  Most people in eastern Brookhaven drive to Ronkonkoma for better service, and while there are a number of county offices in the vicinity of Yaphank station, the extremely infrequent service east of Ronkonkoma makes it a non-starter for most.  As a bit of a trick, Shinnecock Hills station was in the drop-down—but in 2018, LIRR rebuilt the station temporarily for the US Open.  Even given its temporary status, it was not LIRR's least used station, nor was it even all that close.  The LIRR boarded about 33,000 riders using the temporary station, moving more people in two weekends than they did the whole year at 13 other stations.

(Photo: The LIRR Today)

Least-used station on Metro-North
Breakneck Ridge
Another low-platform hiking stop station on the Hudson Line, Breakneck Ridge earns the title of least-used station on that system, aside from Mount Pleasant.

(Photo: Daniel Case/Wikimedia Commons)

Least-used station on NJTransit
Mount Olive
On the outer end of the Morristown and Boonton Lines, Mount Olive station is the least used station on NJT, and sixth least used overall, with about 4,000 annual boardings.  Even the stations in South Jersey on the Atlantic City Rail Line are all busier.  Runners up on the NJT side are Mountain Lakes on the Boonton Line and Lebanon on the western portion of the Raritan Valley Line.

(Photo: Adam Moss)

LIRR dumps service to Belmont Park spur for racing days, too

Belmont's Park spring meet is now underway, and the LIRR hasn't even made it to the starting gate.  This year, the railroad has eliminated the extra service it would operate to the Belmont Park spur station on racing days for those looking to take in the action at Belmont Park. With the completion of the new Elmont Main Line station last fall, racing fans will have to schlep all the way to the opposite side of the track for any rail service to and from the area.

The LIRR also eliminated extra shuttle service to the Belmont Park spur station for events at UBS Arena with the start of its new schedules for East Side Access.

The spur station platforms connect directly to the
Belmont Racetrack Grandstand through an overpass
(Photo: The LIRR Today)

For many years, the LIRR has operated four extra trains on racing days, which are typically Wednesdays through Sundays for about 12 weeks in the spring and about 8 weeks in the fall.  An eastbound train would operate from NY-Penn Station to Belmont Park, drop back to Jamaica for a second trip from Jamaica to Belmont Park, and then do the reverse later in the afternoon with one trip back to Jamaica and a second through to NY-Penn Station.  This service was eliminated for a brief stint as part of the 2009-2010 service cuts until it was reinstated with NYRA subsidy.

The MTA and LIRR are attempting to sell the long walk to the new Elmont station as a significant "improvement", with the usual mix of misleading talking points. While the Elmont station does provide more service opportunities with roughly hourly Hempstead Branch service most of the day (with additional Main Line trains stopping on weekend evenings and weekend afternoons), the trip will now take significantly longer and is more cumbersome and expensive.

Racing fans will need to walk around the edge of the track
to reach the Elmont station, three-quarters of a mile away
(Photo: The LIRR Today)

The station is at the opposite side of the track, and while horses at full gallop can round the corner and get to clubhouse in about 30 seconds, it takes upwards of 15 minutes to make the trip on foot.  It takes what was a 38-minute trip from NY-Penn Station to the Belmont Park spur station (just steps away from the Grandstand and Clubhouse) and turns it into a 55-minute trek from NY-Penn Station.  You will also have to pay more for the pleasure—LIRR's previous round-trip fare from NY-Penn Station to Belmont Park was $16.  With Elmont added into zone 4, a round-trip fare will cost you $18.50 during off-peak hours, a 16% increase.

NYRA is also offering a shuttle bus between the Grandstand and Elmont station, though operating much less frequently than the shuttles after UBS Arena events.  This is not really a legitimate alternative, however, since if we wanted shuttle buses to be an alternative, they could've just run them to Queens Village station instead and saved everyone some time and headache.  Like for UBS Arena events, running shuttles also represents a potentially significant expense for NYRA (at least $1,000 or more a day) that may find itself on the chopping block at some point.

