I scanned through the first of the documents. Some of it contradicts what I was told by LIRR officials during the tunnel tour given to members of the LIRR ESA Citizens Task Force in 1996.
So what I'm trying to understand now;
1. Will diesel country passengers have a quick easy GCT access to a train that will have enough seats most of the time? Inbound in the morning, outbound in the PM. If I could step off a PJ train and within a minute be seated on a GCT train, that would be semi acceptable. I say semi, because I can't imagine this working smoothly most of the time, that if you arrived at Jamaica, you'd have that quick easy transfer with a seat easy to find and get into. Certainly does not happen now much of the time with PJ trains versus Penn.
2. Note that it would have been nice if they ever had a decent compliment of PJ Penn direct trains. 2 more actually during rush hour EB 5:45PM or so, maybe 6:30PM or so. And inbound a train arriving 7:45 and 8:15 or so. These are not exact times, just an idea of what would help.
3. It would be nice to know if it is truly practical for the C5 cars could be designed to fit via ESA. The DM needed seems to be easier since it would not be as tall. It would also help if the DM's didn't need 2 locos per DM train into Penn or GCT. Clearly from what was thought of in that document along with what LIRR has said about M9A procurement, they only plan to buy electric cars to go into GCT.
4. In general, it's clear that years ago and today LIRR/MTA has considered diesel country service as mostly unimportant despite a heavy population now and more so in the future. If LIRR could have direct trains to Penn and GCT averaging about 70MPH, then commuting from out east would be a lot quicker and easier. Nassau is badly overcrowded, western Suffolk getting there, yet service average speeds in the 30's or worse on some trains, maybe 40 on a few, just doesn't cut it. One of the reasons MN is considered to be a much better commute is that their trains typically run much faster than on LIRR.