‘Double Track’ to ease pressure on lines

Helena Williams has fought many battles and spearheaded several major initiatives during her five-year tenure as president of the Long Island Rail Road, the country’s largest commuter railroad. From the modernizing overhaul of the Atlantic Avenue Terminal in Brooklyn to the complicated relationship with Amtrak, which owns the tunnels the LIRR uses, from plans to spruce up the cramped and poorly signed Penn Station to dealing with community opposition to the Third Track project through Floral Park — now on indefinite hold — Williams has coped and mostly prevailed over the enormous challenges of managing the country’s largest commuter railroad.

Her latest project, dubbed Double Track, aims to alleviate the sclerotic path of trains between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma. To improve service and reliability on the Ronkonkoma Branch, the plan is to add another track alongside the single 18-mile track that presently connects Ronkonkoma to Farmingdale. Now, one track fire, one stalled train, one signal failure, one obstacle, a disruption of any kind on that single track and there can be no movement east or west for the 44,700 commuters that use the line every weekday. Passengers in trains or waiting on platforms to and from Ronkonkoma, including Hicksville, Bethpage, Pinelawn, Deer Park and Brentwood, go nowhere. Everything stops.

And service then gets impacted on other branches as tie-ups eventually entangle the rest of the system in Jamaica and Mineola, effecting service even in Nassau.

The solution is the Double Track between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma to “add capacity,” as the railroaders say.

“The Double Track project will increase service reliability on one of the busiest corridors of the LIRR,” Williams has said. And no additional property is required. It will be built all within the existing LIRR right of way. “Two tracks are better than one,” she said.

Adding the second track will “improve service, create jobs and stimulate economic activity along this critical stretch of the LIRR” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The second track will be added in two phases and will not expand beyond land already owned by the LIRR, so there will be no need to acquire private property. Phase 1, the segment between Ronkonkoma and Central Islip, is projected to finish in 2016, and is fully funded. Phase 2, the segment between Central Islip and Farmingdale is projected to finish in 2018. An estimated 300 construction jobs will be created by this project. Phase 2 is unfunded at this point and will cost about $300 million.

Another expected benefit will be an improvement in the reverse commute, west to east, and intra-Island transportation, easing access to MacArthur airport. And a reopening of the station at Republic Airport is also in the works. Reopening Republic station would be an additional $50 million.

Other enhancements on track

Several other topics were raised in discussions the Herald had with Williams last week.

As part of the East Side Access Plan, service between Queens and Brooklyn will improve — the trip from the Jamaica station to the Atlantic terminal will take 7.5 minutes using a new direct shuttle. Once a new platform in Jamaica is built

At Penn Station, there are plans to improve signage and to reconfigure walkways, add sunlight and open up the interior.

Substations on the Long Beach line will be raised to protect against hurricane flooding damage, though there are no plans to elevate the line itself.

Costly rides

“I absolutely have a concern,” said Williams when asked whether the cost of the ever-increasing train fare may at some point force LIRR costumers back into their cars.

Williams said that the cost of pensions and benefits drives the fare increases, and that she understands the conflict between commuters’ demand for a “robust and frequent” service and the enormous expense of operating that service. Customers want more service, want more efficient service, more frequent service and better, cleaner trains and stations, and those significant improvements cost more money. --- Fares paid by passengers only cover about 50 percent of the actual cost of a LIRR ride. The rest is made up by various state taxpayer subsidies to the MTA and LIRR.

The LIRR in recent years reduced administrative overhead costs by 15 percent and has pursued cost savings in other areas like overtime and purchasing.

Mobile Ticketing

The LIRR is working on mobile ticketing. This would mean passengers could purchase their tickets on their smartphones or print out tickets at their home or office and have the conductor scan their mobile tickets onboard

Regional view

Williams said that the LIRR’s projects and plans are all designed to revitalize and preserve Long Island as a desirable and convenient place to live, especially for young people. “The LIRR is the economic engine for Long Island. We need to make sure we are taking steps to protect this region for future generations,” she said.