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Thursday, March 28, 2024

LIRR to Adjust Service to New Grand Central Madison Terminal, Based on Demand

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By:  Ilana Siyance

The exciting new Long Island Rail Road service to Grand Central Madison has had a few opening bumps.

As reported by Crain’s NY, on Thursday, LIRR interim President Catherine Rinaldi acknowledged that ridership to the new station is lower than expected, and said adjustments will be made.  On February 27th the much anticipated full service schedule to the new annex in New York City’s iconic Grand Central Terminal was launched.  The $11 billion project was about month overdue, and experienced about a decade of delays since its conception.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials conceded that they over-estimated how many commuters would divert to the Grand Central Madison station.  Some of the LIRR trains bound for Penn Station and Brooklyn were sent with less cars, which led to overcrowding and chaotic commutes for some riders in the first days of the transition.  The MTA was quick to announce that it will reassess the need and adjust schedules.  Among the changes that have already been implemented in response to demand, are adding more rail cars to overcrowded trains as well as more frequent shuttles to Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn.

“We are looking on a train-by-train basis—every train, every day. How long is it? Who’s on it? How crowded is it? And we’re making adjustments to be able to reflect actually what we’re seeing out there,” Rinaldi told reporters on Thursday. “[Riders] have not had a good experience this week. We recognize that.”  The MTA said more rail cars have been added to certain morning rush-hour trains from Jamaica to Atlantic Terminal, and from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station.  Also, next week longer trains will be sent for several LIRR branches, including the Babylon, Huntington and Port Washington lines, as per the railroad.

As per Crain’s, Rinaldi said the new LIRR terminal plan was scheduled based on a “60-40 split,” expecting the majority of riders to travel to Penn Station. She admitted that for now, the split is 70-30, adding that it’s unclear if it will continue as such.

LIRR trains usually have up to 12 cars.  Last week, to allow for the new stop, some trains were reduced to just six cars to accommodate service adjustments across the LIRR’s 11 lines.  Adding cars to trains comes at the expense of service on other lines. Rinaldi noted that the decisions to lengthen trains will be based on ridership data.   The MTA added that it ordered 50 new cars with Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki, but said the shipment is severely delayed.

For the interim, the LIRR is using about 100 1980s-era rail cars to accommodate the schedule adjustments.  “That’s a huge pain point right now,” said Larry Rubinstein, vice chair of the Long Island Commuter Council. “They only have so much rolling stock, and you have to keep a certain amount of that in reserve, so to speak, for an emergency situation.”  He added that he thinks there will be some more disarray in LIRR service for the next couple weeks till the MTA sorts everything out. “A lot more has got to be done,” said Rubinstein. “Now that they’ve got a week of data to work with, hopefully the LIRR will adapt.

The new rail hub construction is one of the biggest transportation infrastructure projects undertaken in the country in recent years, as per the MTA. It is the largest new train terminal to be built in the U.S. since the 1950s.

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