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| Re: Significant part of former LIRR Wading River Branch to become rail trail (769318) | |||
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Re: Significant part of former LIRR Wading River Branch to become rail trail |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sun Apr 12 13:08:11 2009, in response to Re: Significant part of former LIRR Wading River Branch to become rail trail, posted by RonInBayside on Sun Apr 12 12:46:40 2009. The frequency of service and demand at Port Jeff does not make a good case for service extension further east.I'm not sure how one can establish that without studying where commuters to Port Jefferson and Stony Brook are originating. The station in Port Jefferson isn't exactly at the center of action there. Hence, distinguishing between Port Jefferson Station and Port Jefferson (proper), as in, e.g., Huntington. Since the extension to Wading River parallels NY-25A and that is the major east-west thoroughfare on the north shore of LI in the relevant territory, an argument could be made, depending on where people originate from, that extension would drastically reduce commuting time for a sizable chunk of the ridership. Of course I won't say that in 20 years there won't be a different situation... I am not as familiar with patterns of development in the relevant area, although there are new subdivisions that have been built over the past few years. But there is an argument to be made that things wouldn't be very much different, in terms of prospective ridership, than they are at present, at least in the sense that if extension isn't warranted now, it wouldn't be warranted then. My own comment that LIRR's failure to electrify to Port Jefferson speaks volumes about its capacity (or lack thereof) to re-extend service to Wading River was not meant to imply that the non-electrified Port Jefferson Branch lacks for ridership, especially as compared to other non-electrified territory. Indeed, LIRR found that electrification to Port Jefferson was warranted, but not feasible because they were unable to site a yard; they did not explain why the present yard facilities east of Port Jefferson station are inadequate (even if improved). In light of that, I don't see how LIRR would be able to restore service past housing stock built quite close to the Wading River extension in the decades since the late 1930s. |
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