A meeting of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter’s Council (LIRRCC) was convened at 4:30 p.m. on October 6, 2010 in the Transportation Conference Room, Penn Station, New York.
The following members were present:
• Gerard P. Bringmann
• Ira R. Greenberg
• Sheila Carpenter
• Matthew Kessler
• Owen Costello
• Maureen Michaels
• Mark Epstein
• Larry Rubinstein
In addition, the following persons were present:
• William Henderson -PCAC Executive Director
• Hector Garcia -LIRR
• Joseph M. Clift -Concerned citizen
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
The agenda for the October 6, 2011 meeting was approved and the minutes of the August 11, 2011 meeting were approved as amended.
Chair’s Report
The Chair’s report is attached to these minutes. The Council discussed developing a new system of coordinating information and media contacts during major incidents on the LIRR. In some cases, such as a shutdown of the system, this would include a conference call among all members.
Mark Epstein spoke about the Ronkonkoma Hub project and noted that there is a great deal of activity occurring to make this project a reality.
Matthew Kessler announced that the Meet the Commuter Council event will take place in Penn Station on November 15 starting at 4:30 pm. Mr. Epstein encouraged Council members to make a note of the date and plan to be a part of the event.
Board Report
Ira Greenberg gave the Board report. He stated that the LIRR’s on-time performance (OTP) had improved and that the diesel fleet’s mean distance between failures (MDBF) had reached the goal that had been established. Ridership and revenues were both above the MTA’s midyear forecast. Mr. Greenberg said that he had asked for estimates of the impact of recent changes to fare policy on the Rail Road’s revenues.
Mr. Epstein asked the members to let him know what options for modifying the current fare policies that they favor. He gave several examples, such as a simple extension of the ticket validity period and giving riders the option to purchase a non-refundable ticket with a longer period of validity.
Mr. Greenberg noted that, in the wake of this spring’s major derailment, Amtrak has decided to embark on a project to renovate its East River tunnels. The Long Island Rail Road is the largest single user of these tunnels. Amtrak had considered several options that would impact service less at any one time, but would stretch the project out over a longer period. They finally settled on an option that will require removing two of four tracks from service each weekend and will choose the sequencing of work on various tracks in consultation with the LIRR. Still, the impact of this project on the construction schedule for East Side Access is an open question. A number of questions have also been raised about what would happen if Amtrak did not return the tunnels to service before the Monday rush hour. In particular, MTA Board member Mitch Pally has raised this concern.
Maureen Michaels asked whether there would be degradation of the work that has already been accomplished on East Side Access if the completion of the project takes an additional two years.
Staff Report
Bill Henderson discussed the staff investigation of Amtrak escalator outages on the 8th Avenue side of Penn Station. He said that the staff has spoken to Amtrak’s Deputy Chief Engineer for Structures for the Northeast, who is in charge of the work on the escalators. The report that he provided is that the escalator that is now shut down was installed one and a half years ago and is out of warranty, but has a brake problem that can’t be bypassed. Amtrak is currently negotiating with the escalator’s manufacturer for a maintenance contract that will deal with the issue, and it will take at least two weeks before the escalator is back in service. As for the escalator between the main floor and tracks 11 and 12, it is being completely replaced and is scheduled to be ready by Thanksgiving of this year. Mr. Henderson said that staff is not aware of any other escalator outages at Penn Station and is continuing to monitor the situation.
Old Business
Gerry Bringman raised the issue of trains not making the platform at the Oakdale station. He stated that he has been on trains when this happens every few months. Hector Garcia stated that he will have someone contact Mr. Bringmann in the next few weeks to talk to him about this. Sheila Carpenter stated that in her experience the failure to make the platform correctly is due to slip slide and she most often sees this problem at Farmingdale.
Mr. Epstein asked Mr. Garcia for a status report on progress being made on the right-of-way cleanup and where work is taking place. Mr. Garcia stated that there is track work in progress and there is cleanup included in these projects. He said that he will get a staff summary of work to be done and provide it to the Council.
Mr. Epstein raised the issue of right of way encroachments near the Port Washington station, which had been discussed previously. Mr. Garcia stated that he met with the Town Supervisor last week and that the Town’s code enforcement personnel will be informing property owners of the need to remove right of way encroachments that have been identified. He said that the LIRR will keep the Council updated on this issue.
Owen Costello asked about the Council’s concerns that trains departing from narrow platforms not be called before the train is at the platform. He said that when this happens, platforms are crowded and a dangerous situation is created. Larry Rubinstein said that he is working with Penn Station Stationmaster Joe Riley to find ways to avoid bringing trains into the same platform at the same time during peak hours. He said that the concern with having two trains served by the same platform is greater with respect to departures than arrivals.
New Business
Mr. Bringmann mentioned that a few years ago there were audio announcements of late trains and new arrival times for trains at succeeding stations. He asked why these announcements are no longer being made.
Ms. Michaels commented on the Port Jefferson train that is scheduled to stop at Cold Spring Harbor at 8:28 a.m. She said that this train is consistently late at Cold Springs Harbor, but that it usually makes up enough time to arrive at Penn on time. Ms. Michaels asked that if this train is consistently late, why not change the scheduled station arrival times?
Ms. Carpenter stated that the night before at Hicksville station the waiting room was closed and there was no lighting on the platform. She said that there is a semicircle broken out of the concrete on the platform where she tripped and almost fell off the platform; the problem area is located on the south platform, just inside of the platform edge. Ms. Michaels noted that the Hicksville station is in horrible shape and asked how often the platforms are checked. Mr. Garcia stated that the cleaners are there and should report any serious defects that they find, plus the Branch Line Manager does inspections monthly. He added that engineers inspect the station periodically as well.
