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Stony Brook Station Renovations To Begin Soon

Posted by
on January 29th, 2010 at 4:36 pm

Just a short time ago, the MTA Long Island Rail Road announced that station renovations at the Stony Brook station would begin. Here are the complete details courtesy of a press release I received:

The MTA Long Island Rail Road’s Stony Brook Station, on the Port Jefferson Branch, will undergo a $2.7 million renovation project starting Monday, February 1. A temporary trailer will serve as a waiting room during part of the work and will be open from 4:00 AM through 5:00 PM daily. Nine parking spaces will be temporarily out of service in order to stage materials and the trailer.

The project includes refurbishing the two station restrooms, replacing station building interior walls, installing new platform shelters, and light poles. The station building work is expected to be completed by mid-April, 2010, while the exterior work is expected to be completed by January, 2011.

Funding for the work in the MTA LIRR Capital Program was secured by State Senator John Flanagan.

The total daily ridership to and from Stony Brook is approximately 1,450.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Service Diversions 01-29-10

Posted by
on January 29th, 2010 at 3:24 pm

I have just updated the “Service Diversions” page with the latest planned information for the upcoming weekend, next week, & beyond in some cases. Also as a reminder for those who plan on riding the LIRR’s Long Beach line, please read this entry for important diversion information. I suggest you print out a copy of the “Service Diversions” page to carry around with you or use your mobile device to access it while outside.

Have a great weekend!

xoxo Transit Blogger

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2

LIRR Long Beach Service Reminder

Posted by
on January 27th, 2010 at 8:25 pm

Two weeks ago, I wrote an entry highlighting the loss of service on the LIRR’s Long Beach line for two weekends due to planned construction. MTA Long Island Rail Road sent out a reminder press release to me earlier this afternoon. Here are the details:

There will be no train service along the Long Beach Branch this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, January 30-31 due to the installation of two new MTA Long Island Rail Road bridges over Powell Creek and Hog Island Channel.

Buses will serve LIRR customers between Long Beach and Valley Stream throughout this weekend. Regular weekday train service will not be affected by the project.

The $24.5 million project, funded through the MTA Capital Program and Federal Transit Administration grants, will also require the shutdown of train service on four other weekends later this year – March 20-21, March 27-28, May 1-2 and May 15-16.

In addition to the weekend dates listed above, work will require the Railroad to close the eastbound platforms at Island Park, Oceanside, East Rockaway and Centre Avenue on five other weekends: February 6-7, 13-14, 20-21, 27-28 and March 6-7. All trains will operate from westbound platforms at those stations.

Eastbound, when busing is in effect, customers will transfer to buses at Valley Stream for the six stations between Lynbrook and Long Beach. Customers should allow up to 34 minutes of additional travel time.

Westbound, customers will board buses at the six stations between Long Beach and Lynbrook bound for Valley Stream, where they will transfer to trains to complete their trip. Buses will depart up to 33 minutes earlier than scheduled train times.

Both the Powell Creek Bridge (located between the LIRR’s East Rockaway and Oceanside stations) and the Hog Island Channel Bridge (located between Oceanside and Island Park stations) were built in the 1920s and served the LIRR for nearly 90 years.

“Without the long term financing for new infrastructure that the MTA’s Capital Program provides, it would be impossible to undertake projects like this,” said LIRR President Helena E. Williams. “These two bridges are being replaced as part of our ongoing efforts to modernize and ensure safe and reliable service for our customers for decades to come.”

MTA Capital Program funds for the project total $14.2 million, while the FTA has added $10.3 million. The international construction company, Kiewit Constructors Inc., is the prime contractor and Kiewit, in turn, is employing a number of subcontractors. Much of the material being used has been purchased from local firms in the tri-state region.

The bridge replacement program has created approximately, 47 new full time jobs, including 12 construction managers at Kiewit and 35 craft labor positions involving operating engineers, dock builders and laborers. Numerous LIRR employees will be installing new track and signals over the bridges.

Work on the project began in November but is only now impacting service. To limit that impact, most of the work will be done during 48-hour weekend shifts.

The Powell Creek and Hog Island Bridges are open-deck wooden and steel structures supported by wooden piles through which water is visible below. Both bridges will be removed and replaced with pre-cast concrete structures, supported by reinforced concrete-filled, steel pipe piles, supporting safer, closed-deck concrete track roadbeds.

A recurring flooding condition at Powell Creek Bridge, which has at times led to delays and temporary service suspensions, will be corrected by raising the elevation of the new bridge by approximately one foot. Bridge walkways will also be installed at both locations to make it safer for LIRR employees.

The project is being coordinated with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Town of Hempstead.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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I Apologize

Posted by
on January 26th, 2010 at 2:16 pm

I would like to apologize for not having an analysis of the recently released service cuts. I promised I would take an in-depth look into the cuts over the weekend. However it was a very emotional weekend for me as I wanted to spend as much time with one of my best friend’s before their major surgery on Monday. I did not have the care or desire to look into it for obvious reasons. I just focused on posting short news blasts as that would not need a strong focus.

I am happy to report that the surgery was a success so I am in a much better state of mind. I will go over the cuts & have something up by Monday the latest.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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MTA E-Mail & Text Alerts Receive Enhancements

Posted by
on January 26th, 2010 at 2:11 pm

The focus on technological advances by the MTA continues to be the theme around here with this latest news. Just a short time ago, the MTA announced enhancements to its e-mail & text messaging service alerts system. Here are the details from the press release I was just sent:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced enhancements to the email and text message alerts the agency uses to notify customers of changes to subway, bus and rail service. The agency also said it would survey subscribers next month to ask for their help in further enhancing the alerting system to ensure that it does an even better job of providing timely, useful information to help customers make travel plans.

There are two enhancements to the alerting system.

1) Planned Service Changes: The alerting service now allows subscribers to opt to receive information only about planned service changes. Previously, subscribers who had wanted information on planned service changes also automatically received alerts on delays or other unexpected service disruptions. While alerts on unplanned service disruptions can and do appear 24/7, MTA New York City Transit generally sends out information on weekend planned subway service changes on Thursday afternoons.

Subscribers who wish to receive info only on planned service changes should log into their accounts at mymtaalerts.com to update their settings. The recently created default setting provides users with real-time alerts on unplanned service disruptions only, so customers will need to change their profile settings in order to begin receiving updates on planned service changes. New subscribers are able to opt for planned service change information when they create an account.

2) Vacation Suspension: The enhanced service also now allows subscribers to suspend their subscription for a predetermined or indefinite period of time. When the subscription resumes, all of the settings and preferences will be unchanged.

“We are making a number of changes to improve the way we communicate with our customers, from launching an improved website to providing more real-time information for customers on the go,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Jay H. Walder. “And now we are enhancing our email and text message alerts. You can suspend a newspaper subscription when you go on vacation, why shouldn’t you be able to suspend your MTA email and text alerts?”

To enhance the alerting service further, the MTA plans to send out a survey to its 70,000 email and text message alert subscribers in February to ask for advice on how to improve it. While not every idea for an enhancement to the alerting system may be feasible to implement, the MTA hopes to collect ideas about what enhancements may be desirable or useful to users.

For those customers who are still not subscribers, the service is now better then ever – with more ways to tailor the settings so you receive information matching your exact needs and preferences. Now is the time to sign up!

Sign up today to know before you go. Visit mymtaalerts.com to create an account and begin receiving alerts about your subway, bus and/or rail route today!

xoxo Transit Blogger

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