NY Wiki: trains Archives

September 16, 2005

Moynihan Station

The new NYC Penn Station: Moynihan Station.

Also in Curbed.

Posted by omor at 09:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 09, 2005

Cross Harbor Tunnel

Traffic would be improved by a freight tunnel.

Move NY

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July 13, 2005

Calverton Enterprise Park and LIRR

Two "mega" concerts planned for the former Calverton Naval Weapons
Airfield site, now known as Calverton Enterprise Park.

An opportunity of the LIRR ? Or will the LIRR maintain that demand
fon the North Fork is still low, as , Sunrise Express enjoys
record high patronage ?

These events will occur over 2 summer weekends, June 7 & 8th and then
again on August 9th and 10th. Up to 80,000. tickets will be sold
for EACH DAY, some of these tickets will be for peopple who want to
spend the weekend and camp on site, but most will be for people
attending 1 day only.

Yes, the Main Line (or the Greenport Branch) runs right next to the
concert site, and there even is a "station site" for Calverton (it has
not been a station since the mid-80's), that at a minimum a temporary
wooden high level platform could be constructed for (similar to what
Metro-Noth built at Yankee Stadium in case of the NYC transit strike
in December).

Ken Allan, [LIRRCommuters] LIRR Service to Calverton Concert Sites
(LIRRCommuters@yahoogroups.com)
Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 20:23:53

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March 03, 2005

railroad.net's commuter rail forums

railroad.net's commuter rail forums are populated by some commuters and many foamers.

Forums: LIRR | NJT | Metro-North

Posted by omor at 04:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 10, 2005

Peconic Bay Regional Transportation Authority

Two Tracks Converge
2005 January 09, By JOHN RATHER, The New York Times

AN unusual convergence of events may be opening a way for a
top-to-bottom refashioning of public transportation on the East End,
where traffic snarls and Hamptons summer gridlock have brought cries
for years for something to be done, but where local opposition to new
or wider roads remains fierce.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, already increasing fares
and reducing service for the new year to close budget deficits, wants
to raise an additional $1 billion by selling or leasing properties
including parking lots, train yards and stations.

On the East End, some elected officials and groups want to explore
creating an East End transportation authority that would buy or lease
the Long Island Rail Road tracks that run along the North and South
Forks, transforming them into the arteries of a new light rail and
shuttle bus transit system.

Some of the basic ingredients for a future deal seem to be there. But
the five towns and nine villages that make up the East End would need
to agree first on a common course of action, and the authority, which
owns the L.I.R.R., would need to be persuaded that are financial
advantages to ceding control of the railroad's eastern extremities.

Even the most optimistic of East End transportation advocates agreed
that making all that happen would take some doing, but several of them
indicated that they were poised to give it a try.

"The M.T.A. certainly isn't winning any awards for how they are
running the system out here," said Hank de Cillia of Bridgehampton, a
spokesman for a private advocacy group called the Five Town Rural
Transit Committee. "One of our arguments to them would be that we are
an insignificant, tiny little part of their empire, and we think we
could run it better."

(Thomas R. Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, also has designs on
parts of the L.I.R.R. track system, having proposed a mass transit
light rail loop for the Hub area in central Nassau that would
incorporate the railroad's Oyster Bay and West Hempstead lines. But
the plan is tentative and financing is nowhere near being secured.)

Tom Kelly, an M.T.A. spokesman, said he had not even heard of the
proposed East End authority and could not comment on whether the
M.T.A. would consider lease or sale of East End tracks. "This is not
something we have explored," he said. "I won't say its premature, I
just don't know the legality of it. It might not be feasible." The
Long Island Rail Road public affairs office, informed of the proposal,
did not offer any comment.

But legislation to create an East End transit authority has already
been introduced in Albany. Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr., a
Republican from Sag Harbor, wrote a bill last year to create what
would be called the Peconic Bay Regional Transportation Authority. It
would cover the towns of Southampton, East Hampton, Shelter Island,
Riverhead and Southold, and the nine villages within them.

The bill did not come to a vote, but Mr. Thiele said he would
reintroduce it this month. He said he believed that East End officials
supported the plan, but added that he had not discussed the proposal
with M.T.A. or Long Island Rail Road officials.

"We have certainly talked to the M.T.A. about the type of service they
provide now, and quite frankly it has been their lack of
responsiveness that has resulted in this," he said.

Mr. de Cillia's group visualizes one-, two- or three-car self-powered
trains running half-hourly on North and South Fork routes, supported
by shuttle buses waiting at the stations to carry riders to or near
their final destinations. This, Mr. de Cillia said, would be a better
way to run a railroad in an area with 29 percent of Long Island's area
but less than 5 percent of its year-round residents.

Currently the L.I.R.R. serves the North Fork with two eastbound and
three westbound trains weekdays and two round trips on weekends
connecting Greenport and Pennsylvania Station. There is also one round
trip connecting Riverhead and Pennsylvania Station on weekdays. On the
South Fork, the railroad runs five westbound and six eastbound trains
on weekdays except on Friday, when there is a seventh eastbound train.
On weekends there are five eastbound and four westbound trains.

The East End plan also envisions small-scale, primarily seasonal ferry
and water taxi service with bus and rail links. Routes might include
service between Orient Point and hamlets on the North and South Forks.
The Cross Sound Ferry Company carries passengers and vehicles between
Orient Point and New London, Conn.

The group contends that its proposal would avert further surrender to
cars and roads while serving residents, visitors and second
homeowners. Its advocates say it would accommodate freight trains in
off-hours, connect seamlessly with the Long Island Rail Road and carry
tradespeople to reduce the daily "trade parade" that East End
residents blame for congesting roads, particularly on the South Fork.
The group said tradespeople could initially drive their vehicles to
secure parking locations near job sites and then travel to and from
the locations by rail. They point out that many commuters to the East
End work in restaurants, schools and area hospitals and had no need to
travel with tools and heavy equipment.

Mr. de Cillia, a business consultant, said the group had been
concerned more with what had to be than on how to do it, but
recognized that creation of the new transportation authority might be
necessary.

Southampton voted on Dec. 17 to make exploring an authority a part of
the town's master plan. "This is really where our focus is," said
Steve Kenny, a Southampton councilman. "What we would really like to
see now is the M.T.A. coming to the table."

Mr. Thiele said a bill that created a new authority for the explicit
purpose of immediately replacing the M.T.A. on the East End would have
slim chance of passage. "That's probably an uphill battle," he said.

But he said chances were far better for establishing a new authority
that would work cooperatively with the M.T.A. He said the new
authority could be financed by what he said was a fair share of fares
and money the East End paid in sales taxes, mortgage taxes and a
number of other taxes to the M.T.A.

"From the research we've done so far it appears that when it comes to
the M.T.A. the East End is definitely a creditor nation," he said. "If
we had our fair share, we believe a train and shuttle bus service
could be covered."

Mr. de Cillia's group estimated that East End residents, second
homeowners and visitors accounted for $40 million in revenues routed

to existing rail and bus service. The group said the amount far
exceeded what the East End got back in services, but made no estimate
of the difference.

A state-created authority would have the power to sell tax-exempt
bonds to finance its operations and buy M.T.A. assets and new
equipment. But backers of the new authority said large-scale borrowing
was not part of their plan.

Instead, they spoke of securing federal financing for new light rail
cars and exploring the possibility of leasing tracks. Mr. de Cillia
said the M.T.A. might even agree to cede the tracks to the new
authority.

Mr. Thiele said the M.T.A.'s announced interest in selling or leasing
assets might be a sign the time was right for significant changes. "We
may be underestimating this thing," he said. "Maybe the M.T.A. would
be glad to let someone else take over."

Whether towns and villages could reach agreement would be another
matter. Some are currently at odds over transportation issues.

Southold is suing East Hampton in federal court in an effort to knock
down East Hampton ordinances that ban car-and-driver ferries and limit
passenger ferries. Southold and Shelter Island, which has joined in
the action, contend that they are being victimized by traffic to and
from the Cross Sound Ferry terminal in Orient and points on the South
Fork.

Joshua Y. Horton, the Southold supervisor, said it was unfair for East
Hampton to bar ferries that could relieve traffic problems on the
North Fork and Shelter Island. "That is the transportation issue that
needs to be addressed," he said.

East Hampton, meanwhile, would be the terminus of a new limited-access
highway built along the Long Island Rail Road tracks that is proposed
for further study in the transportation plan the Southampton town
board added to the town's master plan on Dec. 17.

The road, which Southampton officials concede would be unlikely to be
built, would begin at the eastern end of County Road 39 in Southampton
and end at the East Hampton town line near the East Hampton Airport.

William McGintee, the East Hampton town supervisor, said Southampton
officials had given assurances that no road along the railroad would
be built without his town's consent. "Any plan for that is not worth
the paper it's written on without East Hampton agreeing," he said.

Mr. McGintee said he was more favorably disposed toward an East End
transportation authority. "It is an interesting concept," he said.

But North Fork officials had questions. "I am certainly not a naysayer
in regard to enhanced transportation," Mr. Horton said. "But I am not
sure a new authority with brand-new bonding authority is the answer to
that. There are agencies already in place, and we should be fighting
to have better representation and service from those agencies."

The Greenport mayor, David Kapell, said he had heard what he described
as "loose talk" about an authority. "I don't place much credence in
that," he said. "Whether or not an authority is a viable alternative
is a very complicated issue."

"In my opinion, smaller units of government do not operate efficiently
from an economy standpoint," Mr. Kapell said. "It's hard for me to
understand how you could create a smaller authority that people could
afford to pay for. The problem is one of economics."

The five towns and nine villages are part of a $500,000 federally
financed initiative to find a regional consensus on transportation and
land use. If a consensus were reached, it would target county, state
and federal financing for transportation.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council began the initative,
known as the Sustainable East End Development Strategies, or Seeds,
program, in 2001. Other participants include the M.T.A., the Long
Island Rail Road and state and Suffolk County transportation agencies.