Spur used for the Belmont Stakes

While special service for the normal racing days in the spring-summer and fall meets has been eliminated, the LIRR plans to use the spur on the day of the Belmont Stakes, which this year is June 10.  The LIRR has copy-and-pasted the service plan it developed in 2015 in the wake of its 2014 meltdown after the Belmont Stakes with some minor tweaks for this year to send a few trains to and from NY-Grand Central.  Because the railroad is copy-and-pasting an old service plan, there will be no trains stopping at Elmont Main Line station between 8a and 10p on the day of the Belmont Stakes.

The LIRR will also cut Hempstead Branch service to bi-hourly yet again this year on the day of the Belmont Stakes, despite the railroad spending tens of millions of dollars to construct additional routes through QUEENS Interlocking and adding a new PARK Interlocking with crossovers east of Floral Park as part of the Main Line Grade Crossing Elimination, both of which offer LIRR more than enough flexibility to maintain the pitiful hourly off-peak service operated on the Hempstead Branch.

Upgrades still underway

Despite abandoning virtually all service to and from the Belmont Park spur station, the LIRR is still dumping some significant money into the spur.  This is on top of the $4.26 million the railroad spent to install high-level platforms and new staircases after the 2014 Belmont Stakes fiasco. 

New dual control switches and a YSI installed and bagged
on the Belmont Park spur last spring (Photo: The LIRR Today)

As part of the QUEENS Interlocking Reconfiguration project, the LIRR is installing dual-control switches and yard switch indicators on the Belmont Park spur.  This will allow for the switches on the spur to be both remotely controlled from Jamaica as well as controlled manually on site.  This will make things much easier for the railroad to operate—trains would need permission from the block operator at JCC, and then they would remotely line the switches for you to get on or off the spur (the project description mentions a new BELMONT Interlocking).  Presently, trains can be delayed arriving or departing as the crew has to climb down and manually throw switches, if they're not properly lined.  This work seems to be nearing completion, with the railroad presumably trying to get everything in order for this year's Belmont Stakes on June 10.  The entire spur currently appears to be out of service (and has been some for several weeks).

New concrete ties, rail, and third rail have been installed on the spur as well
(Photo: The LIRR Today)

The railroad has also completely rehabilitated the track on both the east and west legs of they wye over the last several weeks, installing all new ties, rail, and third-rail.  Most of the station and yard tracks on the spur have also been fully rebuilt over the last 1-2 years.  Perhaps more work is also ongoing on the spur itself out of view from the Main Line. 

Most of these upgrades are being paid for by NYS Empire State Development, as part of the lease and funding agreement with New York Arena Partners that paved the way for the construction of UBS Arena.  It is part of a $106 million package of rail improvements that MTA and LIRR extorted out of ESD and NYAP as part of the Belmont Park Redevelopment project.

Regardless of whose money it is (and, in this case, it's all being financed by New York State taxpayers), it is extremely wasteful for LIRR to dump millions more into a spur that they clearly have no intention of using to any substantive extent in the future.  For what will truly be a one day a year occasion—at least until LIRR figures out how to do away with that service as well—wasting money in this way seems to be the height of poor management.  But that's how the LIRR works.

Racetrack reconstruction and retail village

The LIRR's continued erosion of service to the Belmont Park spur station comes on the heels of a major, $455 million NYRA reconstruction project at Belmont Racetrack approved in recent weeks, aimed at supporting year-round racing at Belmont Park.  The centerpiece of the renovation is expected to include a new building that will completely replace the existing grandstand and clubhouse which will be winterized to allow fans to enjoy racing during the colder months.  New racing surfaces and a synthetic track will allow NYRA to consolidate all downstate racing and training activities at Belmont Park, which is expected to ultimately lead to the closure of Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, unlocking 110 acres of State-owned land there for new development opportunities.

A new retail village will bring stores and dining to
Site B south of Hempstead Turnpike (ESD)

Work is also well underway on the next phase of the Belmont Park Redevelopment project, which will include a new 400,000+ square foot retail village on the former south lots, as well as a future 250-room hotel north of Hempstead Turnpike. The retail village is expected to open in 2024.  This project was shifted even further south and further away from Elmont station compared to the original plans (pictured at right)—instead of integrating the parking into the retail village, the Belmont garage was built as a separate freestanding structure immediately south of Hempstead Turnpike.

