East End Service: Greenport Scoot, Montauk Line, Etc.

MACTRAXX wrote:NK:
I believe that the LIRR has been reluctant to do this because it may end up carrying many Ronkonkoma riders looking for a nonstop express train option even with the change at Jamaica.

I'm confused... why would the LIRR be reluctant to carry passengers?

PS:

The reason I believe the LIRR has been reluctant to running Greenport Scoot equipment in revenue service from Ronkonkoma on west is due to the extreme difference in consist size - two or three at the most C3s instead of a much longer MU train. There will probably have to be announcements made and even a car stop sign for these short trains so riders know where to stand at Ronkonkoma waiting for this short train. The ridership count out of Ronkonkoma will be
interesting to see if anyone prefers a nonstop ride from Ronkonkoma to Jamaica even with the transfer to Penn Station instead of a regular MU run.

MACTRAXX

It's more about the fact you can run a non-passenger movement whenever, as long as it is not an Employee train (moving crew(s) from one place to another). Since it is now a scheduled move, it has to be slotted accordingly. The crew will now be on duty roughly an hour longer than they were when it was a deadhead train.

It will be interesting to see if the fine residents from the East End utilize this, though. It is quite obvious that people flock to the east end, but there are people trying to get the heck out of there, especially younger people wanting to go into the NYC nightlife. I think it will be well served, but the question will be: can a two car, sometimes one car train, handle things if it actually proves successful? I personally think the public timetable times are too long to maximize it's potential. We shall see, though.

SM:

I agree with you concerning the crew - a deadhead train is easier to handle vs. a regular run. Without that assigned crew you have no train.

I also think that this new service could be an experiment of sorts to see how riders utilize this new service option. One idea would be to operate a nonstop train west of Ronkonkoma from Greenport on Sunday evenings with this note in the timetable: "Stops at Ronkonkoma primarily to discharge passengers; May leave up to 5 minutes earlier then scheduled" to cover that angle to try to keep this train from becoming overcrowded by Ronkonkoma riders going west.

MACTRAXX

Having ridden my fair share of trains from Ronk, I can tell you I would gladly ride this and do a cross-transfer at Jamaica.

SwingMan wrote:It's more about the fact you can run a non-passenger movement whenever, as long as it is not an Employee train (moving crew(s) from one place to another). Since it is now a scheduled move, it has to be slotted accordingly. The crew will now be on duty roughly an hour longer than they were when it was a deadhead train.

It will be interesting to see if the fine residents from the East End utilize this, though. It is quite obvious that people flock to the east end, but there are people trying to get the heck out of there, especially younger people wanting to go into the NYC nightlife. I think it will be well served, but the question will be: can a two car, sometimes one car train, handle things if it actually proves successful? I personally think the public timetable times are too long to maximize it's potential. We shall see, though.

It doesn't arrive into the city until after 11pm unless your going to the club the train is useless for Friday night folks.

Everyone:

With the new LIRR schedules (May 23-September 5, 2016) being made available this train (#253) is listed:
Greenport 8:38pm
Southold 8:47pm
Mattituck 8:59pm
Riverhead 9:15pm
Yaphank 9:43pm
Medford 9:57pm
Ronkonkoma 10:03pm; Westbound local train #2071 leaves at 10:11pm following
Arrive Jamaica: 11:05pm
Connections: Leave Jamaica 11:07pm
Arrive Penn Station 11:26pm; Atlantic Terminal 11:32pm
This train runs Fridays only from May 27 to October 7, 2016

Let's see how riders respond to this new service and if it is successful. MACTRAXX

Quite interesting . . . . . .

If I wanted to spend a summer weekend in the city, see a show, catch a few good dinners and do some sightseeing, this would be the ticket. My return would be on the Sunday evening eastbound arriving at Greenport at 6:11 PM.

de Don n2qhvRMLI

Hey Don! Just checked back in here and saw your post. As was noted, it's that same Friday night "dirty" train that's going live. I'm not holding out much hope for this. The timing is all wrong for it to see any kind of significant ridership, but again, LIRR is just doing what it can with what it has. This was simply an opportunity that presented itself within the confines of the existing operation. I hope all is well with you, I'll have to come out east again some time!

Gets into the city too late to be able to get to a show or dinner.

Crabman1130 wrote:Gets into the city too late to be able to get to a show or dinner.

Said the same thing lol people don't read.

MACTRAXX wrote:Everyone:

With the new LIRR schedules (May 23-September 5, 2016) being made available this train (#253) is listed:
Greenport 8:38pm
Southold 8:47pm
Mattituck 8:59pm
Riverhead 9:15pm
Yaphank 9:43pm
Medford 9:57pm
Ronkonkoma 10:03pm; Westbound local train #2071 leaves at 10:11pm following
Arrive Jamaica: 11:05pm
Connections: Leave Jamaica 11:07pm
Arrive Penn Station 11:26pm; Atlantic Terminal 11:32pm
This train runs Fridays only from May 27 to October 7, 2016

Let's see how riders respond to this new service and if it is successful. MACTRAXX

For a train that only stops at Jamaica, that is pretty slow. Ronkonkoma to Penn is 80 minutes all-local, ~40 minutes to Hicksville, 60 minutes to Jamaica.

It's just padding. If it had a clear shot it would be around 45 minutes. They could have just had it leave 10-15 minutes later to cut that out, but we'll see how things go.

2nd track will definitely help those times.

CentralValleyRail wrote:

Crabman1130 wrote:Gets into the city too late to be able to get to a show or dinner.

Said the same thing lol people don't read.

No i have been on that train it has quite a few young people on friday night going into the city to party. They usually dont go home until the sun comes up.