New MTA Long Island Rail Road timetables go into effect starting Monday, March 8. The new schedules include the extension from Patchogue to Speonk of a late afternoon train on the Montauk Branch because of customer requests. Track maintenance and construction programs will impact midday, weekday service on the Port Washington and Babylon Branches along with minor impacts on the Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson (to Huntington) and Ronkonkoma Branches. Bridge renewal programs on the Long Beach Branch will mean no train service between Valley Stream and Long Beach on two weekends in March and two weekends in May. Bus service will be provided.

Montauk Branch:

In response to customer requests, the 5:10 PM train from Babylon to Patchogue will be extended from Patchogue and stops will be added at Mastic-Shirley at 5:52 PM and Speonk at 6:08 PM.

Port Washington Branch:

On weekdays, one of two tracks between Woodside and Bayside will be temporarily out of service during midday hours for a track tie replacement program. To accommodate this work, five eastbound and six westbound trains will be cancelled, resulting in hourly midday service on the Port Washington Branch.

In addition, two Port Washington Branch late night trains will depart 30 minutes later to accommodate bridge work in the Queens Blvd. area. (Note: This midday service change on the Port Washington Branch necessitated by track work does not represent the reduction in service on the Branch that is currently proposed for September 2010 as part of the MTA’s 2010 budget.)

Babylon Branch:

On weekdays, one of two tracks between Wantagh and Babylon will be temporarily out of service during midday hours while state-of-good-repair track work is performed. To accommodate this work, seven eastbound trains will terminate at Freeport and five westbound trains will originate at Freeport, resulting in midday hourly train service at Seaford, Massapequa, Massapequa Park, Amityville, Copiague and Lindenhurst. Departure times will be adjusted from one minute earlier to 28 minutes later. Departure times for Patchogue and Speonk connecting times will also be adjusted, accordingly.

Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson (to Huntington), Ronkonkoma Branches:

Midday weekday and overnight train schedules on these branches will be adjusted between three and eleven minutes to accommodate track work in the Queens Village area.

Long Beach Branch:

Continuing replacement work on two rail bridges in the Oceanside area will mean no train service between Valley Stream and Long Beach for the weekends of March 20-21 and March 27-28 and again on May 1-2 and May 15-16. Buses will replace trains. Customers will experience increased travel time of up to 33 minutes. A detailed news release along with a special timetable will be issued in March.

Customers should pick up a copy of the March 8-May 16, 2010 timetable for their branches at stations and terminals in early March. Schedule information is also available from the LIRR’s 24-hour Travel Information Center in Suffolk County at 631-231-LIRR, in Nassau County at 516-822-LIRR or in New York City at 718-217-LIRR. The Travel Information Center’s TDD telephone number for the hearing impaired is 718-558-3022. Customers may also consult the LIRR website at www.mta.info.

xoxo Transit Blogger

xoxo Transit Blogger

New track being installed at the Powell Creek Bridge. Photo courtesy of MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR).

Yet again, due to the construction of new bridges over Powell Creek & Hog Island Channel, the MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) is replacing Long Beach Line service with buses. Here are the complete details from a reminder press release that was sent to me earlier:

Buses will replace train service for Long Island Rail Road customers traveling between Long Beach and Valley Stream the weekend of Saturday, February 27 and Sunday, February 28 as work continues on the construction of two new railroad bridges over Powell Creek and Hog Island Channel.

The shutdown of train service on that weekend was added to the LIRR’s original construction scheduled because recent snowstorms have impeded work on previous weekends. The Railroad’s goal is to complete the installation of both bridges before the Memorial Day.

The $24.5 million project, which is funded through the MTA Capital Budget and federal grants, will also require train outages on four other weekends later this year – March 20-21, March 27-28, May 1-2 and May 15-16. Each weekend will be preceded by a public notification so that LIRR Long Beach Branch customers can plan ahead.

In addition to the temporary busing for the weekend dates listed above, the work will require the Railroad to close the eastbound platforms at Island Park, Oceanside, East Rockaway and Centre Ave. Stations on the following weekends: February 20-21 and March 6-7. The LIRR reminds customers to allow extra time to cross over to the westbound platform upon arriving at those stations

Eastbound, when busing is in effect, customers will transfer to buses at Valley Stream for stations Lynbrook through Long Beach. Customers should allow up to 34 minutes of additional travel time.