Both projects will bring many new people to the greater Belmont Park area year round—but with LIRR's relentless minimization of the Belmont Park spur, they will have a harder time getting there using mass transit.  The Grandstand and retail village are on the complete opposite end of the complex from the Elmont station—and will be a longer walk from the Main Line than walking from Amityville station to Sunrise Mall (which was done by approximately 0 people each year).

In order the make the most of these projects, LIRR should be seriously looking at making actual use of those infrastructure upgrades and provide daily, full-time service at Belmont Park to the maximum extent possible.  And ideally, look forward for ways to look beyond just Belmont Park and use the spur to address larger mobility issues within subway deserts in far eastern Queens.

QUEENS Interlocking reconfiguration brings new switches and signals, but slower train speeds

A rebuild of QUEENS Interlocking on the Main Line near Queens Village will bring new switches and signals to one of the busier junctions on the LIRR, but several of the changes will mean trains will move slower through the area then they have over the past decade.  While some of the changes were originally planned to tie in the new Main Line Third Track near Floral Park, the bulk of the work has been added as the result of the new Elmont station project, which plopped a new station down in the middle of the interlocking and has required additional work to support bi-directional service from both the Main Line and the Hempstead Branch.

New switches and signals installed at QUEENS 3 just east of
the new Elmont station (Photo: The LIRR Today)

QUEENS Interlocking is located along the Main Line and extends from just east of Queens Village to just west of Floral Park.  It is effectively the splitting point between the Main Line and the Hempstead Branch, where trains need to be rearranged and crossover each other so they are on the right tracks heading towards Jamaica and headings towards Eastern Long Island.  The Belmont Park wye also splits off in the middle of the interlocking, just east of Queens Village, though the switches on the spur itself were not previously interlocked.

It is a frequent point of congestion during disruptions and acts as a constraint on the Hempstead Branch, as westbound trains from the Hempstead Branch need to crossover Main Line trains that speed through the interlocking in both directions.  When this happens, traffic in both directions on the Main Line is held up so trains from the Hempstead Branch can cross from the south side of the line to the north side in order to stop at Queens Village, Hollis, and Hillside stations.

The pre-2008 layout of QUEENS Interlocking just west of Bellerose.
Photo take in 2003. (Photo: The Position Light)

The existing switches and signals at QUEENS Interlocking were not all that old—the LIRR rebuilt and reconfigured QUEENS Interlocking less than 15 years ago, when the railroad undertook a significant effort to straighten out switches and routes and speed up trains through the area.  The original layout of QUEENS Interlocking was quite chaotic west of Bellerose station, where there was a very contorted stretch of track and switches.  Nicknamed the "Bellerose bump", trains would lurch from side to side as they lumbered through the complex at 60 mi/hr.  

This configuration of QUEENS Interlocking dated back to 1960 when the LIRR grade-separated the Main Line and Hempstead Branch through downtown Floral Park and Bellerose.  Prior to 1960, the Main Line and the Hempstead Branch merged just west of Floral Park station.

In 2008, the LIRR undertook a major effort to straighten out the track through the area.  The "Y" switches were removed and all four tracks were straightened so the there are no twists or bends from Hillside all the way through to Bellerose and Floral Park stations.  In place of the Bellerose bump switches, the LIRR installed four high-speed crossovers with moveable point frogs that allowed trains to travel at 80 mi/hr through them.

The double high-speed crossovers at QUEENS 2, looking west
(Photo: The LIRR Today)

This was a big win for Main Line riders, as through trains to the Main Line branches could now speed through the area at 80 mi/hr instead of having to slow to 60 mi/hr to traverse the Bellerose bump switches.  While this did not have a big impact on travel times, it provided a much smoother and more consistent ride for riders, and allowed Main Line trains to travel at 80 mi/hr uninterrupted between the reverse curves at the west end of the Hillside Viaduct all the way through to the west end of Hicksville station (the second-longest stretch of 80 mi/hr running on the LIRR). 

The configuration of QUEENS Interlocking prior to 2022 was fairly straightforward.  Eastbound Hempstead Branch trains on the eastbound local track (southernmost track) would be able to continue straight east into Bellerose station and onto the Hempstead Branch.  Westbound trains would have to stop at Bellerose and then use the ladder crossovers at QUEENS 1 immediately to the east of Queens Village station to switch onto the westbound local track and stop at Queens Village.

