March 09, 2023
|
|
Long Island Rail Road Provides Service Update |
|
View Photos of News Conference Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) today announced service updates that will go into effect Monday, March 13 to enhance service and increase frequency. Four trains that serve Grand Central Madison will be rerouted to serve Penn Station instead. The LIRR is also extending four morning peak trains on the Ronkonkoma Branch to serve two additional stations. These changes are in addition to modifications made Monday, March 6 when rush hour service to Brooklyn was increased, trains serving Penn Station were lengthened, and cars were added to all trains that had exceeded capacity the previous week. Riders also saw 30 more customer service staff throughout Jamaica station to assist riders and ease the transfer experience. “We are pleased with the progress we’ve made this week and we are going to continue to make adjustments as we go,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “From day one, we knew that there was going to be a learning curve. We are especially focused on what we can do to give riders a better understanding of their options, both through the TrainTime app, and also via announcements and signage. We are moving to a place where the system is achieving its goals and is working much better.” “The Long Island Rail Road team is all over the rollout in terms of looking for trends, what ridership is looking like, what trains are popular and adjusting accordingly,” said Long Island Rail Road Interim President and Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi. “This is a very dynamic process and we are going to be continuously making adjustments based upon ridership and loading data. We look at it every single day.” The week of March 6 saw the two highest days of LIRR ridership for 2023. On Tuesday, March 7, the LIRR carried 205,500 passengers, representing the second highest ridership day since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, March 8, 203,000 customers rode the LIRR. From Monday, March 6 through Wednesday, March 8 the LIRR carried 595,000 customers, an 8.2 percent increase over the previous week. Beginning on Monday, March 13, the following service changes will be implemented: Morning – Peak Direction The 5:42 a.m. train from Ronkonkoma to Grand Central Madison will shift to operate to Penn Station, where it will be scheduled to arrive at 6:55 a.m. The 7:54 a.m. train from Long Beach to Grand Central Madison will shift to operate to Penn Station, where it will be scheduled to arrive at 8:44 a.m. Morning – Reverse-Peak Direction The 7:31 a.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Hempstead will shift to originate at Penn Station at 7:30 a.m. Afternoon – Peak Direction The 5:28 p.m. train from Grand Central Madison to Babylon will shift to originate at Penn Station at 5:28 p.m. Four trains with added stops: Four trains that currently originate at Brentwood will be extended to originate at Ronkonkoma, and will also stop at Central Islip.
Beginning on Monday, March 6, the following service changes were implemented: LIRR Lengthened Trains The LIRR lengthened seven trains to Penn Station for the morning rush hour and ten trains for the afternoon rush hour. This change addressed any train that reached or exceeded capacity based on data collected last week. For the list of trains with added cars, see below. Subsequently, when these trains turn from either their Long Island destination or Penn Station to operate in the opposite direction, an additional eleven trains no have added cars, benefitting customers as well as a result of the previously described targeted increases. The railroad has been adapting to address concerns from the public as quickly as possible, which included lengthening of trains. As such, the LIRR went from 16 trains that reached capacity in one day during peak periods to one train exceeding capacity by the end of the week on Friday, March 3, out of a total of 289 peak trains. Brooklyn Service Brooklyn service increased beginning Monday, with one additional trainset operating between Jamaica and Atlantic Terminal and a second trainset placed into service on Tuesday. The addition of trains effectively reduced wait times to an average of 8-9 minutes Monday, and even less Tuesday, for Brooklyn customers during both peak periods and whenever customers arrive at the platform at Jamaica, there will likely be a train ready to board. Additionally, to streamline transfers to Brooklyn, the LIRR placed platform controllers to assist customers on the platform serving Tracks 11 and 12, where Brooklyn trains depart. The platform controllers determine the timing of trains departures. When conditions allow, a Brooklyn train will not depart the platform without the arrival of a second train on the opposite track for the morning rush hour and trains are expected to hold up to two minutes for connecting customers transferring from other platforms. Weekend Service On Saturday, March 3, the first weekend day of service under the new schedules, the systemwide on-time performance for the LIRR was a consistent 97.85%, while operating 697 trains, 28% more than under previous timetables. On Saturday, February 25, the last Saturday under previous schedules, on-time performance was 97.98% with 544 trains operating. Grand Central Madison Service During peak periods, 114,153 riders commuted last week to and from Grand Central Madison, saving a combined total of up to 38,051 hours of commuting time to destinations on the East Side compared with travel time using Penn Station. Morning Peak Trains That Were Lengthened Last Week
Peak Trains With Added Cars Effective Monday, Mar. 6, 2023
Peak Trains With Added Cars Effective Monday, Mar. 6, 2023
Beginning on Thursday, March 2, the following service changes were implemented: The LIRR lengthened four trains to address crowded conditions on March 2. For branch-by-branch service summaries, see here. For train schedules visit mta.info, where pdf timetables are available. These changes will be reflected in the TrainTime app on Friday, March 10.
|
|
###
|