Rail yard crucial to better service on Port Jeff line

The Long Island Rail Road says it needs to build a new rail yard in Suffolk County to increase the frequency and quality of service, as riders demand.

More space to park additional trains is needed for all the main lines, but most acutely for the Port Jefferson one. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has even included $8 million to begin developing a new facility in its five-year, $29 billion capital program. Ready cash from a budget that everyone wants a piece of is nothing to sneeze at.

Residents along this North Shore corridor are already prepared to add a rail yard to the list of things they don't want in their backyard, and that's understandable. Train yards can be loud and an eyesore, and there are surely places they don't belong. Suffolk officials say they are committed to helping the MTA find a yard site, not the least because it fits County Executive Steve Bellone's ambitious regional plan to improve public transportation. The challenge will be getting buy-in from municipalities and residents to let the project go forward. And one way to do that is to have residents involved in the site selection process rather than trying to shove a location down their throats.

If this isn't done right, the same opposition that surfaced years ago will return. Proposals to build a yard at two different sites in Kings Park were defeated by an uproar from residents in 2003. And now, civic activists are saying they'd oppose those sites again.

The right spot has to be found and, as much as possible, noise or sightline concerns must be mitigated. Suffolk County needs better train service and that means a new train yard.