Main Line trains would run on the middle two express tracks and would be able to use the high-speed crossovers to easily shift up to the northernmost two tracks for when the Main Line would split from the Hempstead Branch at Floral Park.  During the peak periods when trains would use both Main Line tracks in the peak direction, trains could continue straight through QUEENS Interlocking in the morning (though a handful of trains did proceed west on track 2), and in the evening, trains would use both sets of the high-speed crossovers to move through the area at 80 mi/hr.

Because QUEENS Interlocking is a 'flat' junction, when a westbound Hempstead Branch train needed to cross over the Main Line tracks to stop at Queens Village, traffic in both directions on the Main Line would be interrupted.  But at least with the 80 mi/hr switches, Main Line trains could move through the area quickly as long as their route was clear.

Elmont complication

The 113 and 221 high-speed crossovers fell right in the middle of
the new Elmont station (Photo: The LIRR Today)

The introduction of a new Elmont station on the Main Line between Bellerose and Queens Village for the new UBS Arena added an additional layer of complication to the area and required some extensive reconfiguration work in order to rearrange the way trains move through the interlocking.  Because the new station was located east (or, rather, right in the middle of) the part of the interlocking where Main Line and Hempstead Branch trains overlapped and traded places, it wouldn't have been possible for the both Main Line and Hempstead Branch trains to stop at the station in both directions like the LIRR wanted.  In fact, the station would've had to be served by Main Line trains only in the westbound direction and Hempstead Branch trains only in the eastbound direction.

In order to make the new station work, the LIRR had to effectively duplicate most of QUEENS Interlocking again between the new Elmont station and Bellerose/Floral Park, that way Hempstead Branch trains could switch to the northernmost track before Elmont (instead of just before Queens Village) and Main Line trains could stop at Elmont and still switch up to the Main Line and not have to go down the Hempstead Branch.

The LIRR is spending $155 million on an overall package of improvements to QUEENS Interlocking, which will also include about $31.3 million worth of signal equipment to replace everything installed in 2008.  LIRR Force Account crews have been handling the actual switch installations and will install the new signals.  The MTA and LIRR extorted $106 million out of New York Arena Partners (the developer who built UBS Arena) and ESD to pay for transit improvements that will support the new arena—$65 million of that went to build Elmont station itself, and the remaining $40 million will go towards offsetting the costs of these extra switch and signal improvements 

High-speed crossovers removed

As part of the reconfiguration, the LIRR removed the high-speed crossovers that were installed in 2008 and relocated the two sets of crossovers to be to either side of Elmont station.  The eastern pair of crossovers (formerly switches 113E/W and 221E/W) is now located fully to the east of Elmont station, almost all the way to Bellerose, and the siwtches are designated 213E/W and 221E/W.  Unfortunately, the LIRR only installed 60 mi/hr switches in their place, which means trains will now need to slow down in order to switch between tracks.  While a 20 mi/hr reduction in speed through the interlocking is unlikely to have a significant impact on train running times, this is a disappointing step backwards for the LIRR, which has done little to push the envelope on train speeds.

Additional ladder added west of Bellerose

The new ladder switches at QUEENS 3, looking east
(Photo: The LIRR Today)

In order to allow westbound Hempstead Branch trains to stop at Elmont, the LIRR needed to add additional, duplicative switches between Bellerose and Elmont to allow trains to shift over to the westbound local track.  Since LIRR has said that full-time service at Elmont will be provided primarily by the Hempstead Branch, we can expect nearly all westbound trains to use these crossovers in order to stop there.  Four switches for two crossovers (switches  231E/W and 212E/W) were added immediately west of Elmont station and allows a westbound train to stop at Bellerose and then crossover to stop at Elmont (and probably not break 20 mi/hr while doing so).  These switches were cutover the weekend of October 29 and 30, 2022 and were the last component needed in order to provide full-time bi-directional service at Elmont.

The exact stopping patterns for full-time service Elmont still seems to be up in the air.  The LIRR's proposed service plan for East Side Access did not have show any westbound trains stopping at Elmont, I assume because they thought these switches would not be ready in time.  Instead, westbound service is provided by adding Elmont stops to way too many Main Line trains.  The draft timetables show all Hempstead trains and a large number of Main Line trains stopping at Elmont in the eastbound direction.