Gerry Bogacz, a planning group director in Manhattan for the council,
said the initiative would not weigh directly on the question of
whether a new transportation authority was warranted. "Seeds is trying
to build a consensus on what needs to be done," he said. "Once that
consensus is reached, it's a question of how do you implement that
consensus."

Some local officials said the initiative had taken so long they
doubted it would yield useful results. But a wealth of statistical
information compiled by Seeds about a range of transportation options
will be available soon.

Patricia Thiele of Sag Harbor, the Seeds coordinator, said data from
computer modeling of transportation alternatives would be released in
April. Ms. Thiele, who is not related to Assemblyman Thiele, said
alternatives studied included road widenings, new roads, increased
rail and ferry service and different types of services.

Mr. de Cillia, who took part in the initiative, said he had reviewed
some of the results. "I have seen enough to know that if you make more
investment in transit you are going to get more riders," he said.

Mr. Bogacz said the results could help lead to an inter-municipal
agreement in 2006. "The data will hopefully tell a story that people
will be able to read," he said.

Previously: Expanded rail service on the South Fork needed, MTA shortchanges
eastern Long Island.

Posted by omor at 04:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 14, 2004

Newsday's latest stories on LIRR

Newsday's latest stories on LIRR.

Posted by omor at 04:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 09, 2004

Expanded rail service on the South Fork needed

EDITORIALS
Easthampton Star, 2004 Sept 09
Save the L.I.R.R.

Given the level of service provided on the South Fork by the Long
Island Rail Road, a good argument might be made in favor of tearing up
the tracks and replacing them with a new road (dare we say bypass?)
from near Southampton Village at least to the East Hampton Town line.
Riders, or, perhaps more accurately, would-be riders, have for many
years complained about a schedule that seemed more about moving the
rail cars from one place to another than serving passengers' needs,
particularly on westbound runs. But abandoning rail would make us more
dependent on automobiles at a time when transportation alternatives
should be promoted. Doing away with trains would be a major step
backward.

The idea of tearing up the tracks, if it has been proposed as a way of
getting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's attention, is a
risky gamble. The M.T.A. might just take the South Fork up on it. The
L.I.R.R. seems to have given up on serving the South Fork villages and
hamlets in a meaningful way a while ago. When new passenger cars were
added a few years ago they were chosen with commuters in mind, not
people bringing luggage for a weekend. There's room for a briefcase on
racks above passengers' heads, but not much else. The Friday trains
out of New York City take on the frantic air of a hurricane
evacuation, as riders try to cram their bags and sports equipment into
whatever space they can find.

As proposed in a study commissioned by the Southampton Town Board,
rail service would end at the Southampton train station; buses would
take passengers the rest of the way to Montauk. A new transfer
facility, more like cattle pens than the "visitor center" mentioned in
the study, would accommodate the up to 1,500 passengers per trip as
they are herded onto buses. The consultant who wrote up the study's
findings said that buses would actually serve riders better, by being
able to take them to places like Sag Harbor, for instance, which are
now inaccessible by train.

A more sensible proposal in the study is for expanded rail service on
the South Fork. Trains would run more frequently and shuttle buses or
"light-rail" trains would go to the now unserved hamlets and villages.
People close to the issue say, however, that the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority would not be enthusiastic about this
prospect.

The idea of doing away with rail service would seem to be
counterintuitive for Southampton Town officials, who have made a
mantra of complaints about vehicles headed for destinations in East
Hampton Town. The consultant said that about 10,600 vehicles a day
that cross the Shinnecock Canal on County Road 39 during the summer
are bound for East Hampton. Eliminating rail service east of
Southampton Village would only cause that number to grow as more
people chose personal cars over complex and time-consuming public
transportation.

In East Hampton, replacing the rail bed with a road would seem all but
impossible; the tracks bisect the village. Nor would there be much
space in many locations for a second set of tracks, as might be
required for light-rail service, without the condemnation of numerous
houses. Another unfortunate result would be along the long stretch of
Hither Hills State Park where the L.I.R.R. rails now run. A highway
there seems unthinkable.

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. has proposed legislation to
create a Peconic Bay regional authority to help deal with
transportation problems in the five East End towns. This authority
would not supplant the M.T.A. but work with it in a supporting role.
Keeping a direct rail connection to New York City should be important
to second-home owners and weekend visitors. Mr. Thiele's much-needed
attempt to seek some middle ground with the M.T.A. could help maintain
and perhaps improve this service. Now is not the time to abandon rail
service on the South Fork or make it less rider-friendly.

[Easthampton Star].

Posted by omor at 04:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 10, 2004

MTA photoban

A tremendous amount will be lost if photographers stop shooting in the subways.
The subway stations are some of the last vestiges of the old pre-Disney,
pre-cleansed New York. Times Square has been turned into a mall�and I have
very mixed feelings about the change. But when you step off the street and into
the Fourth Avenue R and F station here in Brooklyn, all that goes away. You're
instantly transported into the unreconstructed, unrenovated, ungentrified,
un-prettified New York of decades ago. You can walk through that entire
station�and it's just one example�and see almost nothing that wasn't there in
the '50s or '60s. Walk down a passageway in any of the older stations, and all
around you'll see what makes New York run�the pipes and conduits and
strangely-labeled doors, the barred cages where the workers hang equipment
and helmets and lamps, the huge steel beams that support the streets above,
dozens of layers of paint, unironic barely grammatical signs not composed by an
ad agency . . . I could go on and on.

Joe Holmes.

Posted by dc at 01:39 AM | Comments (0)

May 09, 2004

LIRR from {Jamaica, JFK} to WTC ?

Mr. Pataki proposed a $6 billion plan to build a new tunnel under the East River
that would link Lower Manhattan to Kennedy Airport and Long Island. He said
the new rail link could cut 15 minutes from a Long Islander's commute to
downtown Manhattan and could handle up to 100,000 passengers a day.

The plan would allow riders to get to Lower Manhattan from the airport and the
Jamaica railroad terminal in Queens in a newly designed hybrid vehicle that
would travel on the tracks of the AirTrain and altered tracks of the Long Island
Rail Road. The new train would travel from the airport, through Jamaica and
Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn and then through the new tunnel into Manhattan.

Mr. Pally[*] said that other Long Island railroad projects that should have higher
priority include the East Side Access project, which is scheduled for completion in
2012, and a third track on the railroad's Main Line, which would allow a significant
expansion of service between Bellerose and Hicksville and is supposed to be
completed in 2016. Even longer-range projects like transportation alternatives in
the Nassau Hub, the expansion of Route 347 on the North Shore of Suffolk
County and the building of a new freight tunnel under New York Harbor, which
would reduce truck traffic on Long Island, should take precedence, he added.

"All these projects would impact more people and provide additional options for
Long Islanders," Mr. Pally said. "With the limited amount of state and federal
funding that's out there, these other projects should definitely take priority."

[*] Mitchell H. Pally, the vice president for government affairs at the Long
Island Association.

2004 May 09
Seeing One Tunnel Too Many, By VIVIAN S. TOY

MARK HUDAK is an insurance defense lawyer from Uniondale who travels to Lower
Manhattan at least three times a week for court appearances.

Like many commuters, he has tested different railroad and subway combinations
to try to shave as many minutes as possible from his travel time. His current
favored option takes about 70 minutes and involves changing trains at Jamaica
and switching to a subway at the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic/Flatbush
terminal in Brooklyn.

Even though the last leg of his morning journey is the shortest, he said, "waiting
for the subway is when I consider my work day beginning, because it's the
toughest part of the trip. The rest is more relaxed and predictable."

So, like other commuters destined for Lower Manhattan who were interviewed
last week at the Mineola train station, Mr. Hudak said he welcomed a plan
proposed by Governor Pataki on Wednesday that would finally create a one-seat
ride from Lower Manhattan to Kennedy Airport and the Jamaica terminal of the
Long Island Rail Road.

"Anything that takes us anywhere near downtown without having to switch to a
subway would make perfect sense," Mr. Hudak said. He added, though, that he
would reserve final judgment until he determined how much time and money he
would save from the proposed train link.

Mr. Pataki proposed a $6 billion plan to build a new tunnel under the East River
that would link Lower Manhattan to Kennedy Airport and Long Island. He said the
new rail link could cut 15 minutes from a Long Islander's commute to downtown
Manhattan and could handle up to 100,000 passengers a day.

"Long Islanders as well as Queens and Brooklyn commuters will experience a
more direct and more comfortable trip to Lower Manhattan," Mr. Pataki said. He
said the new link would reduce congestion on subways that carry Long Island
riders from Penn Station or the Atlantic Terminal and would also strengthen the
competitiveness of the airport by giving air travelers a 36-minute connection
from Kennedy to Manhattan.

The proposal is also supported by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but perhaps the
loudest and most persistent lobbyists for the new connection have been
downtown business leaders, who feel that Lower Manhattan has for too long been
at a competitive disadvantage to Midtown because it lacks one-seat access to the
suburbs.

But there has been no corresponding clamor for the rail link from Long Islanders.
Indeed, business leaders, transit advocates and planning experts have
questioned the need for the project, particularly when limited transportation
dollars are needed for other projects they deem more pressing, particularly the
East Side Access plan to connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central
Terminal.

Transit advocates said last week that they were skeptical of the estimate that the
downtown link would cut a commute by 15 minutes, and noted that only those
Long Islanders who are headed to the World Trade Center area, where the train
would stop, would actually achieve those savings. Others who work farther
downtown or uptown would still have to walk or take a subway to get to their
jobs, reducing any time savings.

"The downtown link is not the highest priority for Long Island, from our
perspective," said Mitchell H. Pally, the vice president for government affairs at
the Long Island Association, the Island's largest business group. "We're not
opposed to it, but there are more important projects that we want to make sure
are implemented and finished."