Ms. Carpenter inquired about the date of the next LIRR ADA committee meeting.
Mr. Henderson distributed passed out status update on LIRR projects
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
William Henderson
PCAC Executive Director
Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council
Chair’s Report
October 6, 2011
It has been a very eventful eight weeks for the LIRR and its riders since we last met. At our last meeting, we heard from the Rail Road’s Senior Vice President of Operations Ray Kenny about the August 1 suspension of service that was caused by lightning strikes and severe weather. We were fortunate that Mr. Kenny was able to be with us, as the derailment of an NJ Transit train that afternoon only marginally affected LIRR service. Since then we have been less fortunate, with two major service disruptions on the Rail Road.
By the end of August, the LIRR, as well as the MTA’s other operating agencies, was preparing for Hurricane Irene. Prior to the storm, the LIRR and MTA did a good job of informing riders of their plans for a shutdown of the system and of initiating an orderly shutdown of the system in advance of the storm. Irene struck the area overnight between Saturday August 27th and Sunday the 28th but did not cause the level of damage that had been feared. As a result the LIRR was able to start work on Sunday toward a goal of restoring widespread service by the Monday morning rush hour.
The LIRR did a good job of restoring service, but as has been the case in other service disruptions, communication with the riders did not rise to the same level. The email messages that the Rail Road sent out implied that service would be nearly normal, but riders were not able to access more specific information about their situations and became frustrated. With widespread power outages, many riders were unable to access cable and broadcast reports about the storm’s impacts on LIRR service, and the accurate service status information was not available through platform signs or audio announcements at many stations. Once again, the LIRR’s communication with the riders became the main issue that needed to be addressed.
Just a week ago, LIRR riders faced another major service disruption when lightning knocked out primary and backup switching equipment controlling access to Jamaica Station. There are a number of questions remaining to be answered concerning the failure of the new signal and control systems that the LIRR installed just last year, and we have noted in the press the need for a full investigation of the situation. Once again, however, communication with riders appears to have been a major problem. We have heard many reports of a lack of information or direction from the Rail Road and failures by on board crews to make necessary announcements. Communication is not the only issue at the LIRR, but it poses a problem in nearly every major breakdown on the Rail Road and we should demand progress on this front. I’d like to thank Gerry and Maureen for representing the Council with the press, as I was out of the flow of communication due to the holiday.
We have looked into the escalator issues on the 8th Avenue side of Penn Station and have been in contact with Amtrak, who is responsible for the installation of the escalator that is currently out of service. The Amtrak engineering department gave us a report on the outage of the escalator located at the southwest corner of their portion of the Station, which runs between the main floor and 8th Avenue levels. Amtrak stated to us that this escalator was installed 1½ years ago and is now out of warranty. It is not operating because of an apparent brake problem that can’t be bypassed. Amtrak is negotiating a maintenance contract with Thyssen-Krupp, the escalator’s manufacturer. Thyssen-Krupp will review the design issue and replace whatever parts are needed. As a result, it will probably be at least another two weeks before the escalator is fixed.
We also received a report on the escalator from the main floor to Tracks #11 and 12, which is being completely replaced. It is scheduled to be ready by Thanksgiving of this year. Jan Wells has been monitoring the situation at Penn Station and has not encountered any other escalator outages at entrances.
We have also been talking in the Council about issues concerning parking at the Bellmore station over the last several months. I spoke to Town of Hempstead Council Member Gary Hudes about the issues that the LIRRCC has raised, and he said that he is willing to work with us and investigate any problems that we bring to his attention. Council Member Hudes is waiting for us to provide him with a list of issues, and I’ve asked Larry Rubinstein to work on this list so that we can get the process going.
With all the events over the past months, we have turned our attention from ticket and fare collection issues, but we need to get back to this topic. The fact is that the new ticket policies that have been implemented by the MTA and LIRR are not working for riders, and as their representatives we need to work to change them.
I’ve been continuing to speak with political and business leaders on Long Island as a part of our outreach efforts. If we are to be successful in pushing for meaningful change at the LIRR, we need to do so together with these leaders. I’m pleased to be able to announce that the Long Island Regional Economic Council’s infrastructure/ transportation work group, on which I serve, has reported out the LIRR’s Ronkonkoma to Farmingdale second track as a project that should be recommended for funding by the Council. Newsday has cited the importance of the Regional Economic Council in editorials and reported on its progress towards submitting a proposal for funding to the Governor.
There has also been a great deal of support, at the Regional Economic Council and elsewhere, for the Ronkonkoma Hub Development Project. This transit-oriented development project is a partnership between the Towns of Brookhaven and Islip to redevelop about 50 acres surrounding the Long Island Rail Road station and bordering MacArthur Airport. Because the Ronkonkoma station is an integral part of the project, we need to be involved as it progresses, and we have been offered briefings and materials about the project.
Along with the Second Track, the Regional Economic Council’s infrastructure/ transportation work group has identified the Ronkonkoma Hub as a project that should be recommended for funding. Senator Schumer has also taken an interest in this project and is actively seeking federal funding to improve sewer infrastructure, construct a roundabout at the Ronkonkoma LIRR station, and rehabilitate existing building stock around the station. The Towns are currently seeking to qualify developers interested in the project to proceed in the selection process.
We are finalizing plans for a Meet the Commuter Council event in November. We will provide details within the next week or so, but hope that all of you are able to be there to be the face of our Council to the riders.
As Bill Henderson told you by email, we will not be hearing from LIRR Chief Engineer Robert Puciloski about preparations for and recovery from severe weather events. Mr. Puciloski’s time with us would have been limited, and we have a many issues to discuss in this area. We have requested a meeting with the LIRR on these issues at another time in the next few weeks and will keep you informed as we set a time and date for this meeting.