Flipped switch west of Floral Park

The original orientation of the 324 crossover in QUEENS 4, looking west
(Photo: The LIRR Today)

The new reversed layout of crossover 342 allows eastbound trains headed
for the Main Line to switch onto the Third Track at Floral Park (The LIRR Today)

The last piece of the puzzle and reconfiguration needed for Elmont station was actually part of the Main Line Grade Crossing Elimination project.  The single 324 crossover located in QUEENS 4 Interlocking just west of Floral Park station on the Hempstead Branch was reversed and is now the 342 crossover.  This switch previously allowed Hempstead trains travelling east on the westbound Hempstead Branch track to switch back to the eastbound track going towards Hempstead.  Now, it allows trains headed eastbound on the eastbound local track (the southernmost track) to switch to the second track from the south, which is the new Main Line Third Track and also the westbound Hempstead Branch track.

This now effectively moves the dividing point between the Main Line and Hempstead Branch much further east.  While Main Line and Hempstead Branch trains previously had to be on their separate tracks by the high-speed crossovers west of Bellerose station, now Main Line trains can travel through Bellerose station (and stop there for the first time since 1960), switch onto the westbound Hempstead Branch track through Floral Park station, and then use the new switch and new PARK 1 Interlocking to head out east on the new Third Track.

There is a major drawback to this change, however—LIRR installed very tight 15 mi/hr switches for the new 342 crossover at QUEENS 4, meaning that any train that needs to use this crossover must slow to a crawl while they are over these switches.  While cutting 80 mi/hr switches down to 60 mi/hr turnouts reduces train speeds, a change like that is not likely to have a major impact on running times.  But slowing an 80 mi/hr movement down to 15 mi/hr definitely will, and already has proven so after the first several days of expanded event service at Elmont station.

Why the LIRR installed such a slow switch in the middle of [what was previously] a very fast interlocking is beyond my reckoning.  This switch was installed as part of the Main Line Grade Crossing Elimination project—and was built into the design before Elmont station was added.  I suspect the railroad was trying to be cheap and squeeze the new crossover within the footprint of the old one so they didn't have to relocate the signals—and they likely thought it would be used on only rare occasions when the express tracks were out of service (and trains would still switch onto the Main Line tracks at QUEENS 2 like they did before).  The original 324 crossover west of Floral Park was very rarely used by Hempstead Branch trains while it was facing the other direction. When the Elmont station was added, it was extremely sloppy to not upgrade these turnouts to something faster once they planned on sending many more trains over it.

The 15 mi/hr crossover will be a major schedule killer.  Through the first several events at Elmont, eastbound Main Line trains that have stopped at Elmont station were held down at 15 mi/hr leaving the station, all the way through Bellerose, and until they were clear of this switch at QUEENS 4.  That means trains must run for roughly 1 whole mile at slow speed, when they could previously plow through at 80 mi/hr—if that is the permanent condition, then it will definitely be a major schedule killer.  Operating at 15 mi/hr for this stretch instead of 80 mi/hr would add over 3 minutes to running times.

Below is a video I took of a westbound Hempstead Branch train taking this switch in reverse.  The train receives a slow approach signal departing Floral Park (proceed at slow speed (15 mi/hr) until clear of interlocking, then at medium speed (30 mi/hr), approaching next signal prepared to stop) and the train crawls the almost the entire way to Bellerose.  The head car is almost hitting the platform at Bellerose before you can hear the train accelerate for a few brief seconds before needing to slow down to stop at Bellerose.  Note: you may need to view this in your web browser to see the embedded video.

Couple this added running time with the time lost making the added station stop at Elmont in the first place (since the Main Line trains adding stops at Elmont don't have time built into the schedule to make the stop) and most post-event Main Line trains have been arriving Mineola 7-10+ minutes late each night they stop at Elmont, which is a major problem.   The LIRR's proposed service plan for East Side Access calls for a significant number of eastbound Main Line trains—including every weekend train—to stop at Elmont, so this slow section will be a major headache and inconvenience for riders going forward.

