Amtrak to Long Island: MTA agrees to explore

[DutchRailnut]

Who said there will be Amtrak service ?? only thing agreed is they will do a study .
and in my opinion you will see plan crash real fast.

[NIMBYkiller]

Who said Amtrak would be frequent?

I'm replying specifically to anyone who's been suggesting it in this thread, not that any official organization has mentioned it.

[njtmnrrbuff]

Yes Dutch, I'm with you about the plan to run Amtrak to Nassau and Suffolk County crashing. The plan is pointless to begin. It's better that the MTA focuses on the LIRR so that way, Amtrak could focus on its own right of way(replacing Pelham Bay Drawbridge and adding the third track on the Hellgate Line to accommodate the future increase in passenger rail service).

[Arlington]

Y'all have a funny sense of "explore" which seems a lot like standing on the shore and pointing out that you can't see land on the horizon, that the 1938 employee timetable didn't show land either, and that as far as you know, the sea is entirely full of dragons.

[mark777]

This makes an excellent conversation over coffee or even at dinner. At the end of the day we can explore, dream, etc... but this has little point in going further than that. Monetarily, this would be a grand waste of tax payer dollars. Then again, when we have a Governor who is hell bent on creating a legacy with his name, anything is possible. After all, it's not his wallet that will be generating all the money for LGA, JFK projects and the beautiful TZ bridge or whatever he wants to call it over the Hudson river. The LIRR is already there. Why Amtrak would find it useful to run a few of its trains on the busiest commuter RR in the country into a dead end is rather trivial. Any passenger traveling between DC and NY or from Albany to NY can easily transfer at Penn to the LIRR, and if timed correctly, could be done quite efficiently as I have done numerous times in the past. Amtrak equipment would find better use elsewhere in its network. Here is a better idea for NY state. Put more money into the LIRR and upgrade all of the lines including speed and signals. Eliminate diesels and electrify all of the lines, or if not all the lines, electrify to Riverhead and Patchogue or Speonk. There are so many things that can be done to improve the system, but adding Amtrak to the mix doesn't really serve much of a purpose. A direct Amtrak DM train won't do much to shave time off the ride as opposed to transferring to an LIRR train at Penn, and sorry, but you won't see Acela or their next of kin or even an ACS-64 east of Harold interlocking on LIRR rails in this life time.

[MACTRAXX]

Mark: Good thoughts on this subject...After all this extensive discussion the only new Amtrak
service to Long Island could be a limited in-season Hamptons and Montauk service on the Montauk
Branch offering a new travel option from Upstate or the NEC to tap into the affluent travel market
to and from the South Fork alongside the LIRR and the Hampton Jitney bus service. This would be
something similar to the services that Amtrak once offered to Cape Cod in recent years and be on
an experimental basis to see if the market warrants this added train service option.

I fully agree that it makes far more sense to further expand LIRR electrification. The easiest way
currently would be additions to the LIRR diesel fleet. New dual-mode locomotives to replace the
now 20 year old DM30 locomotives with the proposed NYS three agency order along with more
multilevel or other cars adding to the C3 fleet which is stretched out to its limits at busy times.

I understand political ambitions to link Long Island into the Northeast Regional Amtrak system
but the realities are that the LIRR can use more equipment to meet future travel demands.
Improving the LIRR is the best way for all Long Islanders and visitors in the long run...

MACTRAXX

[njtmnrrbuff]

For the sake of LIRR, perhaps the money could be used for other capacity projects including the following-double tracking all of the Pt. Washington Line, adding more sidings on the Montauk Line, installing third rail on the Central Branch, and maybe the Pt. Jefferson.

[Jeff Smith]

Reminder: this topic concerns Amtrak exploring service to LI. Discussion of MNRR service to Penn over the New Haven Line goes here: http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.ph ... 1#p1498991" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[edflyerssn007]

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/tra ... 1.26729576

"The study aims to examine the possibility of linking Nassau and/or Suffolk to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, which stretches from Washington, D.C., to Boston, using the Long Island Rail Road’s tracks. Amtrak said such a link “will allow for through and connecting service from Long Island to other Amtrak destinations throughout region, the Northeast Corridor and the Nation.”

[452 Card]

AHHHH.... I can feel the warm breeze of BS......

[njtmnrrbuff]

I thought about this. Maybe during summer season, Amtrak can run a train to Montauk-what is the Cannonball.

[Rockingham Racer]

The question would be: what's the demand for a Cannonball service west of New York City. It should be noted that the current LIRR service sells out for the summer usually before the first train even runs on Fridays. They need more service; perhaps a Thursday departure, or a second Friday departure.

[Arlington]

It is a single track railroad out to Montauk. It is very hard to justify double tracking for a small peak in the summer.

But without double tracking it is very hard to imagine sending an additional train out there at peak times.

And even when we imagine sending a train out there it should be an LIRR train.

[Arlington]

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/tra ... 1.26729576

"The study aims to examine the possibility of linking Nassau and/or Suffolk to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, which stretches from Washington, D.C., to Boston, using the Long Island Rail Road’s tracks. Amtrak said such a link “will allow for through and connecting service from Long Island to other Amtrak destinations throughout region, the Northeast Corridor and the Nation.”

I think the key sentence & sentiment is found here:

In a statement, Amtrak senior executive vice president Stephen Gardner said Amtrak is looking forward to working with the MTA “on advancing direct Amtrak service to and from key population centers on Long Island.”

Where "through" and "regional" can definitely mean Empire Corridor"
Where "connecting" and NEC & National can mean same-ticket service from Long Island to NEC & LDs (maybe even on LIRR)
Where "through" and "Northeast Corridor" might require 5th&6th track to Jamaica.

As noted upthread, the "key population centers" on Long Island are the 4M people of subway-and-LIRR accessible Brooklyn&Queens (accessed at Jamaica), and another 2M in Nassau & WESTERN Suffolk, accessed at Jamaica or a TBD location, no more east than western Suffolk.

Amtrak said they are interested in "population centers" and did NOT mention "leisure destinations" or "empty, dangling, singletrack dunescapes"

[Arlington]

The branch from LI City to Jamaica. How suitable for 2-track overhead electrification from Hunters Point-ish to Jamaica? Lots of grade crossings? How suitable for a tie-in to the tunnel portals?