increased fare and drastically reduced service

I don't get it. A 100 years ago they got all the ROW's, laid all these tracks, much more than today, built mega infrastructure, and it was done through private enterprise. It was done at a time when the population was a fraction of what it is today, commuters hadn't been invented yet, and there was zip industry. It makes you wonder why they can't make it work now.....

thrdkilr,

i agree w/u but i guss time were much diffrent and pple and business was more railroad friendly because that was bout the fasts way to ship via land.

un fortunatly a privite entiprise ie. "The Long Island Rail Road Company" could not sustain it's self w/o state money/aid. maby is such a privite enterprise can take place then maby just maby in might work but there would have to be alot more thinking by people who are more educated in the feild of privite business.

Cutting trains and raising fares I can understand, but shutting down lines? That's madness. I could understand seeing the West Hempstead branch shut down... in fact, I'm surprised it hasn't happened already-- it serves no purpose.

As far as the Greenport Branch, with 2-4 daily trains in each direction, I'm not sure if anybody uses it (do they?)... maybe they should try putting trains on routes before shutting them down. As far as shutting down the Oyster Bay and Montauk Lines, that is bulls*it. As already stated, Montauk gets tons of ridership for those going out to the Hamptons (and even further) during the summer, and Oyster Bay could have potential, if it was electrified.

If anybody uses it? Everytime that trains passes MM56 it is packed, the same with the one before that. They would probably get more business if they added some trains to give commuters the flexibility on choosing when they want to go to the city instead of it being "you miss this train, try again tomorrow."

The three times I've ridden the Greenport line, those trains were SRO(or atleast close to it). I doubt ridership is always like that, but I'm told the trains are generally atleast half full. If they would run more trains on the line that go to NYP, then they'd see a jump in Ridership.


As for Oyster Bay, why does it have to be electrified to have potential? Just run more trains to NYP and there's another jump in ridership.

<i>As for Oyster Bay, why does it have to be electrified to have potential? </i>

Because it's too *explitive deleted* slow as a diesel line, people hate changing trains, and the DM's don't work very well. On that last note - I saw a 6 car train with 3 500 series locomotives entireing the line Friday. WTF was up with that?

Really, the OB line just doesn't work as a diesel line. Where the track is straight, the stations are too close for the diesels to get to any decent speed, where it's hilly, it's too hilly for them to get to any decent speed, where it's curvy, it's hilly anyway.

As a kid, I used to pedal to Sea Cliff, watch a train go through towards OB, then go down to Glen Street and watch the same train leave Glen Street. And this wasn't hard to do at all.

Anyway, from Rosyln to East Williston, it's practically straight and could be 80mph, but the diesels are too slow to get up to that speed bewtween stops, from Greenvale to Sea Cliff, ditto (well, almost, there's that curve by Sea Cliff). The only real slowdowns on the line are Roslyn to Greenvale, and Sea Cliff to Glen Cove, and that part beyond Locust Valley that nobody rides on anyway. The former wouldn't be helped by MU operation, the latter probbbly WOULD. Electrics simply outperform diesels on grades, period.

On top of that, direct service to GCT and FBA could be had, something that's impossible with the existing equipment.

In all honesty, the W.Hempstead line actually sees a good amount of ridership, BUT only during peak hours. During Off peak hours ridership is extremely light and could certainly do without weekend service. The only true branch that might ever face abondonment (and that is highly unlikely to happen) would be the Ronkonkoma to Greenport line. The talks of the abondonment of lines is merely a bluff to get heads to roll in the right places. They figure that if you make the threats, commuters would create such a stir, every politician out there would be harrassed untill something is done to stop the madness.

On a side note, how much money do you think it would cost the railroad to tear up the existing lines? Much more than they would want to spend. Plus, and correct me if I'm wrong, but in order to abandon any line, doesn't the railroad need to file for abandonement to the FRA or DoT for permission? I've heard of this many times with all the other RR's across the country, the FRA may not even approve of the abandonment. It's all talk. the only thing that you will see happen will be an increase in fares, cut backs in services, cut back in cleaning services, and other misc.. things. I have a better solution, why not stream line some of the management positions?! Anyone who works for the RR always has known that the RR is top heavy! Too many chiefs, too few Indians! Heck, I have even yet to hear about any drastic cuts being made at Metro-North! What? I guess that they don't have any lines that are worthy of cutbacks or abondonment? I'll say it again, If we cut back service and abandon branches, well then I guess we won't need that third track between Bellerose and Hicksville, we won't need that new yard East of Huntington, and we certainly can't afford the East side access at this time! Who are these people trying to fool??

To Quote a Famous Rabbit "of course you know this means war"

Is the upper management of the LIRR that insane??, as a resident of Southold I know all too well of the issues of the Greenport Line.
With too few trains on weekdays, and a weekend schedule that ijnores the local residents needs what else are you going to have but low year round ridership. Not that the weekenders are treated any better, last Sunday we saw a house guest off on the 1:27 train out of Southold, the train was already packed, yet the crew had only 1 car opened, I told the conductor about it and just got a blank stare in return.

Even the biggest idiot knows that you can not develop peak hour ridership with a single trip during the rush hour, and because the 2 coach train sets do not spend the night in Greenport (where there is room), we wind up with an unneeded late run run from Greenport, and a waisted dead run to Greenport on weekday mornings.

