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  • LIRR Mainline Third Track Project

  • Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.
Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

 #1514489  by MattAmity90
 
I already mentioned that there will be an outage next month for the weekend of August 24th-25th. That will be to install the Covert Avenue bridge, along with the 2nd and 3rd Avenue portions as well. I'm not sure if the Railroad Avenue segment is included with the bridge installation this weekend.

Another outage is expected in August, a few weeks before Covert Avenue. There will be no service West of Mineola, and certain branches East of Jamaica. The Main Line will be out for sure, but I'm not sure if the Hempstead Branch will be in service (I say no). What they will be doing is extending the bridge over South Tyson Avenue at Floral Park for the third track between the EB track on the Main Line, and the WB track on the Hempstead Branch. Viaduct supports have been erected to extend the viaduct, and this new bridge will widen the viaduct.
 #1514813  by REM3Night
 
MattAmity90 wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:37 am Major news that will take place at the following locations that were announced this week!

Carle Place: Piers for the new EB platform are being installed, and in August the pedestrian bridge that has existed since they electrified from Mineola to Hicksville and Huntington in 1970 will be demolished. In the meantime, the new ADA-accessbile pedestrian bridge will be completed and in service this October.
Hi Matt,
I was out of town for the last week and a half.
I was at the Carle Place Station Sunday afternoon and the pedestrian bridge has been removed (probably during the Urban Avenue shut down). I don't see footings for the new bridge at this time.
Part of the westbound platform was replaced some weeks ago and now the remaining part has been removed. A section of the new eastbound platform is in place and the track bed for the third track is in place. I guess that there will be temporary walkways installed to the platform.
Ray
 #1514823  by nyandw
 
http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/3rd%20 ... roject.htm

Urban Ave underpass construction - View S zoom 7/22/2019 from this morning... :-)
Photos/Archive: Dave Morrison
Attachments:
Urban Ave_viewS-zoom_22July2019_Morrison.jpg
Urban Ave_viewS-zoom_22July2019_Morrison.jpg (134.18 KiB) Viewed 2507 times
Urban Ave_viewS_22July2019_Morrison.jpg
Urban Ave_viewS_22July2019_Morrison.jpg (114.25 KiB) Viewed 2507 times
 #1514902  by MattAmity90
 
[/quote]

Hi Matt,
I was out of town for the last week and a half.
I was at the Carle Place Station Sunday afternoon and the pedestrian bridge has been removed (probably during the Urban Avenue shut down). I don't see footings for the new bridge at this time.
Part of the westbound platform was replaced some weeks ago and now the remaining part has been removed. A section of the new eastbound platform is in place and the track bed for the third track is in place. I guess that there will be temporary walkways installed to the platform.
Ray
[/quote]

The bridge has been been torn down :( (so many lovely memories), the footings will soon be poured. It is an extremely busy site, and it's probably already laid. A temporary platform is being erected for the EB platform where the third track will be. As soon as the ADA accessable elevator/pedestrian bridge is completed, work will begin on the Eastern half of the WB platform in October. Most likely when that happens, the original Eastern half of the EB platform will be demolished. There are three ways you can access the EB platform:

1.) Cherry Lane staircase at the Western half that leads to a walkway next to the sound barriers and the EB platform piers.
2.) Park walkway.
3.) Carle Road staircase at the Eastern half of the EB platform.

WB platform can be accessed to a parking lot (no parking allowed) and a new Cherry Lane staircase on the Western end of the WB platform.

Sorry if I went into fastidious detail, but this project is LARGER than the Ronkonkoma Double-Track Project!

PS: I wish I could've gotten a mushroom light head as a souvenir, but I live in Pennsylvania now instead of Long Island :( and didn't have enough money to make a trip in. I miss my home, but it's SO expensive!
 #1515542  by MattAmity90
 
Out of all the crossings that will be eliminated, New Hyde Park Road will be the most complex since it is the only crossing that is more than 2-lanes wide. After reviewing a video and a camera mounted to a pole held by a construction worker I found this out:

1.) The camera picture from the worker is showing the grass to the West of NHP Road being prepped with dirt, the sidewalk and grass are spray painted, and the power lines rerouted.

2.) A video I saw showed that since the road is the busiest, they will NOT close the road like they have done at Covert Ave. and Urban Ave. The video showed that they will be doing the following:

2a.) Reroute traffic to the left where the grass is.
2b.) This will result in a temporary grade crossing two-lanes wide.
2c.) Rip the road up.
2d.) Box Tunnel construction that will have the bridge on top.
2e.) Excavation to complete the sloping for 5 lanes.
2f.) Pour concrete, pave, reopen traffic.
2g.) Dismantle the temporary crossing, project with the station will continue to commence.
 #1515577  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone:

News 12 Long Island broadcast this report (7/29) about the efforts of the Mineola Historical Society to save
the Mineola Station south waiting room, Nassau Tower and the sub station building alongside:

http://longisland.news12.com/story/4085 ... demolished

In this case Nassau Tower is right in the path of the new Third Track and the south waiting room may be too close
to the new track and platform for it to be renovated and preserved. The sub station building location may allow it
to be saved as is for another use.