When you put all of the pieces of the puzzle together, the new configuration of QUEENS Interlocking will look like this:

With the new routings, Hempstead Branch trains would take the new crossovers between Bellerose and Elmont to be able to stop at the westbound platform at Elmont.  Eastbound trains towards Hempstead would be able to continue on the southernmost track like they can today:

With the reconfiguration and introduction of the new Third Track, the number of routing options through QUEENS Interlocking for Main Line increases.  Trains can use the [slower] crossovers either side of Elmont, or stay straight on the same track they're on west of Mineola.

Having Main Line trains stop at Elmont reduces the number of potential routes, and will limit LIRR's operational flexibility.  Westbound trains from either the Main Line or the Hempstead Branch must now stay on the local track all the way through to HALL Interlocking just east of Jamaica (there are no crossovers to switch back to the express track west of Queens Village).  Eastbound trains that are stopping at Elmont can use either the local or express tracks west of Queens Village, but once they switch onto the local track to stop at Elmont, they must use the slow 15 mi/hr switch west of Floral Park and must use the local track as far as NASSAU 1 Interlocking west of Mineola.  There are no crossovers to switch back to the middle express track until Mineola.

PARK Interlocking returns

The new junction to the Main Line Third Track at PARK 1 just east of
Floral Park station (Photo: The LIRR Today)

Separate from QUEENS Interlocking itself, but still important to train movements through the area is the new PARK Interlocking just east of Floral Park.  This new interlocking consists of two parts—PARK 1 Interlocking immediately east of Floral Park station has a single new switch that allows trains on the westbound Hempstead Branch to continue east onto the new Main Line Third Track towards New Hyde Park and Eastern LI.  This results in a chaotic bit of dispatching as eastbound Main Line trains that need to use the local track to stop at New Hyde Park and GC-Merillon Avenue conflict head-on with westbound trains from the Hempstead Branch.  With the reduced levels of peak-direction service and the very limited reverse-peak service in the present schedules, this has not caused much of an issue to date, but will invariably by a major constraint to increasing service on the Hempstead Branch.

PARK Interlocking previously existed on the railroad in this area prior to the grade-separation of the Main Line through Floral Park in 1960.

In an attempt to mitigate the head-on bottleneck through Floral Park station, the LIRR installed two additional crossovers on the Hempstead Branch between Floral Park and Stewart Manor.  This is designed to allow LIRR to effectively singe-track the Hempstead Branch through the eastern half of QUEENS Interlocking, allowing the north three tracks to be used primarily by Main Line trains:

But doing this then gets a bit complicated—because LIRR flipped the switch just west of Floral Park (instead of installing a new, higher-speed crossover like they should've), there are now no ways for a train travelling westbound on the eastbound local track to switch back to the other side until the original ladder switches at QUEENS 1 immediately to the east of Queens Village.  So a train that wants to single track through Floral Park must also single-track in the opposite direction through Bellerose and Elmont stations as well—now this is a more than 2-mile long bottleneck with three station stops in the middle of it.  

We will have to see how the LIRR dispatches trains through the area once the new East Side Access service plan is put into place—they have certainly set themselves up for lots of congestion and headaches, and have put major constraints on increasing service through QUEENS Interlocking in the future (especially on the Hempstead Branch).

The fall of the position light signals

The large gantries with position light signals will soon fade into the sunset
and be replaced with Reduced Aspect Signals (Photo: The LIRR Today)

A new Reduced Aspect Signal installed at PARK 1 Interlocking
at Floral Park (Photo: The LIRR Today)

While all of the new switch work is now substantially complete, the LIRR is also planning to replace the signal system in QUEENS Interlocking as part of the project.  This means that the existing position light signals—once a mainstay across the LIRR—will likely be removed and replaced with Reduced Aspect Signals throughout the whole complex (except for the Belmont Park spur).  These signals are also relatively young, as they were installed when the LIRR last redid QUEENS Interlocking less than 15 years ago.

The signals that were installed to protect the new switches installed at QUEENS 3 and PARK 1/PARK 2 are already reduced aspect signals, while the existing position light signals will remain until the new signals and signal huts arrive beginning next summer.

This is the latest part of the LIRR's push to expand Reduced Aspect Signaling across the railroad.  Reduced Aspect Signals were first rolled out as part of the Ronkonkoma Branch Double Track project between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma, and they were also used on the Main Line Grade Crossing Elimination project for the new NASSAU 1 and NASSAU 3 interlockings, the reconfigured NASSAU 2 Interlocking, and now also NASSAU 4 Interlocking on the Oyster Bay Branch.

