Long Island Rail Road
| File:MTA Long Island Rail Road logo.png | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Jamaica, New York |
| Reporting mark | LIRR |
| Locale | Long Island, New York |
| Dates of operation | 1834–present |
The Long Island Rail Road or LIRR (often referred to as the "L-I-double-R") is a railroad that serves the length of Long Island, New York. It is the busiest commuter railroad in the United States, and the oldest railroad still operating under its original name. It is owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which has styled it MTA Long Island Rail Road. There is legislation pending in the New York State legislature that would allow the MTA to merge the LIRR with the Metro-North Commuter Railroad to form MTA Rail.[1]
Key terminals
The LIRR has two major terminals and one minor terminal in New York City - The major terminals are located at Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, and the Atlantic Terminal located at the intersections of Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. The minor terminal is at Long Island City in Queens. The Hunterspoint Avenue station, just east of Long Island City, is served by roughly 8 westbound trains and 12 eastbound trains per weekday. Five of those trains in each direction continue with passengers to/originate from Long Island City. All those trains, however continue to the yard at Long Island City.
A third major terminal is currently under construction. In 2011–2012 the LIRR intends to initiate service to Grand Central Terminal via the East Side Access project. When the Template:NYCS F train of the New York City Subway was routed beneath the East River from Queens to Manhattan via the 63rd Street Tunnel, provisions were made for this LIRR route. Work to be done includes tunneling beneath Manhattan from 63rd Street and the East River across to Park Avenue and then south to Grand Central Terminal, as well as tunneling from the LIRR Main Line near Amtrak's Sunnyside Yard in Queens to the East River.
There is also a major station and transfer point in Jamaica, Queens, where the railroad's headquarters are located. (The parent MTA is headquartered in Manhattan.) Jamaica Station encompasses eight tracks and six platforms, plus yard and bypass tracks. At Jamaica, passengers can transfer between all western branches and all but one eastern branch (the Port Washington Branch). In fact, frequent riders of the LIRR use the phrase "change at Jamaica" often. Transfer is also made for separate facilities for two different subway lines, many bus lines, and the AirTrain automated electric rail system to JFK International Airport. Jamaica is also the terminus for most trains going to Oyster Bay or Montauk, some Port Jefferson trains also end at Jamaica.
There are eleven branches on the LIRR. The longest two being the Main Line and the Montauk which "give birth" to six of the remaining nine branches. The Main Line and Montauk Branch each extend to points a few miles short of the end of each of Long Island's "forks," long peninsulas separated by Shelter Island Sound. The line to the north fork, with limited service east of the prime commuter zone, is at Greenport and the line to the south fork, with both commuter service and extensive seasonal excursion traffic, is at Montauk.
There are six subsidiary branches terminating in Nassau County, New York, at Port Washington, Oyster Bay, Hempstead, West Hempstead, Long Beach and Far Rockaway. This latter terminal actually loops back to, and terminates in New York City, but the remainder of the branch is in Nassau. In addition to the two major branches, there is one subsidiary branch in Suffolk County, New York, to Port Jefferson.
Fleet
From the early 1970s through the early 2000s, the LIRR's fleet was dominated by the electric multiple unit M1 rail car, built by Budd. Diesel-hauled trains through the late 1990s were operated using antiquated 1950s-vintage equipment.
In the late 1990s, Kawasaki-built double-decker passenger cars hauled by General Electric dual-mode diesel/electric locomotives replaced the 1950s-era equipment, allowing diesel trains to access Pennsylvania Station (New York City) for the first time, as diesel operations are prohibited in the East River Tunnels leading to Penn Station. These trains also have the distinction of being the only double-decker commuter trains currently in use in the New York City area.
Beginning in the early 2000s, the M1 cars were mostly replaced by the new Bombardier-built M7 electric multiple units.
History
Gateway to Boston 1832-1849
The LIRR's history stretches back to 1832 and the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad, which built a ten mile (16 km) stretch of track between Brooklyn and Jamaica. The Long Island Rail Road itself was founded in 1834, leasing the track laid down by the B&J and building its own.
