In Transit newsletter: LIRR's Long Beach line battered by storm, and other MTA news

Last month marked my 18th anniversary as Newsday’s transit reporter. In that time, I’ve covered nearly 200 monthly MTA railroad committee meetings. While I’m always sure to report on the biggest headlines coming out of each meeting, with finite time in the day, and space in Newsday, it’s impossible to get to every noteworthy item.

Thankfully, this newsletter now provides another platform to bring you the news from the MTA’s monthly meetings. Here’s some of what I couldn't get to from last week's meeting:

The nor’easter really did a number on the Long Beach line. Not surprisingly, the powerful storm that battered Long Island during the last weekend of September hit the railroad’s low-lying Long Beach Branch particularly hard, LIRR President Rob Free said in his monthly report to the MTA Board. "The water was as high as 2 feet over the third rail," said Free, describing crews' round-the-clock efforts to pump millions of gallons of water out of Island Park and make other repairs to "dry out" infrastructure. But, just as soon as crews made progress, the high tide would come in and flood the tracks again. Among the complications that forced the LIRR to suspend service on the branch: Because of the "conductive nature" of salt water, track circuits falsely detected the presence of trains at some grade crossings, causing safety gates to come down when they shouldn’t.

Trains were packed all summer long. The LIRR saw "extremely strong" ridership throughout the summer, with 7.7 million people taking trains in July, and 7.5 million in August — 96% and 95%, respectively, of what the LIRR carried during those months in 2019, a year in which the railroad set a modern ridership record. Helping boost the railroad’s summer ridership was the FIFA World Cup and the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Free said. The LIRR also set a post-COVID Friday ridership record of nearly 308,000 riders on Sept. 11, and has hit the 300,000 mark 26 times so far this year.

The LIRR has mostly been on time this year — or has it? Free reported that 95.5.% of trains operated on time in July, and 95.6% were punctual in August — keeping the LIRR above its 94% target for the year. Noting that those numbers don’t necessarily match the experience of some riders, MTA board member Daniel Garodnick asked Free for clarity on what the LIRR consider a late train. Free explained, as I did last week, that a train is considered late if it arrives at its final destination six minutes or more after its scheduled time, or is canceled. "That’s an industry standard," Free said. "We’re not alone in that."

Some station upgrades have been made. Others are on the way. Free detailed several recent and forthcoming station improvements, including the planned extension of storage tracks in Port Washington and Amagansett and the addition of a second track platform at Hampton Bays — measures all aimed at allowing the railroad to one day operate more trains, once they have more trains to run. Free noted that the LIRR’s ability to expand service right now is limited by the size of its fleet, but the LIRR last year entered into a contract to buy 160 new electric trains. Free also went over some recent upgrades to the Centre Avenue and Island Park stations, including upgrades to signage, platforms, sheds, station buildings and bathrooms. The fixes to the two Long Beach Branch stations came before the recent nor’easter. "I certainly hope this storm did not necessitate us having to go back and make some more station improvements," Free said.

Transportation news

• The last issue to delay the launch of Grand Central Madison was finally resolved — nearly four years after the station opened.
• The MTA and Suffolk County recently closed a land deal that could allow for the development of a new LIRR rail yard in Port Jefferson Station, a first step toward potentially electrifying the Port Jeff branch.
• MTA officials are pleading for an exemption from Trump administration tariffs, which they say could add $1 billion to the cost of buying new trains and jeopardize the future of the LIRR’s next fleet.
• New panoramic security cameras are improving the LIRR’s surveillance of stations, while also cutting costs, the MTA said.
• A woman died and a man was seriously injured in a Wading River crash Saturday night, police said.

Travel watch

• The JFK AirTrain will be suspended tonight (Tuesday) from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. Wednesday for system upgrades. Free shuttle buses will provide service between all stations and airport terminals. If work is delayed due to weather, the suspension will be moved to Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
• The eastbound Long Island Expressway will be closed at Exit 62 (Nicolls Road/Suffolk County Road 97) on Wednesday from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. Thursday for bridge maintenance.
• There will be no service this weekend on the LIRR’s West Hempstead Branch, as crews conduct signal work. Buses will be available at Valley Stream, making stops at all stations from Westwood to West Hempstead. The MTA and NICE will cross-honor LIRR tickets on the Q4, Q6 and N4 routes.

Readers speak up

This reader reached out before embarking on an 8,000-mile road trip from Bismarck, North Dakota, to Idaho and back. Now she's returned, and has some thoughts to share from her journey.

My biggest observation was we have too many drivers on the road here. ... While out west, we were on many roads with 80(!) mph speed limits. But, I never felt unsafe with other drivers, including tractor trailers pulling 3 trailers. We only seemed to run into aggressive drivers when we ran in to more traffic ... While I realize we can't really do too much about the amount of drivers here, perhaps a crackdown on illegal drivers (i.e. ghost plate drivers) could help.

Christine Tarantino, Farmingdale

What differences have you spotted between Long Island's roads and those from other parts of the country? Let us know at transit@newsday.com.

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.