|
|
| The LIRR President Speaks (244048) | |||
 |
|||
| Home > SubChat | |||
|
[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ] |
|
||
|
The LIRR President Speaks |
|
|
Posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Fri Apr 21 23:55:11 2006 I just got back from a seminar in given by the LIRR president, James Dermody. He spoke a little about the past, the present and the future of the LIRR.After the seminar, he also took questions from the audience, and answered them to the best of his knowledge. Here's some of the information that was covered: Some of the projects include future expansion,m including the East side access, the third track on the mainline, electrification expansion, the fleet replacement, etc, etc. Here's some of the highlights: -They are actively persuing the third track on the mainline. Many upgrades are planned for the corridor between Hicksville and Queens Village. This includes station improvements, a third track, as well as complete grade crossing elimination in that corridor. -In the future, they are in fact looking at double tracking the Ronkonkoma Branch, but this is just in the early stages. -The new yard, and further electrification of the Port Jefferson branch to that yard HAS BEEN SCRAPPED. they lost all the battles involved with NIMBY's and the communities, and can not place a yard at any of the locations they planned. That's over for now. -They are at COMPLETE capacity at Ronkonkoma yard, and are looking to build an additional yard, somewhere east of Ronkonkoma. They are still not settled at a location, but have a few locations as prospects. They own a very large parcel of land in Manorville that could be used, however, it is in the middle of the Pine barren district, and the EIS is quite high. They are looking to perhaps trade off land with Suffolk county in a land swap deal. They are not ruling out ANY location between Riverhead and Yaphank. But he did say that it's almost a given that electrification will continue at least to Yaphank. Their parking lot facilities at Ronkonkoma are reaching their final stages. they will be paving the dirt lot, but that's where it will end. They are at capacity at Ronkonkoma. They have been studying ridership patterns, and have gathhered that many people ONLY come to Ronkonkoma because of the service, and they come from other places. Their studies have shown that they would also come to Yaphank when it becomes the terminal. They have studied that Ronkonkoma is popular because of the access from major roads, and have found that Yaphank has similar access, and people would use it. So it can be assumed that normal service will come to Yaphank, it's inevidable because of the Ronkonkoma dilema. They have not ruled out a yard and terminal in other locations either yet, and anything between Riverhead and Ronkomnkoma is open for debate. -That being said, he did rule out just about completely (at least at this time), any increase in diesel service east of ronkonkoma. Any increase in service would come in the form of electrification. -There will be another increase in dual mode service by the fall. With the march schedules, they have added a new Speonk dual mode train. Currently there are twoi or three on the port Jefferson line, two on the SPeonk runs, and one on the Oyster Bay line. They are looking to add another by fall. While he has said it will "probably" be put into service on the Speonk line, Oyster Bay has not been ruled out. They only have 22 dual mode locomotives, because out of the 23 they had, one was completely lost to fire. -They are EXTREMELY happy with the performance of the M7's. They have surpased all expectations. They had been expected to run at least 100,000 miles between breakdowns, and have consistintly exceeded that by landslides. Their are currently 800 and change M7's in service, 172 M3's, and 80-something M1's left. The M1's are expected to be completely gone in the near future. The M3's will be upgraded, and they have an option for more equipment. The diesel fleet has not been as promising, however, over the past few years they have become more and more reliable as the DM/DE30's are rebuilt. They are performing better than ever, although still under where they should have. -ON the weekend of May 7th, the old position signals from the PRR will be decomissioned, and the new colored light signal system will come into effect. PD tower will cease to exisit, and the new signaling system will come into effect. PD will completely be phased out by June. The bad news is that unless someone comes in to want it, PD TOWER IN PATCHOUGE WILL BE KNOCKED DOWN. They do not want it. they have talked to a historical group in Bethpage, and also with Patchogue Village, but as of now, it is on the endagered species list, and is set to be demolished. They will not knock it down immediately, however, within days, the stairways will be ripped off the tower to avoid tresspass. this does not look good for the tower. it's days appear to be numbered. -They will be testing four quadrant gates somewhere between patchogue and Speonk as a pilot test. -Jay, Valley, and Dunton towers will be consolidated. East side access is progressing nicely, and the LIRR will have it's own station 100 feeet below the current one. -The LIRR will not be using any of the new Penn Station Farley building facilities. -Jamaica station's renovation will be completed in two weeks. -With the march schedule Huntington has begun half hourly service on the weekends, and Ronkonkoma trains run express because of this on the mainline. He touched on photography, and mentioned that it was perfectly legal TO TAKE PHOTOS ON MTA PROPERTY AND NO ONE SHOULD BOTHER YOU. This is true from all public areas,and as long as you stay in public areas, photography is completely legal. He was very percise about it. This came out of his mouth. Much more was covered, but that's what I remenber for now,m andn the highlights. he was a really down to earth guy. He presented a historical slideshow from the beginning of the LIRR to the present, decade by decade at the beginning of the presentation, including old photos and movies. |
|
|
|