The original plan was not as a local service to serve Long Island, but rather a quicker route from Boston to New York. Trains would run from Boston to Stonington, Connecticut, where the passengers would cross by ferry to Long Island. They would then ride on the LIRR to Fulton Street in Brooklyn, and finally cross by ferry to New York. The reason for this rather complicated plan was the impossibility, at the time, of building a railroad through southern Connecticut.
The LIRR thus built its original tracks running straight down the middle of the island, which was largely uninhabited at the time, rather than serving the existing Long Island communities. This route was chosen as the most direct way to travel to New York.
The Island-long route was completed in 1844 and at first was highly successful.
Stiff Competition on Long Island 1849-1880
In 1849 the New York and New Haven Railroad opened through the 'impassable' country of southern Connecticut, and a direct overland route from New York to Boston now existed. The LIRR's reason for existence was gone.
The only remaining business was to serve Long Island itself, something the railroad was not built to do. Efforts were made to build branches to the small Long Island communities. In 1850 only one such branch existed, but more were built, as well as a number of other railroad companies' branches.
In 1860, the City of Brooklyn banned the use of steam engines in populated areas. The Long Island Rail Road reduced service to Brooklyn, eliminating the track between the current Flatbush Avenue terminal and the then Fulton Street terminal. Service between Jamaica Station and Flatbush Avenue was by horse drawn cars. The Long Island Rail Road built the route from Jamaica Station via Woodside Station to the Long Island City terminal where ferry connections to Manhattan could be made. This route was entirely within Queens County, and avoided the Brooklyn law. Since that time, the routes to Brooklyn have always been considered secondary.
The combination of the loss of the New York to Boston traffic and all the competing railroads made for harsh financial times for both the LIRR and the newer roads. In 1876, the LIRR was bought out by the owner of one of the competing roads, but the Long Island Rail Road name was used for the merged company. Even consolidation could not prevent another receivership in 1879, however.
Austin Corbin and the Montauk Shortcut to Europe 1880-1900
Austin Corbin bought the railroad in 1880 and immediately made it profitable. Corbin set his sights on extending the rail from Bridgehampton, New York to Montauk, New York, which was occupied by Montaukett Native Americans, who owned nearly 10,000 acres there. Corbin's plan was to build a deep water port in Montauk where trans-Atlantic passengers could disembark and travel into New York at "a mile a minute" and thus save a day in travel time. In a series of transactions which were widely believed to have been fraudulent, the Montauketts were kicked out of Montauk and disenfranchised (the Montauketts have resumed their fight to get their land back).
Corbin brought the train to Montauk but the port deal fell through when it was discovered that Fort Pond could not handle the big ships. More than 1,000 acres that Corbin bought was eventually sold to the U.S. Government for Camp Wikoff where Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders were quanrintined after returning from the Spanish-American War
Pennsylvania Railroad Glory Days 1901-1945
In 1901, the Pennsylvania Railroad acquired the Long Island Rail Road and went about an extensive program of improvements. The PRR had long desired a terminal on Manhattan Island itself, instead of in Jersey City. The PRR built a grand station, Pennsylvania Station, with tracks oriented approximately east-west, and dug two sets of tunnels, one under the Hudson River to connect the new station with the Pennsylvania Railroad network, and another set under the East River to connect with the Long Island Rail Road.
In April 1905, Ralph Peters was elected president of the railroad.
Due to a fatal accident caused by decreased visibility from smoke and steam in the tunnels near Grand Central Terminal, New York City passed laws in 1910 forbidding the operation of steam-powered trains within city limits. Thus, an ambitious program of electrification was initiated, culminating in a large portion of the LIRR's network being electrified via a third rail direct current system. This electrification is still in use today.
Pennsylvania Railroad Decline 1945-1970
After the Second World War, the LIRR which had become unionized and had to meet heavy government regulations became an increasing financial burden on the Pennsylvania Railroad which struggled to find new avenues for cash including the infamous 1964 tearing down of New York's Penn Station to make way for the Penn Plaza office towers and a new home for Madison Square Garden, with a new train terminal under the complex of buildings. In 1969, the federal government forced the railroad to take over the New York and New Haven Railroad. In 1970, the railroad declared bankruptcy.