MACTRAXX
 #1515604  by robertwa
 
I was at Merillon Ave. this morning. It looks like they have nearly completed what I assume are two temporary platforms west of the current (shortened to 6 car) platforms. I'm trying to figure out what the next stage will be - demolish the current platforms and build new platforms for the expanded 3-track ROW, or something else? Why do they need 2 temporary platforms anyway? I thought the westbound track would remain as is as the westbound "local" track, the current eastbound track would become the middle "express" track and the new 3rd track (eastbound "local") would be built south of the existing tracks. Addendum: After thinking about it, perhaps they need to totally rebuild the westbound platform to make it ADA compliant?
Last edited by robertwa on Thu Aug 01, 2019 10:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
 #1515662  by MattAmity90
 
robertwa wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 2:24 pm I was at Merillon Ave. this morning. It looks like they have nearly completed what I assume are two temporary platforms west of the current (shortened to 6 car) platforms. I'm trying to figure out what the next stage will be - demolish the current platforms and build new platforms for the expanded 3-track ROW, or something else? Why do they need 2 temporary platforms anyway? I thought the westbound track would remain as is as the westbound "local" track, the current eastbound track would become the middle "express" track and the new 3rd track (eastbound "local") would be built south of the existing tracks.
Just like the Babylon Branch way, to keep both tracks in service. They are doing the same thing at Carle Place: Where the third track will be laid in the future, they are constructing temporary platforms to keep service flowing. I'm astonished at how swift and detailed those wooden platforms are for service. It made me think, "If only the LIRR back in the late 1960's-early 1970's knew they could construct temporary platforms like that, at the snap of a finger, how much money and wood they could have saved when elevating the Babylon Branch." That would be exquisite, cost-effective, and as soon as the project is completed they dismantle it within a few weeks. It's not the first example of a temporary platform built like that, because they did it at Shinnecock last year with the fancy golf green surface to welcome golf spectators.

As a reminder, they closed traffic to Urban Avenue back on March 8th, 2019 and it is now August 1st, 2019 as I'm posting this. This project's movement has absolutely no friction whatsoever!
 #1515713  by Head-end View
 
I was told this morning by someone connected with public works in the Westbury area that the Urban Ave. underpass is scheduled to be opened to traffic in September. We'll see........
 #1515762  by MattAmity90
 
The major part of the project is over: Separating the tracks from the road, and subsequently installing the underpass bridge.

Really all that's left is to continue moving soil to create the necessary slope on both sides, smooth it out, pave the street, and install a few blocks of the concrete retaining wall and pedestrian walkway. Although they have to add another bridge to the North of the tracks for Railroad Avenue (where the pipes are). All the fancy details and surroundings will transpire well after the road is reopened to traffic.
 #1516011  by workextra
 
Can anyone elaborate as to why the open bay at Urban Ave is to north of the current No1 track? Yet they’re clearing the ROW south of No2 track in that area.
Will the bridge span be repositioned come September for a few hours over night? Or at a later date closer to the start of service. It appears pointless to be shifting the line West of Urban ave when the line shift is already in place closer to Divide 1. Under the Wantah Pky.

Also does anyone here know if they will simplify things and renumber the platforms at hicksville and westward to follow the numbering standards where LIRR is 4 wide.
Example the northern most track should be No3 and southern No2

Example:
ML3
ML1
ML2
North to South.

This keeps with standard numbers practice and simplifies transition at the new “Park” or “queens east” whatever they will call it.
Being numbered ML 3-1-2-4 N-S and the Hempstead branch designation beginning just west of Floral Park. On ML4/HEM2 and Just east is Floral Park for ML 3-1-2
 #1516073  by berlintransit
 
workextra wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:46 pm Can anyone elaborate as to why the open bay at Urban Ave is to north of the current No1 track? Yet they’re clearing the ROW south of No2 track in that area.
Will the bridge span be repositioned come September for a few hours over night? Or at a later date closer to the start of service. It appears pointless to be shifting the line West of Urban ave when the line shift is already in place closer to Divide 1. Under the Wantah Pky.
The 'line shift' as you call it will be directly west of the new Urban Ave underpass. Each track will swerve one trackbed south there. East of the new underpass is the planned location of a MoW siding also on the south side of the right of way. This explains why on both sides of the underpass the southern side of the RoW needs to be cleared.
 #1516159  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone: The South Tyson Avenue Bridge Project in FP is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday August 17-18...

The Hempstead Branch will be shut down between Bellerose and Hempstead along with added Main Line service
to Floral Park, New Hyde Park, Merillon Avenue and Mineola. NICE Bus will honor LIRR tickets between Garden City,
Hempstead and Mineola for another added access option.

http://web.mta.info/supplemental/lirr/s ... cement.htm

MACTRAXX
 #1516317  by MattAmity90
 
It's only been two and a half weeks since the Urban Avenue bridge was installed, and the progress towards the elimination is evident that we are in the final stages of the project.

On aModernLI's website, they take periodic pictures from a camera mounted on a pole, with the last picture taken on July 30th. The pit is now dismantled, with the corrugated steel barrier being taken down to flatten the slope. A high volume of dirt has been dug out, and the concrete retaining walls were not installed yet on the South end, but over a week later I'm assuming that precast concrete walls have been erected. The pedestrian walkway on the West side of the bridge going under is clear as crystal, which means this project's projected completion is on time where traffic will be reopened.

The only thing that comes into question is that corrugated steel is being driven into the ground on the SW corner of the bridge, but I'm guessing that will be a drainage ditch like what we see on the NW corner of Roslyn Road?
 #1516343  by tahawus84
 
Is the new Hyde park crossing being eliminated? I see they demolished the storage facility on the corner by the tracks and am assuming that it has to do with that crossing being eliminated.
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