Beverly Dolinsky, executive director of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter's
Council, agreed. "We don't support downtown access because it's very, very
expensive and the case has not been made that enough people would use it and
we're dealing with scarce dollars," she said. The Regional Plan Association, a
nonprofit agency that focuses on 31 counties in New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut, estimated that only 5,000 to 8,000 riders might use the new link
during peak hours, based on current ridership figures. The association did its
analysis prior to the governor's announcement, which relied on recommendations
made in a joint study done by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation,
the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority and the city Economic Development Corporation.

"In terms of cost benefit and the number of riders it would benefit, it just doesn't
make sense," Ms. Dolinsky said. "You're going to spend $6 billion for 5,000 riders
at rush hour?" Estimates for the proposed $17 billion Second Avenue subway
anticipate 220,000 riders on its first day.

Mr. Pataki said last week that the Port Authority had already committed $560
million for the downtown rail link and that the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation would also kick in
some funding. There also is an estimated $2.8 billion left from the $21 billion
federal relief package designated for Lower Manhattan after Sept. 11 that could
be tapped.

But opponents of the downtown link fear that the governor ultimately will also
have to seek federal transportation dollars, and the downtown link will then come
in direct competition with other Long Island transportation projects, particularly
given the governor's timetable for the new tunnel. Mr. Pataki said he expected to
begin the formal environmental review process for the downtown rail link this
summer. He said he hoped to see construction begin in 2006 and have service
begin in 2013.

Senator Charles E. Schumer said he supports the idea of a rail link to downtown,
but only if the federal relief package for Lower Manhattan can cover the bulk of
its cost. "I think this is a good idea for downtown and for Long Island, but we
should not use transit bill money to build it," he said. "That money should go to
East Side Access and other transportation projects."

Mr. Pally said that other Long Island railroad projects that should have higher
priority include the East Side Access project, which is scheduled for completion in
2012, and a third track on the railroad's Main Line, which would allow a significant
expansion of service between Bellerose and Hicksville and is supposed to be
completed in 2016. Even longer-range projects like transportation alternatives in
the Nassau Hub, the expansion of Route 347 on the North Shore of Suffolk
County and the building of a new freight tunnel under New York Harbor, which
would reduce truck traffic on Long Island, should take precedence, he added.

Gene Russianoff, staff attorney of the New York Public Interest Research Group
Straphangers Campaign, said the M.T.A. and the federal government would be
hard-pressed to come up with additional funding to help pay the $6 billion price
tag for the downtown rail link. "How do you do that while still progressing the
Second Avenue subway and East Side Access, which in our view are the region's
top priorities?" he asked. "The M.T.A. already has big capital needs to fix and
maintain the existing system and is already challenged to find resources for new
projects."

Jon Orcutt, an associate director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a
nonprofit transit advocacy group, said he was pleased that the governor last
week expressed a clear preference for a new tunnel over proposals to use
existing subway tunnels. "That takes away the political problem of having to
battle subway riders and disrupting their service," he said. "But then it just
becomes another one of these big-ticket projects in search of funding."

He and other transit advocates warned that while planning for East Side Access is
complete, the $6.3 billion needed to finish the project has not yet been secured.
"The Long Island Rail Road's entire network strategy for the 21st century
revolves around it," Mr. Orcutt said. "And it's already unclear how they're going
to pay for it."

Planning for the East Side Access project began about 30 years ago. A two-level
tunnel connecting Manhattan to Queens at 63rd Street was completed in 1989,
but it only extends to Second Avenue in Manhattan and does not connect to
existing rail lines in Queens. The subway system has been using the upper level
of the tunnel for the last decade, but the lower level was intended for the Long
Island Rail Road and has never been used.

John McCarthy, a spokesman for the M.T.A., said work to finally connect the
empty tunnel to the railroad began last winter, including the building of a rail
yard in Long Island City and the opening of a hole in Sunnyside to eventually
complete the tunnel connection. The project involves building 3.5 more miles of
tunnel and a new station that would go beneath the existing Grand Central
concourse. The M.T.A. so far has committed $1.5 billion to the project and M.T.A.
officials hope to have the federal government foot half of the total $6.3 billion
cost.

The Regional Plan Association has long been an advocate for East Side Access,
because some 60,000 Long Island commuters would save up to 22 minutes in
travel time each way once Long Island Rail Road trains can stop at Grand
Central. "It would strengthen the economy of Long Island by making it a much
more attractive place to live for commuters who work in the city," said Jeffrey
Zupan, a transportation expert with the association.

But the group has been more circumspect about the downtown rail link because it
would end at the World Trade Center transportation center, and does not offer
other stops in Lower Manhattan. The group has also recommended that any new
tunnel be connected to the proposed Second Avenue subway, which then could
be extended into Brooklyn. "The tunnel then would have a huge value for people
in Brooklyn who now have very limited options for getting into the East Side of
Manhattan," Mr. Zupan said. "The only way for a new tunnel to make sense is to
connect it to the rest of the system."

Last week, Mr. Pataki stressed that while the proposed downtown link would end
at the World Trade Center Transportation Center, it eventually could be extended
to the Second Avenue subway or other existing subway lines. He and other
proponents for the new tunnel said they did not believe it would compete for
federal dollars with East Side Access or other projects.

"East Side Access is moving ahead as it should," said Carl Weisbrod, president of
the Alliance for Downtown New York. "And the downtown rail link is a project that
complements and supports East Side Access because it will strengthen the Long
Island labor market and the Long Island economy's connection to the New York
City region."

Mr. Weisbrod played down estimates for ridership on the new link that are based
on current commuter statistics. "This is a different kind of transportation project
and you have to view this more as an economic development project," he said.

The estimated 5,000 Long Island commuters who now come into Lower
Manhattan during each peak travel hour "are hardy souls who make a very, very
difficult commute to Lower Manhattan," Mr. Weisbrod said. New Jersey residents,
on the other hand, have a much easier trip and as a result make up 25 percent
of the downtown workforce, he added.

"Long Island ridership will increase dramatically once the opportunity for a much
easier commute is available," he said. "That's why we have to view this project
not just from the viewpoint of how it serves existing riders, but as a way of
creating opportunity for the region as a whole."

Posted by dc at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)

March 13, 2004

Nassau cab companies to take LIRR passengers to their cars

Nassau cab companies to take LIRR passengers to their cars for free

2004 March 11 MERRICK - Nassau cab companies have begun a free service to
drive LIRR riders to their nearby parked cars for free.

The program is an effort to insure the safety of commuters who often come
home late at night. Many commuters fear for their safety when they have to walk
across a dark or secluded parking lot to get to their car.

According to the taxi companies, a recent increase in violence at local train
stations prompted the start of the program. One such act of violence is the brutal
murder of Anthony Battaglia. Battaglia was shot, stabbed and killed while walking
home from the Lynbrook train station in September of 2003.

The free taxi service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the
following train stations: Lynbrook, Mineola, Hempstead, Merrick, Freeport, Island
Park, Hewlett, Rockville Centre, Port Washington and Little Neck.

Video : http://ondemand1.cv.net/news12/ELICABT.asx

Posted by dc at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)

Nassau cab companies to take LIRR passengers to their cars

Nassau cab companies to take LIRR passengers to their cars for free

2004 March 11 MERRICK - Nassau cab companies have begun a free service to
drive LIRR riders to their nearby parked cars for free.

Video : http://ondemand1.cv.net/news12/ELICABT.asx

Posted by dc at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2004

subtext subway photoblog

Chiba's subtext subway photoblog.

Posted by dc at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)

February 28, 2004

Jamaica blight

Jamaica, Queens:
Given that the area is already a major hub for the Long Island Rail Road and has
extensive subway and bus service as well, the community, near the geographic
center of Queens, would seem to be a likely spot to practice an urban version of
what planners call transit-related smart growth.

"With necessary and significant private, public or mixed investment in site
acquisition and maintaining new and modernized infrastructure, downtown
Jamaica could be successfully revived," according to a study issued last year by
City University's Institute for Urban Systems, whose principal authors were
Robert Paaswell, Harry Schwartz and Linda Stone Davidoff.

Because of its connection to the airport, the economic engine of Jamaica's
resurgence was expected to be airlines and air travel related businesses,
although real estate specialists caution that development should not be limited to
transportation-related projects. But because the attack of Sept. 11 roiled the
airline industry, that part of the plan is likely to be delayed.

Nevertheless, a lot of people pass through the area. Approximately 100,000
commuters use the Long Island Rail Road terminal in Jamaica each workday,
according to the local development group, with 16,000 more using the Sutphin
Boulevard subway station and another 37,000 using Jamaica Center terminal at
Parsons Avenue. In addition, about 40 bus lines serve Jamaica, carrying
customers from eastern and southern Queens and Nassau County.

LIRR tracks, JFK AirTrain meet at Jamaica, Quenns .

Jamaica Seeks to Build on AirTrain
By JOHN HOLUSHA
2004 February 29

THE AirTrain is running between Jamaica, Queens, and Kennedy International
Airport, taking passengers from a railroad-subway connection to the passenger
terminals in about 12 minutes. Various routes have been suggested for a rail link
between Lower Manhattan and Jamaica that would enable travelers to go from
meetings downtown to their flights without facing the often traffic-choked
highways leading to the airport.

Given that the area is already a major hub for the Long Island Rail Road and has
extensive subway and bus service as well, the community, near the geographic
center of Queens, would seem to be a likely spot to practice an urban version of
what planners call transit-related smart growth.

"With necessary and significant private, public or mixed investment in site
acquisition and maintaining new and modernized infrastructure, downtown
Jamaica could be successfully revived," according to a study issued last year by
City University's Institute for Urban Systems, whose principal authors were
Robert Paaswell, Harry Schwartz and Linda Stone Davidoff.

