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SI Railway Memorial Day 2019 Service Info

Posted by
on May 21st, 2019 at 4:53 pm

Just a short time ago, the MTA released the Memorial Day 2019 service plan information for the Staten Island Railway:

On Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, Staten Island Railway will operate on a Sunday schedule.  SIR will operate its Early Departure Get Away schedule on Friday, May 24 to accommodate customers looking to get an early start on their holiday weekend plans.  This schedule means extra SIR trains will be added earlier in the afternoon beginning at 2:30 p.m. from the St. George Ferry Terminal.  There will be one express train and one local train awaiting every boat until 7:50 p.m.  The Early Departure Get Away service plan on SIR is also available on Wednesday, July 3 (before Independence Day), Labor Day weekend, Christmas and New Year’s.  It will also operate on the day before Thanksgiving.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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2 LIRR Trains Crash Into Car

Posted by
on February 27th, 2019 at 4:05 am

Unfortunately the man dying after being struck by a LIRR train between Freeport & Baldwin was not the only accident the railroad dealt with on Tuesday.

A mere few hours later, a Hicksville-bound (Port Jefferson) & Penn Station-bound (Ronkonkoma) train both struck a car that had swerved around down crossing gates.  The collisions led to the death of the 3 people inside the vehicle & multiple people injured on the respective trains.

The Hicksville-bound train struck the vehicle first after pulling out of the Westbury station. The Penn Station-bound train came shortly after and pushed the vehicle down the tracks which led to the first two cars of the train derailing and colliding with the concrete platform.

According to LIRR President Phillip Eng, the Hicksville-bound train had about 800 passengers & the Penn Station-bound train about 100 passengers. This accident also led to the Penn Station-bound catching fire underneath one of the cars which further complicated matters.

Overall this whole situation was a complete nightmare that could have completely been avoided had someone had the common sense to not go around a downed crossing gate. This sickens me as no one had to die yet the hazardous decision of a driver proved fatal & will leave scars on the lives of many forever.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Man Killed By LIRR Train Near Freeport

Posted by
on February 27th, 2019 at 3:40 am

The Long Island Rail Road had a bad Tuesday which started in the afternoon when a man was killed after being struck by a westbound train between Freeport & Baldwin. The incident led to service on the Babylon line being suspended between Lynbrook & Babylon. Sadly this was a precursor for what was to come….

xoxo Transit Blogger

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LIRR Fell Short Of January Performance Goal

Posted by
on February 27th, 2019 at 3:31 am

While the MTA Long Island Rail Road improved its on-time performance in January 2019 as compared to the same period in 2018, the agency fell short of its overall goal. Check out more via this report on Newsday by clicking here.

As I have stated numerous times in the past, I always considered their on-time numbers with a grain of salt considering they give themselves a 5 minute & 59 second extra buffer which changes the overall numbers drastically.

For the prices we pay, these numbers need to be at least 95% & that is for a bad month. Anything less is completely unacceptable.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Subway Action Plan Leads To Improvements

Posted by
on February 25th, 2019 at 3:44 am

Usually the weekends is a quite time for the MTA PR machine. However this weekend was different as the agency was super excited to share information showing that its Subway Action Plan has lead to improvements. First let me share the press release they asked me to share:

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) President Patrick Foye, Managing Director Ronnie Hakim and New York City Transit President Andy Byford today outlined new statistics showing the dramatic subway performance improvements that have been achieved since the launch of the Subway Action Plan. They pointed to a months-long trend of improvement, including the best on-time performance and the fewest number of delays that the system has seen in four years.  The Subway Action Plan was launched at the direction of Governor Andrew Cuomo‎ in July 2017, and funded by the governor, legislature and city, with the goal of taking extraordinary measures to stabilize and improve the more than 100-year old subway system.

The officials also noted that the MTA is in a dire financial position, with an operating budget deficit of approximately $500 million as early as next year, growing to nearly $1 billion by 2022.  The MTA also has zero funding allocated for its next capital plan (2020-2024).  In order progress to continue, they noted it is absolutely necessary to pass congestion pricing and secure additional and reoccurring revenue from city and state funding partners.  Without additional revenue from congestion pricing, fares would increase by approximately 30%, over currently scheduled increases.