Westbound, customers will board buses at stations Long Beach through Lynbrook bound for Valley Stream, where they will transfer to trains to complete their trip. Buses will depart up to 33 minutes earlier than scheduled train times.

Both the Powell Creek Bridge (located between the LIRR’s East Rockaway and Oceanside stations) and the Hog Island Channel Bridge (located between Oceanside and Island Park) were built in the 1920s, and have served the LIRR well for nearly 90 years. These two bridges are being replaced as part of the Railroad’s ongoing efforts to modernize its infrastructure and ensure safe and reliable service for our customers and neighbors for decades to come.

The existing Powell Creek and Hog Island Bridges are open-deck wooden and steel structures supported by wooden piles through which water is visible below. These structures will be removed and replaced with pre-cast concrete structures, supported by reinforced concrete-filled, steel pipe piles, which will provide safer, closed-deck concrete roadbeds.

The project will also alleviate a recurring flooding condition at Powell Creek Bridge, which has at times led to delays and temporary service suspensions, by raising the elevation of the bridge by approximately one foot. Bridge walkways will also be installed at both locations to make it safer for LIRR employees.

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This change is effective as of 5 AM this morning & will last until February 20th. Here are the complete details courtesy of a press release they sent out yesterday afternoon:

MTA NYC Transit announces that beginning Tuesday, February 16th at 5:00 am, Uptown service on the C and D trains will switch routes due to the replacement of signals which control a track switch in Lower Manhattan. Normal weekday service will be disrupted for the remainder of this week, through 12:00 a.m. Saturday, February 20th. This work, originally scheduled to begin February 8th was postponed due to last week’s snow storm and the implementation of NYC Transit’s Subway Cold Weather Plan. The project was rescheduled over this weekend in an attempt to make up lost time and control costs. We apologize for the late announcement.

The replacement work impacting service is part of a larger signal and track improvement project near the Chambers Street (A, C, E) station. This particular work involves a track switch outside of Canal Street which allows C trains making their way from Brooklyn to switch to the local tracks. The switch is currently being ‘straight railed’; forcing C trains to remain on the express tracks between Lower and Upper Manhattan.

To make up for the loss of local service along the Central Park West corridor, D trains will operate on the local tracks. Specifically, customers are advised of the following impacts to service:

• Uptown C runs express between Canal St, and 145th St.

• Uptown D runs local between 59th St. and 145th St.

• For Uptown service to Spring St., 23rd St. & 50th St. use E

• For Uptown service to 72nd St. thru 116th St. and 135th St. use B or D

• At 34th St., uptown C stops at A platform

We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this late change in normal service will have, but the work underway is vital to continued safe and reliable train operation.

xoxo Transit Blogger

f it walks like and talks like a duck, it’s not always a duck, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority official said last week.

That’s the case at least along the B67, a bus line that some feel is overcrowded — just not the MTA.

“All the [numbers] are within our guidelines,” Andrew Inglesby, assistant director of MTA Government and Community Relations told the Park Slope Civic Council last week.

The civic group asked the MTA to examine the route and gauge conditions on it, which the group determined to be “seriously overcrowded,” and requiring the addition of at least one extra bus, particularly during school days.

Inglesby said that from 7-7:30 a.m., an average of 35.5 passengers ride the bus; from 7:30-8 a.m., that number jumps to 49.7; from 8-8:30, the average is even higher, at 51.5 passengers; and then from 8:30-9 a.m., the number dips to 48.

James Anyansi, a spokesperson for New York City Transit, the agency that operates the city’s buses and subways under the MTA’s oversight, said that for buses to be considered crowded, they must have an average of 54 passengers during peak hours, and 36 during off peak hours. If they are found to be technically crowded, more buses are added to a line, he said. “We do regular passenger counts, and if more buses are needed, we adjust accordingly,” he added.

Click here for the complete report.

