The East Side Access Project Discussion (ESA)

awtprod wrote:

The LIRR recommends that passengers * to train 2019, the 6:56am from Ronkonkoma departure (to Atlantic Terminal).

You should probably spell check before posting. :D

Oops, and I think Amtrak7 even pointed that out to me before it went to print! I'll fix it straight away!

lirr42 wrote:

awtprod wrote:

The LIRR recommends that passengers * to train 2019, the 6:56am from Ronkonkoma departure (to Atlantic Terminal).

You should probably spell check before posting. :D

Oops, and I think Amtrak7 even pointed that out to me before it went to print! I'll fix it straight away!

Haha. I got a chuckle out of it. Thanks guys for the informative post!

The shortening of 2703 along with the annulling of 2017 are both inconvenient. I usually take 611 or 613, and if I do take 613, about half the time I'm able to make an across the platform transfer at Hicksville to 2703 if 613 is on time and 2703 is a few minutes behind. Shaves about 5 minutes off my trip. I also usually make a connection to 613 at Jamaica if I take 2025 (7:32 Ronk due in Penn at 8:47). So now I avoid taking 2021 if I want to go on the Ronkonkoma branch since i imagine a lot of 2017's passengers will show up there and will probably resort to sticking to 611 when I go to on the Port Jeff branch.

Terminating 611 at Huntington would cause an uproar and would burden the super express from Huntington to Penn that leaves 5 minutes after it, though adding a Jamaica stop wouldn't be bad. 611 probably ha more than 70% load and 613 gets pretty close too. Just observations from riding those trains daily.

The one upside: the shortening of 507 means that when I do take 611, 507 won't hold us up getting to Hunterspoint. You win some you lose some, but the sooner this is over the better.

Another messy day for 613. The conductor was begging people to walk down the aisle to make room for everyone while we held in Jamaica for about 10 minutes.

jetset wrote:Another messy day for 613. The conductor was begging people to walk down the aisle to make room for everyone while we held in Jamaica for about 10 minutes.

...because 611 got cancelled at Hicksville due to equipment problems!

(They turned 611 at Huntington during the QUEENS work...)

Amtrak7 wrote:

jetset wrote:Another messy day for 613. The conductor was begging people to walk down the aisle to make room for everyone while we held in Jamaica for about 10 minutes.

...because 611 got cancelled at Hicksville due to equipment problems!

I saw that alert come over the wire and I cringed. Luckily I had nothing to to do this morning so I hung around Jamaica until 2739 came along and I took that to HPA.

Amtrak7 wrote:

jetset wrote:Another messy day for 613. The conductor was begging people to walk down the aisle to make room for everyone while we held in Jamaica for about 10 minutes.

...because 611 got cancelled at Hicksville due to equipment problems!

(They turned 611 at Huntington during the QUEENS work...)

Well that would explain the empty diesel train sitting in Hicksville on Track 2 this morning

If 2703 + 507 + 611 went on 613 today, and 613 had 6 cars, then...

East of Jamaica: 1040 passengers (125%)
West of Jamaica: 860 passengers (103%)

If 613 had 5 cars then 150% east and 123% west! (which would definitely lead to calls to move down the aisles)

Also note that the electric connection for 613 is 43, which is taking on 1105's load and 2 min later. That might lead some people to just stay on to HPA, especially if they were going to transfer to the subway at Penn anyway.

The ESA MIS was completed in 1991. The Draft EIS work started in 1999. It has been said that the success of TBM drives in North America rekindled interest in ESA at the time. Final EIS followed immediately after then nothing as federal funding waited for MTA to play nice with Amtrak.

Maybe. Money and politics have a lot more to do with mega projects than engineering.

1. When was final design completed?

2. The reason why I asked about the Gateway Project (and the the System Design Study) is because I'm trying to estimate when the engineering for the Gateway Project will be completed--since Amtrak claims that they would like to begin major construction in 2017...
'

lirr42 wrote:I know but if the only options are either going to Long Island City or getting tossed off at Jamaica and having to cram onto 613 and legenthening your commute by 15 minutes I think a sufficient amount of people would go to Long Island City for the sake of keeping their seat.

Why would anyone do that if going to LIC doesn't help them get closer to their final destination? Are you suggesting that people go to LIC and then walk to the HPA 7 station ?

Just transferred from 2025 to 613, which has 6 cars today. Full seated load but only a few standees in each vestibule. 43 looked crowded. Not as bad as I was expecting,

On another note, the Harold protect is back and manned

RestrictOnTheHanger wrote:Just transferred from 2025 to 613, which has 6 cars today. Full seated load but only a few standees in each vestibule. 49 looked crowded. Not as bad as I was expecting,

On another note, the Harold protect is back and manned

The alert just came in that 2025 is being cancelled at Jamaica, with 1107 and 2825 being sent to ATL. 43 is probably way overcrowded.

Amtrak7 wrote:

RestrictOnTheHanger wrote:Just transferred from 2025 to 613, which has 6 cars today. Full seated load but only a few standees in each vestibule. 49 looked crowded. Not as bad as I was expecting,

On another note, the Harold protect is back and manned

The alert just came in that 2025 is being cancelled at Jamaica, with 1107 and 2825 being sent to ATL. 43 is probably way overcrowded.

Glad I got off 2025. 43 and 613 left before the cancellations, and 613 even got to HPA on time

My best guess would be 613 was about 99% full today. I noticed a couple facing seats open west of Jamaica but several standees in each vestibule who refused to take those seats. Certainly not as bad as Monday or Tuesday. But we continue to hold for long periods of time in Jamaica waiting for connecting trains which is extremely frustrating although it was nice to go flying past all those Penn Station trains that were backed up prior to the east river tunnel.