WHY is there no station to serve Tanger Mall (the biggest year round draw on the East End) ??

WHY is the last weekday train at 5:41 PM ??


WHY beacuse Mr. Dermody is a moron, and should be forced to resign based on this idiotic idea to cut the line!!!

Ken

PS Can't wait to get to the pree on Monday!

I agree with what you are saying about wasted trips however there is a logical reason for these. If the LIRR was to leave the last train of the day in Greenport for the night, it would require either the crew laying over in town for the night or seeking other means of transportation home. With no crew quarters in Greenport, it would require crews to stay in hotels at taxpayers expense. The only other means of transportation is obviously driving so crews would be forced to drive from anywhere on the Island to leave their cars in Greenport while working. However this would be resolved if there was more frequent service and crews could either deadhead out or back. As far as Tanger goes, I am not sure just how many people would take the train there especially since it's so close to the expressway and has more than enuff parking. There could be other factors that would prevent building a station there such as available land, acess to that land etc. A more logical approach would be to have a shuttle bus from Riverhead right to the mall. If enuff people used the shuttle then it might be worth the investment for a station.

Easy there turbo, you should get your facts straight before blasting the wrong people. Look to see where this announcement came from - the MTA, NOT the LIRR. Look at who runs the MTA, and what tactics they use during the current regime. This is another tactic, a method used to get a knee-jerk reaction out of John Q. Public to make an outcry against service cuts. And it worked here, eh?

This is a never ending game played out by Albany, the MTA, the local politicians and you, and ultimately it will work out just after everyone in the above process gets to look publically like it's not their fault taxes went up to pay for these trains. Politics as usual in NY state!!

Most of you won't realize it until he's gone, but Dermody will probably be one of the best presidents on the LIRR, and certainly one of the best advocates for commuters. One of the biggest curses the LIRR has always endured is having presidents that came from someone's nephew in Philadelphia or flunky from Madison Ave, not someone familar with the system or up from the ranks. That's different now with the present prez, and his predecessor.

As for the W. Hempstead, it's just one 6 car MU with 2 crews during the weekend, running scoot WM to Valley. Big deal, and while service is small, tell that to the folks who do use it and then tell them to go find parking along the Montauk Branch. I can guarantee you there is no free parking in RVC, Lynbrook and VS.

Look higher before you go blasting the LIRR or Metro-North...

There is a Crews Quarters in Greenport, The LIRR uses the South East Corner of the station building. This is where the crew lays over between runs. When the station building was turned over to the village of Greenport the LIRR reserved this corner for their use.

Tanger attracts thousands of tourits outside of the Metro Area every year, and most of them DO NOT DRIVE, they take special busses that Tanger runs for them from the city. Yes, you and I may not think of using the LIRR to reach Tanger, but many others would. WE all (mostly the LIRR) need to start thinking outside of the box.

Ken

About the WH branch.

If service were to be cut there would be no way in hell the people who live on the line would find parking in Valley or Lynbrook.

In Valley the parking permit is already in the tripple didgits. like $135.00 and up im not shure caus I i rather walk then pay the villages price to park. on top of that alot of late rush hr commuters land in the VS pool lot because there is no room @ valley its self. so

frequency of service plays a big part in the amount of rider ship.

as a kid i used to hang out at Westwood sta. and there was a very few amount of pple on the train between the rushes.
I could see a cancelation if really needed of the WH scoot but the service would some how needed to be bustituted to Valley.

also not pertaining to this, why was the line to WH eletrified to begin with if it dont have such a high rider ship other then the rushes?

Go farther than Westwood, and you'll see more people at Malverne and W. Hempstead stations. The other stations see more folks during the rush, but that's changing as the demographics of the area are changing. I'm going on what I've seen after chasing my wife who grew up in Malverne and from a job I held in W. Hempstead. There is a bunch of buses already there, but that means the inevitable trip to the Hempstead terminal, unless you get real lucky. Weekend service is awful on Nassau Bus and they're doing more cutbacks too.

If you're a resident of VS, then parking is $15 for a two year pass. Non-resident's can hunt around for the metered lots which go for a quarter an hour, but they're filled by 800 am or so. When I walk home through the lots in the afternoon, there are always people trolling for an open spot. Lynbrook went to a private biz managing their parking so what used to be a good deal is now $$$. I tell people to take a chance on parking on Sunrise west of Peninsula. RVC is just a freakin' nightmare, resident or no. What used to be a good spot for beers and a movie is now a parking fascist state waiting to totally screw over the unsuspecting.

W. Hempstead branch was once 1 of 2 former trolley lines that ran through VS, so the railroad took it over and used it as a route through to Garden City and Mineola. Made sense back then...

And if the MTA does rip up the line to greenport, that would probably cause the NYA to lose money and possibly go out of business

NYA loosing business due to MTA stupidiness, shows that the MTA is not something good to do business with.

If the MTA has no use for that line dont rip up the ROW thinging its going to save them millions caus it wount.

what will help save them money is to learn how to spend it responsibly. and not start more projects then they can afford to finish.

maby if some one did somthing like that the ESA project would have been done by now.