Still, some real estate executives say the AirTrain may give a short-term boost
to retail businesses. "With the coming of the J.F.K. AirTrain, we should see more
retail activity and things like hotels and tablecloth restaurants," said Adelle Klein,
a senior managing director at Sholom & Zuckerbrot, a commercial and industrial
brokerage active in the area. "And the 14-screen theater that opened not long
ago has added more evening business."

Richard Maltz, chairman of Greiner-Maltz, a brokerage active in Queens,
Brooklyn and Long Island, added: "Jamaica is booming from a retail standpoint.
There are stores all along Jamaica Avenue and 40 to 45 feet in on the side
streets."

In the meantime, a major rezoning plan is moving forward that would establish a
special zone around the AirTrain terminal that would encourage the development
of hotels, office buildings and residences. While the allowable size of buildings in
the special zone would be increased, the size of structures in adjoining
neighborhoods would be restricted to preserve local character. The zoning
proposal, which covers a 415-block area in and around Jamaica, is part of a
citywide rezoning process.

Plans have been made by a local group, the Greater Jamaica Development
Corporation, working with LCOR, a national developer, to build a 13-story
building with approximately 400,000 square feet of office of space. The plan �
which awaits a signed tenant before moving forward � is seen as the first step in
what the planners envision as a 5-million-square-foot mixed-use airport village
on the 10 blocks closest to the AirTrain terminal.

This would be analogous to the "transit villages" that have been springing up
near commuter rail stations in New Jersey and in Westchester and Fairfield
Counties.

The emergence of these transit villages reflects the "smart growth" ideas that
have largely focused on the suburbs as a means of slowing endless sprawl by
directing growth back into older municipalities with existing utilities,
communications and mass transit. In New Jersey the advent of Midtown Direct
train service has been credited with reviving fading downtown areas in northern
part of the state by attracting people who want quick, carless access to New York
and retailers catering to them.

Envisioning Jamaica a Regional Center

Tied to Mass Transit Eventually, the thinking in Jamaica goes, the airline industry
will sort itself out, an anchor tenant will be found for Tower 1 of the JFK
Corporate Square development � the official name for the village � and other
projects will move forward.

Already, the first market rate housing in 40 years is under construction in the
downtown Jamaica area. And parking decks have been built and remodeled to
provide badly needed off-street parking.

"The Regional Plan Association designated Jamaica as a regional center tied to
Manhattan by mass transit," said F. Carlisle Towery, a former R.P.A. official who
has been president of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, a local
economic development group, since 1972.

The R.P.A. is a private planning group whose recommendations have often come
to pass, if at a glacial pace. In New Jersey, its suggestion to connect two
neighboring rail lines now known as the Montclair Connection was first advanced
in the 1930's, but did not actually go into operation until 2002.

Transit-related developments are becoming increasingly feasible because people
are forsaking a punishing daily automotive commute in favor of rail
transportation, said Robert Yaro, president of Regional Plan. "Total rail transport
in the region," he said, "is up one-third in the past decade, which is why you are
seeing signs of life in places like Jamaica and New Brunswick," the city in central
New Jersey.

He said the increased ridership was at least partly a result of the $35 billion that
has been invested in rail transport in the region since 1970. He said most of the
investment had been in the rails and rolling stock, but included the renovation of
Grand Central Terminal. "In 1990 it was a slum," he said.

Transit-related developments have three major virtues, Mr. Yaro said. They
recycle land that has been abandoned or underutilized. They lure people out of
cars and onto the rails for their daily commutes. And they give local residents,
often people with limited transportation options, a shot at jobs that are created.

Jamaica was once an independent municipality and is one of the oldest in the
region, having been established in 1650. The name derives not from the island in
the Caribbean but rather from the Carnarsie Indian word for beaver, "jamecos."

Even in ancient times the area was a transportation hub, with Indians from
western areas traveling along a trail that is roughly the route of Jamaica Avenue
today to trade with eastern tribes. By colonial times, the path had been widened
to accommodate horse-drawn carts, and by 1834 the Brooklyn and Jamaica
Railroad company completed a line to the trading post in downtown Jamaica.

Elevated passenger trains began operation in 1918 and, according to the CUNY
study, "triggered enormous commercial and residential growth." It said, "By 1925
the section of Jamaica Avenue between 160th and 168th Street had the highest
assessed valuation in the county."

But after World War II, single family homes were developed in vast numbers on
Long Island, attracting families out of apartments, and shoppers found it easier
to drive their cars to the growing suburban malls than contest the tight
preautomobile streets of Jamaica to do their shopping.

As a result, the major department stores in Jamaica gradually moved away or
went out of business and poorer families and newer immigrants replaced the
departed suburbanites.

"Within one generation, Jamaica's downtown went from a thriving, bustling hub of
banking, government, retail and commerce serving three counties to a neglected
and distressed shopping district serving a much smaller trading area," Mr.
Towery wrote.

Those numbers are likely to rise as an estimated 12.4 million passengers and
airport workers a year arrive in Jamaica to get to their flights and jobs. Any
direct connection to Lower Manhattan, which some people are calling the "super
shuttle," would add still more.

The trick, development officials say, is to prevent Jamaica from becoming simply
a transit hub, where commuters rush through on their way to jobs in Manhattan
or to the airport.

Some planners and real estate executives say a hotel near the AirTrain terminal
should be a priority. "Without a hotel, there is nowhere for people to meet," said
Ms. Klein of Sholom & Zuckerbrot.

There have been proposals for a 10-story, 250-room hotel over the AirTrain
terminal, which could provide lodging and meeting space for people arriving at
the airport. But with the heightened security concerns after Sept. 11, the project
is not likely to go forward soon.

Mr. Towery said air travelers are not the only beneficiaries of improved
transportation. He said improvements in subway service in decades past were
responsible for the decision to build a Social Security Regional Center in
downtown Jamaica and for City University officials to build York College nearby.
Both wanted to be in a location easily reached by mass transit.

And those subway trains run both ways, he added. "Businesses in Manhattan can
access the labor living here," he said.

It cost the Port Authority about $1.9 billion to build the AirTrain and the terminal
building, and Professor Paaswell said the money was well spent. "Transit, in 99.9
percent of the cases, is a good investment, with an economic payoff," he said.

Unfortunately, he added, improved transit "is a necessary but not a sufficient
condition for growth." He said it might take further public investment to convince
private developers that underused former industrial sites close to the Long Island
Rail Road are bargain-priced and ready for development.

He said York College, which is a four-year college in the City University system,
will probably be an important factor in training local residents for more skilled,
higher-paying jobs at the airport and at places like the Food and Drug
Administration building, which houses offices and laboratories and is located on
the college's campus. "The area needs a wider range of jobs, including white
collar jobs," Professor Paaswell said. "You want to have career ladder jobs, and
York College is a part of that."

Developing an office complex in Jamaica will be a stretch, since the area has not
attracted office users in the past, said Mr. Maltz, the broker. He noted that many
of the larger developments in the area have been government related, like the
Queens County civil and family courts and the F.D.A. and Social Security
buildings.

Seeking airline and airport-related tenants is seen as a good idea, but, he added,
"Unfortunately, the airline industry is not flourishing now and they have placed
expansion plans on hold."

Development officials had hoped to sign up Jet Blue, a low-fare carrier that is
growing rapidly, but Mr. Maltz said this did not appear likely. "Jet Blue subleased
some Con Ed space on Jamaica Avenue that is much less expensive than a new
building," he said.

Dealing With Autos Nonprofit Group

Offers Parking Because many people still prefer to travel by car, the Jamaica
development group, though a not-for-profit operation, has gotten into the parking
business, acquiring some formerly city-owned garages and lots and building a
410-space garage convenient to the 180 units of market-rate housing under
construction.

Under Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, "the city wanted to get out of the municipal
parking business, so we took over two city garages and renovated them and
took two city lots and improved them," Mr. Towery said. He said the group pays
taxes to the city out of income from the garages and tries to keep rates low to
attract shoppers to the area. "Some of the parking around the courts is very
expensive, so it is mostly used by lawyers," he said.

The problem, he said, is that Jamaica developed around the elevated train and
has streets that are crowded beyond capacity. His group has estimated that there
is currently a deficit of 500 parking spaces in the downtown area and that
proposed developments would require the construction of garages to
accommodate 2,000 more cars at an estimated cost of $32 million.

But part of smart growth is reducing automobile use and traffic on streets. If
Jamaica is to develop in a smart fashion, the report says, "a significant portion of
residents will have to be weaned away from 50 years of automobile
dependency."

With the possible exception of the parking garages, Mr. Towery said most of what
his development group has done or is proposing could be labeled as smart
growth. He said the airport village would recycle urban land that already has a
transportation infrastructure in place.

New York State's passage of a brownfields remediation law last year will help
with the land recycling by providing guidelines for cleanups of sites that currently
have dirty uses, such a junkyards. A older law in New Jersey has permitted the
development of shopping centers and golf courses on what were once municipal
dumps.

Because of the contamination, Mr. Towery said, well located land parcels can be
acquired cheaply for redevelopment. "We salivate at grunge," he said. "Other
people see blight, but we see sites."

Posted by dc at 08:19 PM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2004

ewr waiting at night

Posted by dc at 01:13 AM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2004

East Side Access could boost Amtrak, too

The immediate problem, though, is on the Long Island end, at the Sunnyside
Yard in Queens, owned by Amtrak, and the adjacent Harold Interlocking, a
two-mile complex used for sorting trains. On the western end are two tracks
carrying trains to Penn Station and two more tracks carrying them back, as well
as two more that peel off toward Long Island City and Brooklyn.

On the east are additional tracks. Two of them go to the Hell Gate Bridge and
then into the Bronx, a route Amtrak takes to join the Metro-North tracks in New
Rochelle on its way to New Haven and Boston. Two other tracks go to the Long
Island Rail Road's Port Washington branch, and four go to Jamaica, Queens, and
the other branches of the railroad.

