Bound for Grand Central, LIRR crews train for East Side access opening

About 2,500 Long Island Rail Road crew members are learning how to operate trains on the first new stretch of LIRR territory in more than a century.

Railroad engineers, conductors and dispatchers have been undergoing federally mandated “physical characteristics training” before the planned December opening of the Grand Central Madison station, which is part of the $11.2 billion East Side Access megaproject.

LIRR officials have said East Side Access will be transformative, by shortening the commutes of riders working on Manhattan’s East Side and giving the railroad much-needed redundancy during service disruptions at Penn Station. 

The training for LIRR train crew members covers 40-plus miles of new tracks, including eight miles of tunnels, as well as a four-track rail yard in Queens. Crew members must memorize the degree of every curve in the tracks and change in grade, the location of each of the 158 newly installed signals, and the configuration of 128 switches.

“You’re learning about the tracks, what tracks lead to what platforms. You’re learning about the yard. You’re learning about speeds,” LIRR conductor Kevin Scott said in a Youtube video about the training released by the LIRR.

Employees undergo two to three days of training, both in classroom settings and inside test trains. They must pass a test to be qualified to operate on the new territory.

Although all train crew members undergo similar training learning the LIRR's 188-year-old system, the new training, which began last December, includes veteran LIRR employees with decades on the job, railroad officials said. The railroad is also hiring 207 train crew members to support the new service.

“The people who run the trains need to be familiar with the physical characteristics of the new territory, so we’ve been running the . . . training trains for months now,” LIRR interim president Catherine Rinaldi said. “We’re trying to get as many people through it as possible, so we’re able to support the service."

In a departure from traditional methods, crew members must monitor a video feed from cameras mounted on the front of trains traveling through the new territory, revealing the intricate configuration of tracks, switches and electrical systems mounted on tunnel walls.  “For this training, we felt it was necessary for them to see it, understand what was going on the tracks. It was a learning curve for both the engineers and the conductors,” LIRR training specialist Sharda Kalladeen said in the video. “It is different than what we have ever done before.”

Through East Side Access, the LIRR is expanding its footprint for the first time since the construction of Penn Station 112 years ago. The new link to Grand Central Terminal took 15 years to build, and includes a 350,000-square-foot passenger concourse stretching from 42nd to 48th streets.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.