State Ownership 1970-Present
The State of New York purchased the Pennsylvania Railroad New York commuter railroads and created the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority (MCTA) to oversee its operation. This in turn became the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), created to oversee other New York State transit facilities, though each retained separate corporate existence and management. This created rivalries between the LIRR and its sister Metro North with charges that the latter was better run. In 2006 legislation was introduced to officially combine the two lines although this would mean an end to the name of the LIRR.
One of the most popular decisions by New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller after the 1970 takeover was replacing the entire passenger fleet with Bombadier M1 cars. The decision was to haunt the LIRR in the 1990s as the entire fleet began to break down all at once and there was no plan to provide a less expensive phasing in of replacement cars.
Shortly after 2000, LIRR began replacing its fleet with Bombadier M7 cars which sport double decker seating, large bathrooms, computer announcements of station changes and even telephones (which have since been removed). As part of the plan to roll out the new cars, station platforms were finally standardized.
The LIRR overhauled Pennsylvania Station (New York City) in the 1990s increasing the ceiling height and making it less dreary. Citing costs, the LIRR (along Amtrack) has refused to join New Jersey Transit at the proposed "new" Penn Station a block west across Eighth Avenue at the James Farley Post Office Building at what is to be called the "Moynihan Station."
Jamaica Station is currently undergoing massive changes as a result of 2002 construction of the AirTrain JFK connecting the LIRR at the station to John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The are currently proposals to build two new tunnels under the East River. One tunnel would connect the LIRR to the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub. The other tunnel (the East Side Access) would connect the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal.
Lines/branches
All branches (except Port Washington) pass through Jamaica Station. West of Woodside, all lines share track. This track leading into the city is known as the "City Terminal Zone",
Montauk Branch
"The Montauk" or "Montauk Line" is the longest LIRR branch, extending 115 miles (185 km) east from Long Island City to Montauk, New York. It has heavy ridership and frequent service (most of the trains terminate at Patchogue or Speonk), especially in the summer, with travelers going out to The Hamptons, Fire Island and other beaches. The Montauk Branch spawns only one branch, this being the West Hempstead Branch at Valley Stream.
The electrified portion of the Montauk Branch ends at Babylon Station (the electric service to Babylon is often identifed as a separate service as the "Babylon Branch"). Some of the Montauk's diesel trains begin or end their runs at Babylon station, connecting to or from electric trains there. Other Montauk diesel trains operate into New York City, ending their runs either at Jamaica Station, Hunterspoint Avenue, Long Island City or New York Penn Station. Terminal stations in diesel territory, east of Babylon, include Patchogue and Speonk. The Montauk Branch is double tracked from Long Island City, all the way through Babylon, combining to a single line at the former site of Bayport station. Most Montauk Branch diesel trains operate west to NYC via the Montauk Branch, though a handful of trains operate via the diesel-only Central Branch joining the Main Line east of Bethpage Station.
Looking back in time, the Montauk Branch was once connected to the Main Branch, via a branch which ran from Manorville (Main) to Eastport (Montauk). This branch was abandoned in 1949.
Also, at one time, the Montauk Branch also ran from Bridgehampton, north into Sag Harbor. In early times, the 'Scoot' ran frequently between Greenport on the North Fork, 'around the horn' at the Manorville-Eastport line, and east to Sag Harbor. In their day, both of those villages were very busy, bustling ports. The tracks to Sag Harbor were removed from service in 1940.
The Montauk is also home to the only tower in North America that uses "hooping" train operations, located at Patchogue. "Hooping" is the transfer of instuctions to both the engineer and conductor by attaching the folded orders to the "hoop," a rod several feet long with a loop at the end that is passed from the ground to a moving train by catching the loop on one's arm. Plans are underway to suspend hooping by mid-May 2006.
The Montauk Branch enjoys frequent service and has heavy ridership because it serves the suburban communities on Nassau County's and westernmost Suffolk County's south shore.
The Montauk Branch is grade-separated on embankment or structure from Lynbrook Station to Babylon Station, the only LIRR branch east of New York City to have no road crossings at grade.