During the commuter rush, trains roar through Harold Interlocking at the rate of
42 an hour. But the transportation authority would like to increase that to 66. The
task is not much different from untangling the intersection of two busy, multilane
streets, except that the trains are up to a quarter-mile long and some lumber
through at 15 miles an hour, making maneuvering difficult.

The transportation authority is considering digging one or more tunnels so that
trains coming out of Penn Station can turn left to head for Hell Gate and New
England without having to cross over at grade level in front of oncoming
westbound trains. That would give Amtrak an incentive to consent to allowing the
work to be done on its property, authority officials say. Whatever the changes in
layout, they will be for the long term, according to rail executives. "It's got to last
100 years,'' said James Dermody, president of the Long Island Rail Road, who
pointed out that the current configuration of Harold was in place for the opening
of the first Penn Station, in 1908.

A reconfigured Harold Interlocking could be a major boon for Amtrak, which
often sees its trains lose valuable time as they pass through Harold on their way
to Hell Gate and New Rochelle. Timeliness is crucial there because Metro-North,
which owns the tracks from New Rochelle to New Haven, is so busy that it has
assigned Amtrak "slots" at specific times, and Amtrak has been known to miss
the window.

2004 February 01
Amtrak Is the Latest Roadblock in Plan to Link L.I.R.R. to Grand Central Terminal
By MATTHEW WALD, NYT

The East Side access project, a plan to bring Long Island Rail Road trains to
Grand Central Terminal that has moved in fits and starts for 40 years, has hit a
snag: Amtrak's financial straits.

Since the 1960's, the plan has been to run Long Island Rail Road trains from an
existing complex of switches in Queens, shared with Amtrak, over about a mile
of new track to an underused tunnel beneath the East River. That tunnel emerges
in Manhattan at East 63rd Street, and from there, the trains would go through a
new tunnel and join the tracks under Park Avenue that carry Metro-North trains
to Grand Central. The new link would move perhaps 90,000 passengers a day on
about 150 trains. It would relieve crowding at Pennsylvania Station and lure to
the rails Long Island residents who work in east Midtown.

An agreement between Amtrak and the Long Island is needed because of the
tangled history of the area's railroads. Amtrak's Northeast corridor was largely
assembled by the old Pennsylvania Railroad. About a century ago, that railroad
bought the Long Island Rail Road to get access to Manhattan. Now their
ownership is separate again, with the Long Island owned by the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority and the Northeast corridor going to Amtrak. Ownership
of the tracks in Queens is shared.

Amtrak insists that the project is not for its customers, and should therefore not
cost it any money. Amtrak lives on subsidies from Congress, and the railroad
says it lacks the resources to bring its aging infrastructure into a state of good
repair.

It also fears delays for its trains on its major route, the Boston-New
York-Washington corridor.

The East Side access project also faces substantial engineering problems, mostly
in digging from the East River to Park Avenue. The project would be the largest
ever undertaken by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The plan was
conceived in the 60's, when the 63rd Street tunnel was built. In the early 1990's,
plans were drawn up to finish the job by 1998, with about a mile of additional
tunnel on either side of the existing tunnel under the river, at a cost of about $3
billion. Now the completion date is 2012 and the price is $6.3 billion.

But there is also peril, in the form of extra costs. Amtrak says that the soil at
Sunnyside and Harold is filled with toxic substances that have leaked or been
dumped. Amtrak, near broke, is refusing to let work proceed until the
transportation authority agrees to protect Amtrak against all liability and costs
arising from stirring up poison dirt.

In addition, New Jersey Transit uses the yard to store trains. That, too, could be
disrupted, Amtrak warned. It has sent the transportation authority a series of
blunt letters, signed by David L. Gunn, now president of Amtrak, who was
president of the New York Transit Authority, a component of the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority, from 1984 until 1990.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority insists that the dispute is not serious.
Referring to contaminated soil, William M. Wheeler, the director of planning at the
Long Island, said, "Amtrak hasn't shown us anything to indicate that.'' But
Amtrak has avoided the word "share.'' "I must have an agreement that will not
produce any additional financial burdens on Amtrak,'' Mr. Gunn wrote to Peter S.
Kalikow, chairman of the transportation authority, on Dec. 4. In an earlier letter
he complained that the authority was proceeding "without directly addressing
Amtrak's concerns.''

Both sides say discussions are continuing, with no agreement so far.

Posted by dc at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

January 30, 2004

LIRR ticket

Posted by dc at 11:18 PM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2004

LIRR Huntington yard: benefits

A new yard with more tracks would mean better and faster service -
- nine trains every morning by 2012, for commuters who sometimes
endure waits of nearly 30 minutes between trains.

Previously: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

THE CURRENT NUMBERS

14: Number of peak a.m. trains on the LIRR's Huntington line each weekday.
14,150: Number of passengers serviced on the line each weekday morning.

THE FUTURE PICTURE?*

3: Number of a.m. peak trains that likely will be added each weekday if the yard is built by 2011.
9: Total number of additional a.m. weekday peak trains after completion of East Side Access in 2012.

BY COMPARISON
17: Number of tracks in the yard that services Babylon line.
36: Number of peak a.m. trains on the Babylon line each weekday.
26,270: Number of passengers served each weekday on peak a.m. trains.

*Future ridership projections depend on final location of rail yard.

SOURCE: Long Island Rail Road

LIRR Taking Yard Flak
AFter public hearings, LIRR plan riding on strong opposition

By Joie Tyrrell, Staff Writer

2004 January 11, 9:11 PM EST

The signs and petitions started to pop up throughout Huntington Village last fall,
on light posts, the counter of a local bookstore and throughout the shops of Main
Street.

"Stop the LIRR Yard," they read, arguing that a proposed 16-track railroad
storage yard would harm the community.

At the same time, the Long Island Rail Road was preparing for the first of four
public meetings on the proposed yard for the Port Jefferson line with color
brochures and detailed signs touting the service additions and benefits a train
yard would bring.

The pitch is simple, LIRR officials say. A new yard with more tracks would mean
better and faster service -- nine trains every morning by 2012, for commuters
who sometimes endure waits of nearly 30 minutes between trains.

Now, the first phase of the public comment period has ended and the railroad is
preparing to move ahead with the selection of a site from among a field of six in
Huntington and Smithtown. Railroad officials say the public comment period
achieved its goal, garnering much-needed input into the site selection. But
residents of both communities say the railroad should be prepared for a fight.

"It's going to be a huge challenge," said Beverly Dolinsky, executive director of
the Long Island Rail Road Commuter's Council, a transit riders' group.
"Overwhelmingly, people want service but they don't want a yard, and you can't
have one without the other."

There are six sites the railroad is considering for a yard: two in Huntington and
four in Smithtown. In Huntington, the sites are land next to the state armory and
a parcel west of Bread and Cheese Hollow Road south of Pulaski Road. In
Smithtown, potential locations are two sites in Kings Park near a sand mine; a
parcel at the Kings Park Psychiatric Center; and land next to St. Catherine of
Siena Medical Center.

The sites will be evaluated on the basis of a number of factors, including land-use
issues, noise considerations and impact on natural resources.

A new yard would mean electrifying the Port Jefferson line east of Huntington to
where the new yard is located.

The Federal Transit Administration will review the findings of the environmental
study and issue a decision on the site. A final environmental impact statement,
which will identify a preferred site, is scheduled to be finished by the end of next
year or early 2006. The railroad then needs approval from the Federal Transit
Administration before starting design work.

The railroad now stores equipment on a siding east of the Huntington Station with
a three-train capacity. Also, the railroad operates several morning rush-hour
trains to Huntington from its West Side Yard, about 37 miles away.

A 16-track yard would mean an additional three trains in the morning by the time
it is built in 2011. When the East Side Access, which will connect the LIRR to
Grand Central Terminal, is complete in 2012, it will mean six more trains,
bringing a total of at least nine more trains each morning. Currently, there are 14
trains each morning rush hour, some with nearly a half-hour gap in service.

"Huntington is very restricted as to what you can do," said LIRR president James
Dermody. "There is an overwhelming need."

Since the railroad falls under federal authority, it does not require village, county
or state approval. In an effort to get public input, the railroad hosted four
meetings in November in Huntington and Smithtown, attended by hundreds -- the
majority against the project. Politicians at the state, county and town level have
voiced objections as well.

"There were a lot of people who were very vocal shouting their opposition. They
were not there to participate in the process, just to say no, without really
learning about it," said Commuter's Council chairman James Govern, one of the
few speakers at a Kings Park hearing in favor of the proposal.

Civic groups have collected thousands of signatures against the project. Just
this last week, the Kings Park Civic Association, as well as other civic groups in
Smithtown, sent a letter to Gov. George Pataki detailing their opposition to the
Smithtown sites. They are worried about the environmental and economic
impacts a rail yard would have on the community.

"What we are doing now is we are amassing all the people," said Kings Park Civic
Association president Gregory Szurnicki.

Civic leaders as well as local politicians said they would be willing to go to court
to fight the yard. Four years ago, residents strongly opposed a yard in
Greenlawn. That site was eliminated due to an environmental impact study that
showed the proposed yard was in close proximity to homes.

The site in Huntington Station is also too close to homes, opponents said. "This
yard, this is really a stopgap," said Eileen Darwin, a Huntington resident who
helped form the Stop the LIRR Yard committee. She said the railroad should
approach the yard regionally, placing it closer to Hicksville where several lines
converge. "Every single person we have approached has been against this. I
don't know anybody who has said it should be here."

Next, the railroad will evaluate all the comments received. In total, the railroad
received 88 e-mails, 103 letters and had 1,646 people sign in at the meetings. A
total of 12,500 informational packets were sent from the railroad to town leaders,
civic groups and residents.

Dermody said the six sites could be limited to three or four by the end of this
year. "People can't say they weren't aware of the yard. They can't say the
railroad never told me," Dermody said.