I am not familiar with this route as it is one that I have never ridden. If the MTA’s numbers are accurate, I would tend to agree with them that the bus is not overcrowded. I am curious to see more data & see if any differences in numbers exist between MTA statistics & those from local riders. Hopefully more about this will be posted in the coming weeks.

xoxo Transit Blogger

The MTA Long Island Rail Road will operate on a holiday schedule on Presidents’ Day, Monday, February 15. In addition, three extra trains, one westbound and two eastbound, will operate on the Ronkonkoma Branch and cars will be added to selected trains. Off-peak fares will also be in effect all day.

The additional Ronkonkoma Branch trains are as follows:

Westbound:
Departs Ronkonkoma at 7:21 AM, making stops all stops to Hicksville, Jamaica, Woodside and arriving Penn Station at 8:47 AM.

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Eastbound:
Departs Penn Station at 4:37 PM, making stops at Woodside, Jamaica, Hicksville, Bethpage, then all stops to Ronkonkoma.

Departs Penn Station at 6:04 PM, making stops at Woodside, Jamaica, New Hyde Park, Merillon Avenue, Mineola, Carle Place, Hicksville, then all stops to Ronkonkoma.

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The MTA says it would need to find $18 million to avoid subway service cuts. Maybe it should look at its own ad company.

Titan Outdoor Holdings has stiffed the MTA out of about $18 million, coming in short with its monthly payments for nearly a year and engaging in some questionable accounting, an internal Metropolitan Transportation Authority audit revealed.

The MTA could recoup the money by cashing a multimillion-dollar letter of credit Titan posted. But officials fear the move would bankrupt the company – meaning even less ad revenue for the authority, according to the audit.

“We’re exploring all of our options,” MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said.

Titan sells and manages ad space in buses and commuter trains. To win the decade-long contract, Titan promised the MTA 72% of gross revenues – the highest in the industry – or $5.4million a month, whichever is greater.

Click here for the complete report.

As you can read in the report, the New York Daily News is quick to harp on how the amount owed would cover the projected subway service cuts that are planned for later this year. While on paper, it seems the easy solution would be to collect on the money & erase the planned cuts, they should be fair & explain that the situation is not that cut & dry.

While I feel this company should be punished for its failure to pay, the MTA has to balance the costs of potentially bankrupting this company along with its potential to score a more friendlier advertising deal. As far as cuts go, even if they received the $18M tomorrow, eliminating the service cuts due to this happening would be a band-aid solution. These are not the kind of solutions they need now & the New York Daily News & its readers need to understand that.

xoxo Transit Blogger

MTA Plans Regular Service for Tomorrow Morning’s Rush Hour

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced this evening that all MTA agencies planned to provide regular service for tomorrow morning’s rush hour and beyond. MTA agencies will continue to clean their infrastructure throughout the night and monitor it for possible icing conditions that could potentially have an impact on service in the morning. Customers are advised to continue checking back for the latest updates at MTA.info.

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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced this afternoon that service for the evening rush hour would be normal or near normal on subways, most bus routes, and most bridges and tunnels.

The MTA is monitoring weather carefully and will keep customers updated via its website, and email and text message service alerts. The MTA intends to update the news media in time for 10 p.m. newscasts with information on tomorrow morning’s rush hour.

Changes to normal rush-hour service this evening are as follows:

BUSES: Limited-stop buses are making all local stops throughout the day. Service on some local and express buses may be impacted by the adverse roadway conditions. Bus customers are reminded to leave extra time for travel.

COMMUTER RAILROADS: To accommodate changes to normal weekday travel patterns, Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad are operating on special schedules and reduced evening rush hour service. Both railroads recorded about 40% reductions in inbound rush-hour travel, and offered increased afternoon service prior to 4 p.m. Customers should visit MTA.info to find details about the special schedules in effect today.

BRIDGES AND TUNNELS: Traffic is lighter than normal and moving well at all seven MTA bridges and both tunnels. 30-mile-per-hour winds at the Throgs Neck Bridge and the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge have triggered Phase I wind restrictions, which require customers to reduce speed. The lower level of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is closed in both directions as a result of weather conditions but traffic is moving well on the upper level.

Customers are asked to avoid running to catch a train or a bus, to leave extra time for travel to and from stations and bus stops, and to take extra care when walking on platforms, stairs, escalators and sidewalks.

Stay safe out there during the storm. If you do not have to be outside, stay home!

xoxo Transit Blogger