The railroad is expected to replace the signals around DIVIDE and BETH Interlockings at some point in the next few years as part of the upcoming DIVIDE Interlocking rehabilitation project, at which point the Main Line will be fully RAS from Queens Village all the way through to Ronkonkoma.

Belmont Park spur

The existing Belmont Park spur is also getting some upgrades as part of upgrades in the area.  The Belmont Park spur has usually been treated like a yard that just happens to have passenger platforms by the railroad.  The spur itself is not considered mainline track, and there is no signaling, no interlocked switches, and no cab signal codes in the rails, and no Positive Train Control on the spur.  All of the switches are hand-operated, except for the switches where the Queens-Belmont Running Track (west leg of the wye) and the east leg of the wye connect to the Main Line.  Because there is no cab signaling, trains that operate on the spur drop to the slowest code and forced to operate at 15 mi/hr or less (the LIRR further restricts speeds to 5 mi/hr within the yard).

The LIRR upgraded the Belmont Park spur just a few years ago to add two high-level platforms and rearrange switches to allow for 10-car trains to serve the spur (previously trains to the spur were limited to 8 cars). 

Dual control switches and Yard Switch Indicators are being installed on the
Belmont Park spur (Photo: The LIRR Today)

As part of the improvements, the LIRR is installing dual control switches (which can either be controlled remotely or thrown manually on site with a lever).  This will allow for the block operator at Jamaica to remotely throw switches so trains can move into and out of the station and yard tracks without having to stop to have the conductor climb down and throw the switches manually.

The project description for the QUEENS Interlocking signal contract also mentions a new BELMONT Interlocking, which may incorporate some or all of these switches.  The LIRR also appears to be installing Yard Switch Indicators (bagged in my photo above, you can see them better in this photo from Edward Hand on Flickr).  Presumably this means LIRR will be setting up the Belmont Park spur along the lines of Long Beach, where every switch is not technically part of an interlocking protected by a full signal, but rather the block operator notifies an arriving or departing train when their route is lined, and then they can confirm that the route is set properly by using the Yard Switch Indicators.

Bi-directional service from Belmont Park?

It would, of course, have been too simple for LIRR to just to a proper overhaul of the Belmont Park spur station to support full-time and/or special event service in both directions from the existing spur station, instead of wasting all of this money on building a new station two-thirds of a mile away from the arena and within walking distance of three other existing stations.  The spur has its challenges, but the LIRR could have ripped out every piece of track and switch and installed everything new at a higher quality for likely a fraction of the cost (especially since they wouldn't've had to work around active tracks), but it would deliver a far better experience for LIRR riders, as the railroad could time extra trains to arrive from both points east and west before events, and then have extra trains standing there ready to go as soon as the event was over (so people wouldn't get caught between gaps in existing service).

But the LIRR clearly did not want anything to do with utilizing the Belmont Park spur and running anything more than the bare minimum service that was designed to be as useless as possible so nobody will use it.  That is where the Elmont Main Line station came into play—if they could shake down the arena developers for the funding to build that, they can serve the new arena entirely with regularly scheduled trains and not have to put any effort into running extra service.  This, naturally, results in poor options for riders.

One of the excuses LIRR threw out during the planning process for the Belmont Park Redevelopment project was the issue that trains from the Belmont Park spur could not easily access the Main Line tracks to provide direct service to/from points east.  While this was nominally true at the time, the LIRR actually had this routing as an option in the old configuration of QUEENS Interlocking prior to the 2008 reconfiguration project.  Trains could use the east leg of the wye and then the switches just west of Bellerose station to access the eastbound Main Line track:

When the LIRR upgraded QUEENS Interlocking in 2008 and installed those high-speed crossovers, the new crossovers were much longer than the 60 mi/hr equilateral switches they replaced, and therefore the western pair of crossovers was shifted further west, west of where the east leg of the wye tied into the Main Line.  With these relocations, it was no longer possible for a train from the spur to use the east leg of the wye and reach the Main Line.  In fact, they couldn't event reach the westbound Hempstead track, in order to run trains to the Belmont Park spur to/from points east, the railroad would have to single track all the way to Hempstead (which they have done for non-passenger trains on the day of the Belmont Stakes since 2015).