But could overwhelming public opposition kill the project and jeopardize the
railroad's future plans, including a yard constructed east of Ronkonkoma near
Yaphank?

"You can't tell what public opposition is going to do for you," Dermody said. "We
are subject to public funding. We have to justify it for that arena.. . . We are
going to do the best job we can answering concerns."

Posted by dc at 01:07 AM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2004

MTA shortchanges eastern Long Island

M.T.A. Collects, Neglects Assemblyman Thiele proposes local authority

By Amanda Star Frazer

"Arrogant," "unresponsive," "not designed for us local folks," "the worst." East
End officials have no love for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the
quasi-public parent company of the Long Island Rail Road.

Just how public the authority is depends on who you ask. It collects millions of
dollars in taxes each year from the East End, but there is no guarantee any of
that money will be used to pay for trains to and from the two forks. Projects such
as the L.I.R.R. tunnels at Grand Central Terminal in New York are often a higher
priority.

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. says that the five East End towns should
take matters into their own hands, particularly since public transportation is
becoming more critical as the roads are choked by traffic.

"The M.T.A. and the L.I.R.R. are perhaps the most unaccountable agencies in
state government," he said. "They're really almost immune from the Legislature
and the public."

Mr. Thiele has proposed a bill to establish a Peconic Bay Regional Transportation
Authority, which would either supplement or completely take the place of the
M.T.A. in directing East End transportation. He said he proposed the new agency
"because it was clear that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has no real
interest in solving East End transportation problems."

He is not alone in that opinion.

"One is not going to get cooperation from the M.T.A.," Southampton Town
Supervisor Patrick A. Heaney said. "That's an organization that has its own
mission that has nothing to do with public transportation. It marches to its own
drumbeat."

East Hampton Star

------------------------------------------------------------------------

M.T.A. Collects, Neglects Assemblyman Thiele proposes local authority

By Amanda Star Frazer

"The M.T.A. and the L.I.R.R. are perhaps the most unaccountable agencies in
state government," he said. "They're really almost immune from the Legislature
and the public."

He is not alone in that opinion.

Calling the M.T.A. arrogant, Mr. Heaney said, "It has made it very, very clear
that its mission is more about profit than providing trains to communities. This
agency is acting with total disregard for these communities. It's just wrong."

He suggested the authority had "to be leashed somehow, and that has to happen
at the state level." The supervisor added that he would give Mr. Thiele's bill
"1,000 percent of my support."

As would Southampton Councilwoman Linda Kabot, who tried to take the railroad
to task in 2002. "They're not really paying back into our community in terms of
service," she said.

Ms. Kabot had sent letters to the M.T.A./L.I.R.R. president, Ken Bauer, while
Southampton was in the midst of its own transportation study, encouraging the
Long Island Rail Road "to be a more energetic and cooperative player on the
East End."

She said the authority had been collecting half of all mortgage tax revenue and
"untold sums of money" from various telephone and energy surcharges on the
East End. In 2001, the M.T.A.'s share of mortgage tax from the East End alone
was $12.6 million, she said.

"The reality is they are investing this money in metropolitan New York," she said
later.

"We are shortchanged," agreed Mr. Thiele.

Mr. Bauer and representatives from the L.I.R.R. met with Ms. Kabot and Mr.
Heaney in 2002. While the meeting was cordial, Ms. Kabot said, it was fruitless.

"These railroad presidents come and go. Ken Bauer and his people recognized
our needs exceed what they can give right now. We need a better advocate, a
better voice that's getting to the railroad."

A Peconic transportation authority would do the job, she said. "You don't want to
form a whole 'nother super-agency, but if the super-agency you've got doesn't
work for you, you resort to these things."

Recommendations for improved rail service were included 10 years ago in
former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo's "Blueprint for Our Future." The document called
for additional railroad stations between Westhampton and Montauk, weekend
park and rail trains, an inter-hamlet rail shuttle, and integrated bus service.

None of it happened, Mr. Thiele pointed out. "Instead, the M.T.A. cut services.
Stations and ticket offices have been closed." And the authority still won't let
buses on its property.

Mr. Thiele said he had an idea why. "The L.I.R.R. still views itself largely as a
commuter railroad to move people in and out of New York. Consequently the
participation of the railroad in any East End transportation planning is zero.
They'll talk you to death but they do nothing."

L.I.R.R. officials disagreed. "We've made considerable improvements over the
last year," said Sam Zambuto, a railroad spokesman. He pointed to the
replacement of the diesel fleet, from mid-level to bi-level trains, improvements
at several East End train stations, and parking upgrades in Bridgehampton.

Of Mr. Thiele's legislation, he said, "We have not seen the bill so we couldn't
comment on that at this point."

Hank de Cillia, a transportation advocate with whom Mr. Thiele credited the idea
of an authority, said that in the New York area the railroad does its job fairly
well. "The L.I.R.R. credits itself as being the nation's largest commuter railroad.
It brings well over a million people in and out of the city every day."

On the East End, however, it is a different animal, he said. "Who knows, maybe
it's a numbers game. I can see why improvements on our end of the system are
always on the shelf or in the long-range plan. To be fair to them I don't think our
region has done a very good job communicating our wants and needs."

Like Mr. Thiele, he pointed to the Sustainable East End Development Strategies
initiative, which is exploring transportation possibilities with input from the five
towns and their villages. "Although SEEDS is moving painfully slow," he said, "I
still think it's the best chance we have."

Gerry Bogacz of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council said the
M.T.A. was indeed "at the table with SEEDS," whose concepts, he said, were
strictly in the idea stage. "Right now we're not looking at costs or hard
engineering," he said. "We're trying to get a sense of what everybody's willing to
look at for the future."

Jay Schneiderman, the former East Hampton Town supervisor who was sworn in
as a county legislator this week, said any M.T.A. improvments here would have
to be economically driven. "It's definitely going to come down to money. They're
going to tell you there's not enough ridership."

He said the railroad was designed to "bring people to the Hamptons from New
York but not to bring them back. It's not designed for any of us local folks."

"It's kind of like the L.I.R.R. missed the boat," he added. "Look at all the people
going to Manhattan by bus."

As town supervisor Mr. Schneiderman supported the concept of Mr. Thiele's bill.
With things the way they are now, "I just don't think anything will happen
because we want it to," he said.

Mr. Thiele said he expected to introduce the legislation in the Assembly next
week.

Posted by dc at 02:53 PM | Comments (0)

December 18, 2003

LIRR rider blog, Merrick to midtown

Ed's LIRR Rider blog from Merrick, NY to midtown Manhattan.

Posted by dc at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2003

ARCore, New Jersey's plan to access NYC Penn and LIRR

Access To The Region's Core, New Jersey's plan to access NYC Penn and connect with LIRR.

Posted by dc at 04:56 PM | Comments (0)

ARCore, New Jersey's plan to access NYC Penn and LIRR

Access To The Region's Core, New Jersey's plan to access NYC Penn and connect with LIRR.

Posted by dc at 04:56 PM | Comments (0)

November 21, 2003

LIRR Huntington Yard 5

State Senator Carl Marcellino was the first to the microphone where he insisted
that the LIRR should look into better utilizing the Oyster Bay Line to help alleviate
traffic on the eastern parts of the Port Jefferson Line. Marcellino argued that
infrequent timetables are among a host of reasons that make riders from
neighboring towns travel to Huntington Station.

“These people would prefer to stay closer to their homes,” he said. “Take those
facilities and put them to better use.” He added, as many after him did, that
electrification to Port Jefferson station would be “a solution to a whole number of
problems,” and offered to lead the charge to obtain the proper funds.

...

Other topics brought up by speakers included the diesel exhaust, especially its
effect on young athletes at Manor Field Park; the fact that the Huntington Station
site is the most congested of all the six preliminary sites; that electrification to
Port Jefferson should already have been included among the other large railroad
projects listed earlier; pre-existing parking issues that will worsen with the
addition of a rail facility; and the fact that electrification to Port Jefferson would
be much cheaper if done now than in another 20 years, should the LIRR later
decide the public is right.

Previously: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4.

longislandernews.com
The Long-IslanderRecordHalf Hollow Hills NewspaperNorthport Journal

Huntington Station residents Maureen Ramirez (left) and Mary Feldman look over
maps and information provided by the Long Island Railroad during its information
session last week.

Long Islander Photo/Brian Ferry

HUNTINGTON STATION
Residents Bombard Railroad With Questions

By Brian Ferry

Some may wonder if the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) knew what they were
getting themselves into when they hosted a string of four public meetings over
the past two weeks.

The agency is required to hold such meetings as part of the development of an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which will narrow down six potential sites
to one preferred site for the construction of a 16-track electric car storage,
cleaning, and maintenance facility. At the final meeting held November 13 at
Huntington Intermediate School, hundreds of Huntington Station residents turned
out to tell LIRR officials the site located in their backyards — adjacent to Manor
Park fields — is out of the question.

Like the meetings before it, the one at Huntington Intermediate started with a
two-hour information open house, where residents could speak with a dozen
different LIRR officials who were on hand (including LIRR President James
Dermody); view maps, photos and descriptions of each site; and watch a
seven-minute video about the agency’s intentions and desires for establishing the
rail yard.

“We’re interested in what may be built in the community,” said South Huntington
resident Mike Mifsud, who was attending the open house portion with his wife
Anna. They also attended an anti-railroad facility rally held at Manor Field Park on
October 8. “Also, our son plays football in Manor Field Park, so there’s an interest
of ours too.”

In fact, shortly after railroad officials opened the public hearing portion of the
meeting, a parade of Bulldogs youth football players and cheerleaders marched
into the auditorium and took seats front and center.

