MACTRAXX wrote: ↑Mon Jan 18, 2021 11:00 am
Everyone:
On the 33rd Anniversary of the completion of the Hicksville-Ronkonkoma Electrification it is time to mention
changes to the Ronkonkoma Branch and Main Line that have been accomplished in recent years:
The completion of the Ronkonkoma Yard (Mid-Suffolk Expansion) Project doubling storage capacity
The full completion of the Double Track Project between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma
Passing the midway point of the Main Line Third Track Project (Floral Park-Hicksville)
The ridership losses resulting from the ongoing pandemic were not even beginning yet one year ago today.
Those changes have a huge affect going forward for the future of the LIRR and rail transit in general depending
on when a state of normalcy returns and riders return to the trains. The past 12 months have been quite an
experience for all of us remembering how life in general was back in January 2020...MACTRAXX
Even though I'm 30 years old now, I do my part by stopping the spread and doing it for the sake of the immunocompromised by wearing a mask, washing/sanitizing my hands, and keeping 6+ feet apart from anyone. I don't see normalcy returning until Q3 of this year when more and more people are vaccinated. Unlike in years' past where I thought I have nothing, I can breathe again knowing how far we've come in 12 months. Just remember last year was an awful year for not just all of us, but for the entire planet.
Enough of that, but when the project was underway many in Wyandanch, Deer Park, Brentwood, and Central Islip were worried about express trains at all times of the day flying by at 80 MPH with grade crossings that looked hazardous (Straight Path and Executive Drive for example). I haven't been back home since April 2019, which is when I went round trip on a train on the Ronkonkoma Branch AFTER the double-track project was completed. It seems that the number of express trains has decreased now (except for Pinelawn) that we have a fully double-tracked branch, given that express trains were frequent when the leg from Farmingdale to Deer Park was single-tracked, but how often does the branch see express trains now, and if so do they fly at 70-80 MPH?
This is the train to (NYC). Stopping at: Babylon, Lindenhurst, Copiague, Amityville, Massapequa Park, Massapequa, Seaford, Wantagh, Bellmore, Merrick, Freeport, Baldwin, Rockville Centre, Lynbrook, Valley Stream, Jamaica, Kew Gardens, Forest Hills, Woodside, Penn Station OR Grand Central.