Main Line
The Main Line, also known as the Ronkonkoma, begins in Long Island City and runs seemingly directly across the middle of Long Island before turning North and terminating in Greenport approximately 95 miles (153 km) from its starting point. Along the way, the Main Line spawns five of the remaining ten branches. These branches, in order from west to east, are:
- Port Washington (at Harold Interlocking in Sunnyside, Queens)
- Hempstead (at Queens Interlocking along the Queens/Nassau County border)
- Oyster Bay (at Nassau Interlocking in Mineola)
- Port Jefferson (at Divide Interlocking in Hicksville)
- Central (at Beth Interlocking just east of Bethpage Station)
The Main Line's electric service ends at Ronkonkoma. Several daily diesel trains connect with electric trains at Ronkonkoma, two in each direction extending to the end of the branch at Greenport. Service is slight, however. The railroad has tried to discontinue service east of Ronkonkoma on several occasions, citing low ridership. New York State, however, has not granted this request, and will most likely continue to do so, as Long Island's population continues to grow eastward.
Port Jefferson Branch
This branch provides frequent electric service to Huntington, with some diesel service continuing to Port Jefferson. The heaviest traffic tends to be to the Stony Brook station where State University of New York at Stony Brook is located. This line formerly extended to Wading River, and was once slated continue eastward and rejoin the Main Line at Riverhead. The line east of Port Jefferson was abandoned in 1938. The right-of-way is now used for the Long Island Power Authority's power lines. There are occasional plans to electrify this line past Huntington, at least to Northport, which will probably be undertaken in conjunction with the construction of a planned new yard for the branch.
Hempstead Branch
This branch is electric and branches off the Main Line at Queens Interlocking, just east of Queens Village Station. It continues east to Hempstead through Garden City. This is what remains of what was called the Central branch, which once ran through to Bethpage, meeting up with the Main Line near the area where the current Central Branch cuts off towards Babylon. The former Central trackage ran through what is today Eisenhower Park, and portions of the trackage had still been in use up into the 1990s to carry freight into the Garden City and Uniondale areas, also known as Mitchell Field in the past. LIRR still uses a small portion of this line today, east of Hempstead, as a place to store equipment, and each year the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus train uses this, the Garden City Secondary, to reach the Nassau Coliseum.
West Hempstead Branch
This electric branch splits off from the Montauk Branch at Valley Stream to West Hempstead. A stop at St. Albans, in Queens, is shown on West Hempstead Branch customer timetables, but is actually on the Montauk Branch with more Babylon branch trains serving it than West Hempstead.
During off peak hours, this line mostly runs one train per hour from Brooklyn to West Hempstead.
Atlantic Branch
The Atlantic Branch begins at the second major City Terminal, Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn and runs 16 miles (26 km) through Kings, under Atlantic Avenue, Queens and enters Nassau County ending at Valley Interlocking in Valley Stream. The Flatbush Avenue station is undergoing a $93 Million facelift and will eventually be renamed Atlantic Avenue Terminal.
Far Rockaway Branch
This electric branch which begins in Nassau County at Valley Interlocking in Valley Stream proceeds east and actually ends in Queens at the Far Rockaway station. This two-track branch provides round-the-clock service in both directions to Flatbush Avenue / Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, with transfers at Jamaica (on most non-rush-hour trains) for Penn Station. During rush hour, express service bypasses Jamaica station.
The Far Rockaway Branch had originally been part of a loop that travelled along the existing route, continuing through the Rockaway Peninsula and heading on a trestle across Jamaica Bay through Queens where it reconnected with other branches. Frequent fires and maintenance problems led the LIRR to abandon the Queens portion of the route, which was acquired by the city to become the IND Rockaway Line, providing service on the Template:NYCS A train and Template:NYCS S Rockaway Rockaway Park Shuttle.
Long Beach Branch
This electric LIRR branch is born at Valley Interlocking in Valley Stream. It then splits at Lynbrook, and heads south to Long Beach.