Once inside for the public forum, officials from the LIRR and AKRF (an
independent consulting firm assisting with the EIS) gave short presentations.
LIRR Chief Planning Officer Elisa Picca explained how the Port Jefferson Branch
rail yard is one of a number of projects that the agency and the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (MTA) are working to complete over the next 10 years
or so. Those other projects include the Brooklyn Atlantic Avenue Terminal, the
Jamaica AirTrain, the new M-7 Rail Car, and the East Side Access project at
Grand Central Station. She added that today, there are 87,000 commuters who
travel to Penn Station on the Port Jefferson Branch during the four-hour morning
rush. They estimate that this ridership, with the second terminal at Grand Central
Station, will increase to 128,000 by 2020.

But as soon as the microphone was handed over to the crowd, a barrage of
arguments were thrown at the officials and at the unfortunate stenographer
designated to take the minutes of this meeting.

“This site is clearly located in the midst of a residential neighborhood,” said State
Assemblyman James Conte. “It is adjacent to Manor Field Park where these guys
play every weekend,” he said, as he motioned to the Bulldog contingent in the
audience. “I firmly believe that all of the reasons not to build in Greenlawn firmly
apply to this site only a half-mile away.”

Among local officials who spoke, Town Councilwoman Susan Berland claimed that
the Huntington Station site is topographically unsuitable, requiring over 500,000
cu. yards of fill to bring the property up 15 feet and equal to the grade of the
track. She added that a developer is in the final approval stages for building 109
new homes on this land.

Gerard Brindman, a town resident and vice president of the LIRR Commuter
Council, drew a Bronx cheer from many in the crowd when he stated that the
Council favors building the facility, though they have no preference as to the site
chosen. He argued, “If we get a yard built, we can add three more peak trains.”
At the end of his three minutes, Brindman added his personal opinion, saying,
“Myself — and I am not saying this so I can get to my car safely — I’d like to see
this facility put as far east as possible.”

Pat Boucher, a Huntington Country Farms resident, first pointed out that all of the
roads in the Huntington Country Farms development were left off the LIRR maps
included in the mailed information packets and map boards in the other room.

“It is beyond comprehension how this property could have passed the initial list of
considerations,” she said. She argued that with a facility here or anywhere else in
the towns of Huntington or Smithtown would mean that the railroad tracks across
Park Avenue would be closed much more often, creating more gridlock and
cutting off the only direct route to Huntington Hospital from areas south of the
tracks. She added that with this development in the final stages of approval is a
designation to reserve 2.9 acres for parkland.

“This is a far superior plan for this land,” she concluded

� 2003 Long Islander Newspapers, Inc.
(631) 427-7000
322 Main Street
Huntington, NY 11743

2003 Nov 20

Posted by dc at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)

November 16, 2003

LIRR Huntington Yard 4

Through speeches, letters and even songs, many Huntington and Smithtown
residents are doing exactly that: opposing proposals to build a yard in their
communities. During a series of MTA-sponsored meetings earlier this month,
more than 2,000 residents turned out to voice their opinions on the planned
16-track facility, which would store electric cars deployed to Huntington.
Residents were shown six possible sites in Huntington Station, Kings Park, East
Northport and Smithtown. The MTA pulled a similar plan to build a 16-track
nighttime storage and maintenance yard in Greenlawn in 2000 after residents
expressed strong opposition.
...
One of the voices favoring the yard has been the LIRR Commuter's Council.
Vice-Chairman Gerry Bringmann said surveys have shown that riders want more
service and the council believes the yard is a critical component to achieving that
goal. "The railroad is kind of maxed-out," he said. "The only way they can
increase service is by building a rail yard."

Manny holds a sign, wife Eileen Darwin speaks

Previously: 0, 1, 2, 3.

Residents Resist Huntington Rail Yard

By Denise M. Bonilla, Staff Writer

Daniel Karpen wanted to make his opposition to a proposed Long Island Rail Road
yard in Huntington Station resonate with MTA officials. So, when he was given the
floor during a pubic hearing last week, Karpen used his three minutes to sing
them a song.

"Choo-Choos on the Rails With Whistles" he sang to the tune of the Beatles' "Lucy
in the Sky With Diamonds," using a train whistle for added effect. Karpen, 55, an
inventor of "glare-free headlights" and civic activist, delivered the original lyrics
and familiar melody to both lighten the mood and encourage the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority to look for more creative solutions to a need for more
trains, he said.

"A yard is not going to work," he said. "There's got to be a group of people that
get up and say, 'Not in my backyard.'"

The proposed sites have caused an outcry from residents who say the yard would
bring noise, pollution and increased traffic along with depressed property values.
Some politicians also have decried the proposed sites, including Assemb. James
Conte (R-Huntington Station). "I cannot sit idle while the MTA continues to
devalue my hometown," Conte told MTA officials at a recent meeting.

Greg Szurnicki, president of the Kings Park Civic Association, said the Kings Park
and Smithtown sites would cause traffic and other problems and would do nothing
to assist economic revitalization efforts in the area. "They try to seduce us really,
seduce in a respect that this is going to be good for us," he said of the MTA.

Eileen Darwin of Huntington has helped form the Stop the LIRR committee, a
group of civic associations and individuals opposed to the yard. She said the
committee has gathered more than 4,000 signatures on a petition they plan to
present to Gov. George Pataki after Thanksgiving.

"Rather than stuffing this project down our throats and ruining our community,
let's find out what is really needed," she said at a recent MTA meeting.

LIRR president James Dermody said the yard is one tier of a plan to meet a
projected increase in service from the East Side Access project, which seeks to
link the LIRR to the subway and Metro-North Commuter Railroad at Grand Central
Terminal by 2012. Dermody said the LIRR plans to increase its fleet by 20
percent to handle the increased ridership. The railroad zeroed in on the area
between Huntington and Smithtown because surveys showed 77 percent of
customers who ride the Port Jefferson branch use those stations, he added.

The MTA and LIRR will collect comments on the proposed site until Dec. 31. In
2004, a draft environmental-impact report will be drawn up followed in early 2005
with public hearings on those findings. They hope to have the yard built by 2011.
"We heard arguments against almost every site," Dermody said. "Now, we have
to sit down and say, 'Are those arguments valid?'"

One of the voices favoring the yard has been the LIRR Commuter's Council.
Vice-Chairman Gerry Bringmann said surveys have shown that riders want more
service and the council believes the yard is a critical component to achieving that
goal. "The railroad is kind of maxed-out," he said. "The only way they can
increase service is by building a rail yard."

The council, however, stops short of offering a preferred location for the yard.
Bringmann said he can understand why residents are upset about having a rail
yard in their neighborhood. "It's like a jail or a power station," he said. "You know
you need them, but no one wants one in their backyard."

Posted by dc at 01:31 AM | Comments (0)

November 15, 2003

Buy LIRR tickets online at lirrticket.com

Buy LIRR tickets online at lirrticket.com .

Posted by dc at 12:20 AM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2003

LIRR East Side access by 2011

The MTA is expected to receive $77 million in federal funds to bring the Long
Island Rail Road to the East Side and study the feasibility of finally building a
Second Avenue subway by year 2011.

Commuters would save about a half hour on their daily commutes with a
Grand Central stop, noted upstate Rep. John Sweeney (R-Saratoga).

The East Side Access Project will link the LIRR, via the 63rd Street Tunnel, to
Grand Central Terminal. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the funds will be a
"shot in the arm" for the project, aimed at helping tens of thousands of Nassau,
Suffolk and Queens commuters slash up to three hours from their daily travels to
and from work.

'Home Stretch' For LIRR Extension
By Joshua Robin, Staff Writer

2003 November 13, 5:49 PM EST

The MTA is expected to receive $77 million in federal funds to bring the Long
Island Rail Road to the East Side and study the feasibility of finally building a
Second Avenue subway.

The money, approved late Wednesday by a bipartisan conference committee of
senators and representatives, is part of an $88.9 billion bill expected to be signed
later this year by President George W. Bush.

It marks a giant step in the long sought-after route change for the LIRR, which
carries about 100,000 passengers a day to Penn Station.

"We're absolutely in the homestretch," Peter Kalikow, chairman of the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority, told commissioners at a meeting Thursday
morning.

Still, the MTA must find an additional $5 billion to fund the project known as East
Side Access, which is expected to be completed in 2011.

Sen. Charles Schumer said state officials were close to agreeing to match the $75
million in federal aid. He said he would try to ensure that both governments
repeat their respective allocations annually, until the project is done.

"The bottom line is people now see how important rail transportation is in
Manhattan," Schumer said.

The Second Avenue subway, which MTA officials hope to complete by 2020, is
expected to cost nearly $17 billion, adjusted for inflation.

The Staten Island Ferry also is expected to receive $5 million in the bill to be
used for a new boat and terminal rehabilitation.

Additionally, the High Line -- an abandoned rail line on the far West Side -- also
received $500,000 to study how to turn the popular, weed-choked route into a
pedestrian walkway.

In all, the New York metropolitan region received about $90 million in funds,
Schumer's office said.

Grand LIRR plan closer

Friday, 2003 November 14th

A plan to bring Long Island Rail Road trains into Grand Central Terminal is getting
a $75 million boost, jumping an important hurdle in Washington, officials said
yesterday.

A deal to provide the federal funds for the rail link - slated to ease the daily
commutes of tens of thousands of riders - was hammered out Wednesday by a
conference committee comprising members of the House of Representatives and
U.S. Senate.

The funding for the so-called East Side Access project is a strong sign that the
feds are committed to seeing it become reality, Metropolitan Transportation
Authority Chairman Peter Kalikow said.

The LIRR brings more than 100,000 commuters into Penn Station each morning.
Tens of thousands double back to the East Side by subway, bus, cab or foot.

Such commuters would save about a half hour on their daily commutes with a
Grand Central stop, noted upstate Rep. John Sweeney (R-Saratoga), who was on
the conference committee.

The funding is in the transportation appropriations bill that must first be passed
by both legislative houses and then signed by President Bush.

