LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD COMMUTER COUNCIL
MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 13, 2013
A meeting of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter’s Council (LIRRCC) was convened at 3:00 p.m. on November 13, 2013, at the LIRR East Side Access Readiness Conference Room at 450 7TH Avenue, 20th Floor – New York, NY
The following members were present:
Raymond Pagano
Larry Rubinstein
The following members attended via Phone:
Owen Costello
Matthew Kessler
The following members were absent:
Gerard P. Bringmann Ira Greenberg
Sheila Carpenter Michael Godino
Mark Epstein Maureen Michaels
In addition, the following persons were present:
William Henderson -PCAC Executive Director
Yannis Takos -LIRR
Scott Schneider -LIRR
Anthony Kamanes -LIRR
Jim Allen -LIRR
Hector Garcia -LIRR
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
The agenda for the November 13, 2013 meeting was accepted. The minutes of the October 10, 2013 meeting were not approved due to the absence of a quorum.
Chair’s Report
In the interest of time, the Chair’s Report was not read at the meeting but distributed to members by email.
Old Business
Larry Rubinstein reported that stated that Merrick and Bellmore riders are thrilled that platform reconstruction at these stations is in the LIRR’s budget. He expressed hope that Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray will take action to improve conditions at stations, now that she has won reelection.
Matt Kessler commented that Queens Community Board 14 has not met on LIRR issues since the last LIRRCC meeting. Mr. Kessler also mentioned that Philip McManus of the Queens Public Transit Committee will be conducting a petition drive to restore the Rockaway Beach Line. Mr. Kessler said that riders generally do not know about the Rockaway Beach Line restoration.
Owen Costello asked Hector Garcia about the status of the Track 17 stairway. Mr. Garcia responded that the reconstruction of the stairway should be completed by December and that he will furnish an update on its progress. Mr. Costello also asked about having a study conducted on passenger loading on narrow platforms.
Mr. Garcia introduced members of the LIRR team working on procurement of the M9 cars, including Yannis Takos, General Manager of Market Development, Scott Schneider, Director of Market Research, Anthony Kamanes, Manager of Strategic Investments for Car Procurement, and Jim Allen, Deputy Chief Procurement Officer and Project Manager for the M9 cars.
Mr. Allen made a brief presentation, a copy of which is on file in the PCAC office. He said that additional seats are gained in the M9 design by moving electrical equipment to other areas of the cars and that the specification for the cars calls for 221 seats per pair of cars. Mr. Costello asked if seat width is specified in the contract. Mr. Allen responded that both seat and aisle widths are in the contract.
Ray Pagano asked whether the additional seating comes at the expense of space for the bathrooms. Mr. Takos said that the size of bathrooms has not been reduced, but some space had been gained by a thinner wall design. Mr. Costello asked whether the bathroom doors would operate like those in the M7 cars. Mr. Allen replied that he is aware of riders’ issues with the M7 bathroom doors, but because of space restrictions it is necessary to use sliding doors. He said that the design team will investigate ways to buffer the action of the doors so that they do not slam.
Mr. Allen said that the LIRR will exercise options in the M9 contract that will provide for multimedia and WiFi on board. He said that there is also a change order pending to add USB power to the seats in the cars. He noted that water storage space is designed into the cars and that these cars will have increased reliability compared with the M7 cars.
Mr. Rubinstein asked whether the design team had looked at access to emergency exits, since on M7 cars there are seats blocking access to the emergency exits. He said that unless you can move the seats, they will get in the way of removing the emergency exit window glass.
Mr. Allen said that the clarity of public address speakers in the cars is being addressed through metrics in the specification that establish requirements for sound quality. He also noted that the cars will include the digital display features that the LIRRCC had requested in its letter and that the cars may include displays in the vestibules. Mr. Takos noted that the new cars will have GPS and that the LIRR is working on a countdown clock that will tell riders the time remaining to upcoming stations.
Mr. Allen said that in terms of power, the new cars will include all the elements for which the LIRRCC has asked, including a regulated AC power source and USB power outlets. The designers would not be able, however, to segregate restrooms from seating areas as the council had recommended. This would require great changes to seat and restroom design and would make it difficult to meet the goal of increased numbers of seats. Cup holders are also a feature that will not be provided, as they would be difficult to include from a design perspective and create issues with cleanliness and the disposal of used or partially full cups left in the holders. Mr. Costello said that he nevertheless feels that this is an important feature.
Mr. Allen commented that the LIRR is very focused on improving the layout of the middle seat to make it a more acceptable choice for riders and said that this issue is a topic of constant conversation with Kawasaki. Mr. Rubinstein suggested that the aisle seat should be wider, because people who need space tend to look for aisle space. Mr. Takos stated that a great deal of thought went into whether the size of the middle seat should be increased, since even greater width may not make middle seats more attractive to riders.
Mr. Allen responded to concerns that the council had raised about glass in the M9 cars. He said that the windows will provide 23% light transmission and that this is the minimum for vision at night. If the windows are more heavily tinted riders cannot see what station they are in. Mr. Pagano asked if the display board in the cars would help to identify stations. Mr. Takos responded that the LIRR will look into ways that the displays can tell riders their location.
Mr. Allen said that there are several places where the action of parts of the car needs to be buffered. The most obvious case is the restroom door, but the M7 and M8 cars do not offer good designs in this respect. The design team is also seeking ways to make fold down seats return more slowly to a stowed position.
Mr. Takos said that the illumination at floor level in existing cars meets industry standards. He noted that designers have been working on improving the amount of light at floor level for many years, and the M7 cars were improved over the M3 models. Mr. Allen stated that lighting fixture had never been included in the floor in previous designs because they create a maintenance problem. Mr. Rubinstein asked whether prototypes of the interiors exist. Mr. Kamanes said that there are no prototypes yet, but they have done 1 ½ years of design work.
Mr. Takos said that the LIRR plans to have focus groups with riders and that the LIRRCC would be invited to observe these sessions. He said that the focus groups are on hold until renderings of potential car designs are produced. Mr. Allen said that the renderings are scheduled to be available by the end of the month and that he is willing to meet with the council to go over them in the first quarter of 2014.
Mr. Rubinstein asked whether Metro-North will have the same cars. Mr. Allen said that there will be some changes to account for differences in operations between the railroads, but the cars will be basically the same. He said that the LIRR is leading the procurement effort and so sets the design standard.
Mr. Pagano wanted to know whether any thought had been given to installing sensors to indicate where train to platform gaps are larger than normal. Mr. Allen said that the cars will have larger threshold plates similar to those installed on the M7 cars, but would not feature gap fillers or sensors. The cars will, however, have lights to illuminate the gap area and allow riders to see it more clearly.
New Business
No new business was discussed.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
William Henderson
Executive Director