Port Washington Branch
This is the only LIRR branch which does not stop at or have connecting service in Jamaica. It splits off the Main Line at Woodside and runs through northeastern Queens past Shea Stadium and into the northwestern corner of Nassau County. It is electric and has heavy ridership and frequent service.
It has massive delays during rush hour because at Great Neck station, there are two tracks (one going east and another going west); but the Manhasset and Plandome stations have one track/platform. If a train is late from Port Washington going west, an east-bound train must wait at Great Neck for the train to pass in order to gain access to the Manhasset and Plandome stations. And a track cannot be added because the train goes under a bridge that goes along Manhasset's Plandome Road, so to add a track would cause adjacent businesses to be taken down to make room for the wider rail service. But because of the delays, most peak hour trains either are local from Penn Station to Great Neck (making all stops in between the two) or express from Penn Station to Port Washington (making stops only at Great Neck, Manhasset, Plandome, and Port Washington).
Oyster Bay Branch
Moderately used diesel branch extending from Nassau Interlocking (Mineola) to Oyster Bay. Stops at East Williston, Albertson, Roslyn, Greenvale, Glen Head, Sea Cliff, Glen Street, Glen Cove, Locust Valley, and Oyster Bay.
Service cuts and improvements
In addition to service cuts, several of the more lightly used branches were threatened with abandonment in 2006. The threats included the Oyster Bay Branch, the Main Line between Ronkonkoma and Greenport, and the West Hempstead Branch. The service cuts were intended to reduce opposition to a fare increase or encourage the state to provide more money (which it ultimately did). All of the threatened lines have had considerable capital investment in recent years to "bring them up to a good state of repair." The LIRR was originally chartered with the specific purpose of service to Greenport, and the land under the Main Line tracks would revert to heirs of the original owners if that service were abandoned. In addition, a large portion of the threatened Main Line east of Ronkonkoma has been slated for electrification by 2016 as part of LIRR forward planning.
The 2005-2009 capital program of the MTA provides for a third Main Line track from Bellerose to Mineola, with the intent of extending it to Hicksville.
A second track between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma on the Main Line is also planned, which will result in increased rail traffic. Ronkonkoma already suffers from overcrowding, and locals have called for increased service east of Ronkonkoma. The capital program also provides for a landfill in Yaphank (two stations east of Ronkonkoma) to be capped and set aside for this future railroad purpose. This may involve extending electrification, building parking structures, or a building a yard needed for Main Line storage (the current yard in Ronkonkoma is at capacity).
Freight Service
The Long Island Rail Road and other railroads that became part of the system have always had freight service, though this has diminished over the years. The process of shedding freight service accelerated with the acquisition of the railroad by the State of New York.
In recent years there has been some appreciation of the need for better railroad freight service in New York City and on Long Island. Both areas are primarily served by trucking for freight haulage, an irony in a region with the most extensive rail transit service in the Americas.
Freight service is now operated on lease by the New York and Atlantic Railway, a short line railroad owned by the Anacostia and Pacific Company. It has its own equipment and crews, but uses the rail facilities of the LIRR. To the east, freight service operates to the ends of the West Hempstead, Port Jefferson and Montauk branches, and to Southold on the Mainline. On the western end it provides service on the surviving freight-only tracks of the LIRR: the Bay Ridge and Bushwick branches; the nearly freight-only "Lower Montauk"; and to connections with national railroads.
Long Island Rail Road Massacre
On December 7, 1993, Colin Ferguson, a New York City resident, boarded the 5:33 pm local train to Hicksville at Pennsylvania Station with a concealed weapon and the intent to murder anonymous passengers. After the train entered Nassau County, he walked down the aisle of the car he was riding in and shot some passengers while passing others. When the engineer realized that there was a serious problem on the train, he stopped the train at the Merillon Avenue station in Garden City, New York. Several passengers overpowered Ferguson while he was attempting to reload for the second time and held him for police.
Ferguson was convicted of shooting 25 LIRR passengers, 6 of whom died. Colin Ferguson was sentenced to 312 and 2/3 years to life by Judge Donald E. Belfi. This propelled Carolyn McCarthy, whose husband was killed and son seriously injured, to successfully run for the United States House of Representatives on a gun control platform.