“Our concerted efforts are paying off in the form of fewer delays, less waiting, faster trips and an overall better experience for our customers,” said MTA New York City Transit President Andy Byford.  “These are sustainable improvements resulting from the Subway Action Plan, but we’re also limited by an aging infrastructure – in order to achieve the subway system that New Yorkers deserve and that Transit employees are capable of delivering, we need sustainable, adequate funding through means such as congestion pricing.”

“Today it is crystal clear that the funds invested in the Subway Action Plan by Governor Cuomo, the legislature, and city are paying tangible and substantial dividends,” said MTA President Patrick Foye. “There is a direct relationship between that investment and the reduction in delays, and our customers are experiencing that every day.  On behalf of the MTA, I want to thank the governor for working tirelessly to secure this funding.”

“The news we’re hearing today is extraordinarily positive, and the result of hard work by our employees, patience from customers, and substantial investment on the part of the state and city,” said Ronnie Hakim, MTA Managing Director.  “In order to keep up this sort of progress, we need to address the difficult financial situation the MTA is in, which is why our internal reforms, congestion pricing, and additional reoccurring revenue is so necessary.”

Weekday on-time performance in January was 76.7%, as opposed to 58.1% in January 2018, – an approximately 32% improvement.  January also represents the fifth consecutive month that the Department of Subways exceeded its goal of reducing 10,000 delays each month. In January 2019, there were 42,348 weekday delays, compared to 76,287 in January 2018.  Weekday major incidents – incidents causing 50 or more delays – are also drastically down in January, with 52 compared to 105 in January 2018.

Weekend on-time performance is also drastically improved.  In January 2019 compared to January 2018, there were seven major incidents compared to 14; 83.1 percent on-time performance compared to 64.7 percent; and 8,180 delays compared to 18,931.

Delay-inducing track fires caused by debris are also significantly down – a direct result of aggressive debris cleanup under the Subway Action Plan.  In January 2019, there were 23 track debris fires, compared to 42 in January 2018.  In the 12 months leading up to January 2019, there were 322 track fires related to debris, compared to 452 the previous year.

Several other metrics also point to evidence of the Subway Action Plan’s effectiveness.  Additional unanticipated time spent waiting on platforms is down to 1m11s compared to 1m35s and additional unanticipated time spent on trains is down to 58s compared to 1m46s.

During the Subway Action Plan, workers have also:

Cleared more than 40,000 street grates to prevent ingress of litter and leaves that build up on the track, causing fires and clogging drains.

Sealed more than 4,000 leaks to prevent water ingress that causes power and signal problems, deterioration of track and other equipment resulting in unplanned service changes, delays and track fires.

Installed Continuous Welded Rail (CWR) across the system, replacing jointed rail, which is more prone to rail defects that delay trains.

Repaired almost 20,000 minor track defects that if not repaired can cause delays.

Repaired or rebuilt more than 1,700 signal components, drastically reducing the backlog of issues that can disrupt service.

Rebuilt and modernized more than 200 signal stops to be moisture proof and avoid service interruption.

Conducted a comprehensive inspection of door components across all fleets.

Made maintenance practices more efficient so cars can be put back into service more quickly.

Repaired door control units on over 1,000 cars in our oldest fleets to improve reliability of this critical component that cause 40 percent of car breakdowns.

Okay congratulations to the agency for showing some progress that could be seen by riders. However I would not exactly be jumping for joy at the on time performance increases of 76.7% weekday & 83.1% weekend for this past January. While they are a big step up from January 2018, it is still way too low.

Also I am not thrilled at the continued propaganda push of congestion pricing mainly by liberals who have this obsession with trying to bleed every nickle out of our pockets for their failed policies. Sit down & ask for hardcore proof of congestion pricing working for the MTA & how would the money get to the agency & be properly used. Not one single one of them can provide it but if they repeat their lies enough, they hope you will believe it.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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