Follow LIRR's new Yaphank station with bigger changes

To many Long Island Rail Road riders, the opening of the new Yaphank-BNL station may not present itself as a significant milestone. Yet, it could be the beginning of the railroad's next formidable effort to modernize and improve the region's public transit.

The new LIRR station, just a few miles from Brookhaven National Laboratory, is the first to open since the Elmont stop at UBS Arena in 2021. That alone is noteworthy. It also provides a more convenient option for many Suffolk commuters, and a boost for current and future employees of the federal research lab which is seeing growth of its own.

While the station is new, the trains passing through it unfortunately are still running on diesel, on a single track, which severely limits the possibilities of expanded, more modern, environmentally friendly service.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is doing a study to assess adding a second track between Ronkonkoma and Riverhead as well as electrifying that key section of the Main Line. Current MTA capital funding could help for planning and starting the work. Once it's underway, the next chunk of funding likely would be easier to secure.

That could be game-changing for the Island. When the LIRR's second track to Ronkonkoma opened in 2018, it allowed for more service, greater reliability and the opportunity for a backup plan when something went awry. The ripple effects were enormous. Since then, Station Yards, a development that eventually will include 1,450 apartments along with office space and retail, is rising to the north of the LIRR's Ronkonkoma station. And county officials earlier this month issued a request for proposals for the land to the south of the tracks, too. 

A second track to Riverhead — and electrifying that part of the line — would bring tremendous  benefits, giving residents more and better service, while economically boosting communities east of Ronkonkoma. Riverhead is in the midst of its own redevelopment efforts. 

Anyone who's taken the train east of Ronkonkoma knows the limitations and difficulties of the diesel experience. The trains are slower and less frequent, the air more dirty.

Completing the study quickly, and moving forward with double tracking and potential electrification, are critical next steps.

The improvements at Yaphank represent one slice of what the MTA is planning for Long Island. There are grade crossings to eliminate, a rail yard at the Lawrence Aviation Industries property to build, and hopefully electrification of the Port Jefferson line to plan. They're pieces of a larger puzzle: the continued effort to modernize and upgrade the Long Island Rail Road system as a whole.

Big projects of the recent past like the Main Line's Third Track and the opening of Grand Central Madison illustrate the impact such improvements can have on residents and businesses regionwide. But those successes must not be the end of the line. The story of Yaphank represents the start of what could be the next big trip — with critical destinations still to come.