But what the MTA and LIRR failed to mention was that the proposed Elmont Main Line station would have the exact same problem—and that they were already planning to address this as part of the Main Line Grade Crossing Elimination project.  Because the new Elmont station would also be to the east of where the high-speed crossovers started, it wouldn't have been possible for eastbound trains to stop at Elmont and switch back to the Main Line before the tracks split east of Floral Park.  But when the railroad flipped the QUEENS 4 switch just west of Floral Park, it unlocked this route, and today it is now possible to run direct service from the Belmont Park spur to/from the Main Line stations.

LIRR could have spent far less money upgrading the Belmont Park spur, restoring the east leg of the wye to proper operating condition, and adding one or two strategic crossovers to improve the flow and number of routings through QUEENS Interlocking (instead of duplicating large portions of it to support a new Elmont station).

Still a flat junction

While the QUEENS Interlocking reconfiguration will add some new routes, and also plenty of new complication, ultimately the largest draw back out of everything is that at the end of the day it is still a flat junction, meaning when trains cross paths they do so right in front of each other, holding up trains that are travelling in the opposite direction or need to use conflicting routes.  This causes delays during service disruptions and serves as a very hard constraint on improving service in the future.

Many of the busiest junctions on mainline routes around the world are grade-separated, or flying junctions.  This is definitely the best practice, and would have been the best use of funding set aside for transit improvements to support UBS Arena.  With a grade separated junction (similar to several of the junctions around Jamaica and HAROLD Interlocking), one or more of the tracks would be elevated on a new overpass above or below the rest of the tracks so Main Line and Hempstead Branch trains could swap places without having to physically cross paths.

For QUEENS Interlocking, the best move would have been to build a narrow overpass structure to allow the westbound Hempstead Branch track to flyover the Main Line tracks and descend back down on the north side of the tracks just before Queens Village.  The Main Line tracks would curve slightly to the south (similar to how they do for the Montauk Branch flyover just west of Hillside).  This would allow Main Line and Hempstead Branch trains to flow seamlessly through the junction without crossing paths with each other:

Below is a screenshot from a sketch I made in 2018 showing what I believe would be the ideal layout for a grade-separated QUEENS Interlocking.  By locating the flyover just east of Queens Village (instead of closer to Floral Park or Bellerose), the LIRR could also build a flyover for the Belmont Park spur and tie both together, allowing for trains entering and leaving the spur to operate in both directions without interrupting Main Line traffic.  This would remove several major bottlenecks in the current design and allow the LIRR to maximize full-time service to both the Hempstead Branch and the Belmont Park spur without impacting the Main Line traffic.  

Despite claiming that East Side Access will user in a 40% increase in service, the LIRR is not actually adding much peak service at all to stations east of Jamaica—the level of traffic through QUEENS Interlocking is staying basically the same as it is today.  There will be just one additional Hempstead train in the AM Peak period and one additional Hempstead and one additional Main Line train during the main part of the PM Peak period.  So the LIRR will likely be able to deal with a flat junction at QUEENS Interlocking with only the usual delays and congestion.  But something like this would definitely be needed if the LIRR ever gets serious about addressing peak-direction capacity issues on the Main Line, by increasing peak-direction service on the Main Line or, (for example) reactivating the Central Branch.  

It should be of great concern that even when the MTA and LIRR are given someone else's money to spend (in this case, $106 million from New York Arena Partners and ESD), they still manage to figure out how to spend it in some of the dumbest ways possible.  By adding a new station within walking distance of three other stations (and within the line of sight of a fourth), the LIRR is not only slowing down the rides for everyone boarding east of Elmont whose trains are now making an additional stop at a station that doesn't really serve anyone new, the switch reconfigurations required to support service to the new station actually force the LIRR to slow down trains through the area, and make train routings more complicated and prone to congestion and delays.

Both the current and reconfigured layout of QUEENS Interlocking will continue to significantly constrain LIRR's ability to maximize service on the Main Line and the Hempstead Branch for many years to come—and with the added complication of the new Elmont Main Line station, riders will be facing plenty of headaches and slower trains in the years ahead.