Pete Donohue
New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com

Posted by dc at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)

November 04, 2003

Huntington LIRR yard hearings

The Long Island Rail Road will host four informational meetings on the North
Shore over the next two weeks to hear from residents regarding a 16-track
storage yard proposed east of the Huntington station. info.

previously, 2, 3.

And note that taxi service to get to the meetings.

Meetings On New Rail Yard
By Joie Tyrrell. STAFF WRITER

2003 November 04

The railroad has been hosting such meetings since June as it is considering four
sites in Smithtown and two locations in eastern Huntington for the rail yard. So
far, the railroad has met with strong opposition from several residents.
Huntington town officials held a meeting in August, where hundreds of residents
rallied against the plan.

Railroad officials have said the yard is necessary to add service on the Port
Jefferson line.

The LIRR will host meetings tomorrow at Kings Park High School, Thursday at
Smithtown High School, Nov. 12 at East Northport Middle School and Nov. 13 at
Huntington Intermediate School. There will be an open house from 5 to 7 p.m.
and a public hearing from 7 to 9 p.m.

Sites in Huntington being considered are land next to the Huntington State
Armory and a parcel west of Bread and Cheese Hollow Road south of Pulaski
Road. In Smithtown, potential locations are two sites in Kings Park near a sand
mine; a parcel at the Kings Park Psychiatric Center; and land next to St.
Catherine of Siena Medical Center.

The Federal Transit Administration will review the findings and issue a decision on
the site. A final environmental impact statement is scheduled to be finished by
the end of 2005.

Comments may be submitted orally or in writing at these meetings through Dec.
31. Written comments may be addressed to: Peter Palamaro, editorial officer,
LIRR Public Affairs Department, Jamaica Station, Mail Code 0536, Jamaica, NY
11435. Comments may also be submitted at www.mta.info by clicking on the MTA
Home button and then on Planning Studies.

Posted by dc at 08:55 PM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2003

Huntington Station LIRR yard, 2

An afternoon train, seen from the rooftop of Blackman Plumbing Supply Company,
as it passes the potential Huntington Station site. Kevin Gary, a Greenlawn resident,
sent a scathing letter to the Long Island Rail Road, explaining why their interest in
building a train facility in Huntington Station would be an unfair burden on the
communities in that area, and a violation of numerous federal laws.

Update: 2003 Nov 04.

longislandernews.com
The Long-IslanderRecordHalf Hollow Hills NewspaperNorthport Journal

An afternoon train, seen from the rooftop of Blackman Plumbing Supply
Company, as it passes the potential Huntington Station site. Kevin Gary, a
Greenlawn resident, sent a scathing letter to the Long Island Rail Road,
explaining why their interest in building a train facility in Huntington Station would
be an unfair burden on the communities in that area, and a violation of numerous
federal laws.

Long Islander Photo/Brian Ferry

GREENLAWN-HUNTINGTON STATION
Past Comes Back To Haunt The LIRR

Greenlawn man involved in 2000 fight sides with Huntington Station

By Brian Ferry

When officials of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Long Island
Rail Road (LIRR) informed the public that they were interested in hearing
opinions regarding their plans to build an electric train facility somewhere in the
towns of Smithtown or Huntington, they opened a door that will be difficult to
close. Many people are content with simply showing up to the public scoping
meetings and saying a few words. Others may opt to fill their three-minute time
allotment with a prepared speech or letter. Still, others have done their
homework and have prepared a packet to hand to LIRR and MTA officials while
being forced to cut their speech short once their time is up.

Here�s where Kevin Gary comes in. A Greenlawn resident, Gary was a vocal
dissenter to the MTA and LIRR�s idea to place a similar facility south of the LIRR
right-of-way and north of Pulaski Road � where Harborfields� Estates are now
being planned for construction. He and fellow Greenlawn resident Gary Schoer
brought a lawsuit against the LIRR asserting that the railroad had failed to
comply with the environmental procedures in the scoping process. Thanks to
their work, in conjunction with the work of Town Councilman Mark Cuthbertson
and State Senator Carl Marcellino, the result was a total withdrawal by the MTA
and a promise that the Greenlawn site wouldn�t be considered in the future.

Now, Gary has joined the unhappy citizens of Huntington Station in their fight to
keep the facility from being built on a site between the LIRR right-of-way and
East 5th Street.

On October 2, the two agencies sent out a package to media outlets and
residents who have attended past public meetings concerning these sites. In this
packet, they explained the environmental review process, attached maps of all
the sites still under consideration, and gave dates, times, and directions to all
public scoping meetings in November. Gary obtained one of these mailings,
which is the basis of a seven-page letter that he sent to Peter Palarmo, editorial
officer of the LIRR public affairs department.

The letter lists three primary concerns. The first is called �environmental justice.�
Gary cites various federal laws, including the 14th Amendment of the
Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Executive Order 12898. Through
these laws, Gary insists that plans to build the facility in Huntington Station would
imply a discriminatory impact on the residents. He cited demographic studies and
census numbers of Huntington Station and the other communities along the Port
Jefferson Line, and it shows a staggering difference in ethnicity. According to US
Census information listed in his letter, the African-American population in
Huntington Station is 1,500 percent greater than in any other area being
considered. Similarly, the Hispanic population in Huntington Station is 750
percent greater, and the non-English-speaking population 240 percent greater.
The number of people living in poverty in Huntington Station is 300 percent
greater than in these other areas.

�I find it interesting that they had considered several locations in the Huntington
area and all the ones in white neighborhoods, including my own, were excluded,�
Gary said, adding that he believes that the Huntington Station site is the real
focus of the MTA and LIRR efforts. It was reported that extending the
electrification east of Huntington Station would cost the agencies millions of
dollars per mile. �It would seem to me that this was their primary focus based on
economics. Obviously, from a cost-benefit analysis, the railroad believes it
should be the first choice.�

His second argument delves into the reasons why other sites were excluded, or
deemed �fatally flawed� by the MTA. Thirteen sites were excluded from further
investigation under this circumstance, due to their proximity to parks,
businesses, residential communities, schools, and more. Gary argues that the
Huntington Station site neighbors public parks (including Manor Field Park and
Fair Meadow Park), residential communities (including Huntington Country Farms
and Winoka Manor apartments), and is a very short distance (approximately
2,000 feet) from Washington Drive Primary School. For these reasons alone, he
says, the Huntington Station site is fatally flawed.

Finally, he ties back into the non-English-speaking population in Huntington
Station and the method the agencies have chosen to present public scoping
meetings. Gary says that the scoping process itself is riddled with flaws,
providing only documents written in English for the public to analyze after the
first scoping meeting in June. He also argues that the maps provided in the
mailed scoping document are vague, failing to list the location of surrounding
housing and apartment complexes, Washington Drive Primary School, and other
major landmarks, which �seriously calls into question its ability to convey to the
reader, who may not even be able to read English, where the proposed site is
located in relation to landmarks in the surrounding area.�

Gary said that because of his involvement in the Greenlawn fight, he started
receiving letters and documents from the MTA and LIRR concerning these sites
long before such information was made public to most residents. Based on the
information they have provided him, Gary feels the agencies have not proved to
him that the rail yard is necessary.

�It would seem to me that the sum of the other five sites that they are
considering are better suited for a rail yard. I also note� that when they were
previously considering the Greenlawn site, they were also considering the Cerro
Wire site,� Gary said, referring to the Syosset property proposed for
development as a regional shopping mall. Referring to a civic group�s vocal
opposition to the shopping mall plan, Gary said, �I read in the newspaper that at
least one of those individuals said they would rather see the rail site than the
mall.�

�We have received Mr. Gary�s letter,� said Sam Zambuto, spokesman for the
LIRR. �It has been entered as part of the record for the Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) and we will be responding to his letter.�

�I think he was a very effective advocate in the past and this letter shows that he
will continue to be, Cuthbertson said of Gary. The councilman said that he
anticipates Gary will follow through on his commitment until the situation in
Huntington Station is resolved. �He is a very committed community activist.�

� 2003 Long Islander Newspapers, Inc.
(631) 427-7000
322 Main Street
Huntington, NY 11743

Posted by dc at 01:14 AM | Comments (0)

October 11, 2003

Rapid Transit Net transit history

Rapid Transit Net's transit history.

Posted by dc at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)

October 09, 2003

Forgotten Subways

Forgotten NY's subways.

NY Wiki

New York Wiki

September 16, 2005

Moynihan Station

August 09, 2005

Cross Harbor Tunnel

July 13, 2005

Calverton Enterprise Park and LIRR

March 03, 2005

railroad.net's commuter rail forums

January 10, 2005

Peconic Bay Regional Transportation Authority

November 14, 2004

Newsday's latest stories on LIRR

September 09, 2004

Expanded rail service on the South Fork needed

June 10, 2004

MTA photoban

May 09, 2004

LIRR from {Jamaica, JFK} to WTC ?

March 13, 2004

Nassau cab companies to take LIRR passengers to their cars

Nassau cab companies to take LIRR passengers to their cars

March 11, 2004

subtext subway photoblog

February 28, 2004

Jamaica blight

February 18, 2004

ewr waiting at night

February 01, 2004

East Side Access could boost Amtrak, too

January 30, 2004

LIRR ticket

January 19, 2004

LIRR Huntington yard: benefits

January 12, 2004

MTA shortchanges eastern Long Island

December 18, 2003

LIRR rider blog, Merrick to midtown

December 07, 2003

ARCore, New Jersey's plan to access NYC Penn and LIRR

ARCore, New Jersey's plan to access NYC Penn and LIRR

November 21, 2003

LIRR Huntington Yard 5

November 16, 2003

LIRR Huntington Yard 4

November 15, 2003

Buy LIRR tickets online at lirrticket.com

November 14, 2003

LIRR East Side access by 2011

November 04, 2003

Huntington LIRR yard hearings

October 30, 2003

Huntington Station LIRR yard, 2

October 11, 2003

Rapid Transit Net transit history

October 09, 2003

Forgotten Subways