LIRR West Hempstead Line (Brookhaven, Babylon: transfer, taxes, vs)

[maisy123]

Has anyone heard definitive news on the LIRR eliminating weekend service on the West Hempstead line? Also do you think this is the beginning of another effort on the part of LIRR to close the line down entirely?

[maisy123]

I want to grieve my taxes on the village, town and couny level and would love to hear some suggestions about how to go about this. Thanks in advance.

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by maisy123

I want to grieve my taxes on the village, town and couny level and would love to hear some suggestions about how to go about this. Thanks in advance.

They should eliminate all of the stupid boutique money losing lines,add the 3rd track on the Main, and start building out profitable express service to Brookhaven.

The Main Line should be all Express and only have 5 intermodal stops Mineola/Hicksville/Farmingdale/Ronkonkoma/Medford.

Take the bus to the Mineola intermodal. Its only 36 min from there.

crooks

[sean sean sean sean]

The LIRR really has it out for this line. They only run shuttle service on it between West Hempstead and Valley Stream. You always have to transfer at VS, but Manhattan-bound trains get to do a double transfer at Jamaica too. That's stupid, you still get there in about 40 minutes, but I think they'd double ridership if it was a one-transfer at VS....surely there are enough Babylon branch trains running through VS to make that happen.

Up until the 1960s, this line extended north to Mineola....they should reconnect that. It'd make a viable North<->South means of transportation, which LI is sorely lacking. When the "Lighthouse" project was in it's infancy, I heard some talk about re-opening it to serve as a link between that and Brooklyn/South Shore Queens & Nassau....but I seem to remember a lot of NIMBY-ism surrounding it, of course, and haven't heard anything about it since. Maybe if they revamped the plans and envisioned it as a "light rail" system it'd catch more support.

[AlexisT]

All the Babylon trains go through VS, but none stop (VS isn't even listed on the timetables), and I don't think they'll change that. (ETA: and if what Wikipedia says below is true, Babylon trains can't stop.) A lot of VS trains are change at Jamaica, because the two lines that usually stop there are West Hempstead and Far Rockaway--both of which the MTA has cut back on.

Shuttle service on West Hempstead is all off-peak trains--the peak trains are direct, or at least go as far as Jamaica. (Just checked the schedules.) Wikipedia also has something about how trains terminate because VS only has platforms on the Atlantic Branch, but the phrasing doesn't entirely make sense--it doesn't really explain why WH trains have to terminate there if they stop (unless there's an interlocking issue which means trains can either stop and terminate, or pass through without stopping)--it does say that most WH trains go up the Montauk Branch to Jamaica.

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by AlexisT

All the Babylon trains go through VS, but none stop (VS isn't even listed on the timetables), and I don't think they'll change that. (ETA: and if what Wikipedia says below is true, Babylon trains can't stop.) A lot of VS trains are change at Jamaica, because the two lines that usually stop there are West Hempstead and Far Rockaway--both of which the MTA has cut back on.

Shuttle service on West Hempstead is all off-peak trains--the peak trains are direct, or at least go as far as Jamaica. (Just checked the schedules.) Wikipedia also has something about how trains terminate because VS only has platforms on the Atlantic Branch, but the phrasing doesn't entirely make sense--it doesn't really explain why WH trains have to terminate there if they stop (unless there's an interlocking issue which means trains can either stop and terminate, or pass through without stopping)--it does say that most WH trains go up the Montauk Branch to Jamaica.

I had a hard time figuring this out too....let me read up a little bit on it and I'll get back to you. Every departure time I put into the online LIRR schedule came back with a transfer at Valley Stream, on and off peak....

[AlexisT]

Go directly to the branch timetables; that's how I found it.

MTA LIRR - All Train Schedules

[sean sean sean sean]

Ahh, you know what messed me up? I kept putting in 1/19 (today) which is MLK day, so they're on the weekend/holiday schedule. You're right, normal weekday trains usually only hit a transfer at Jamaica or Valley Stream, not both. The 7:36 train out of West Hempstead is direct to Penn Station...no express service.