Second Track Out to Montauk On LIRR Needed: Assemblyman Fred Thiele

With summer just a few months away and crowds ready to descend upon the Hamptons, New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele has called for a second Long Island Rail Road track between Sayville and Montauk

The new, additional track would provide greater service to the South Fork and reduce traffic on congested roads during the high-volume summer months, Thiele said.

On Friday, Thiele called upon New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo to amend his 2016 state budget to include the construction of the second track. Such a track would not only permit additional seasonal service, but would facilitate the goal of increased year-round service through a shuttle to the South Fork, he said.

In the past, Thiele spearheaded the addition of $37.5 million in the MTA capital plan years ago for such a shuttle service, but the LIRR failed to implement the initiative, he said.

As it stands, the governor’s 2016 budget proposal already includes a major capital improvement along the LIRR’s main line from Floral Park to Hicksville.

But the East End remains sorely underserved, Thiele said. “The LIRR has to expand its mission beyond just being a commuter railroad between Long and New York City,” he said.. The LIRR is missing an important opportunity to increase public transit to the South Fork, not only during the busy summer season, but year-round.”

As Montauk continues to heat up as a destination for party crowds, last summer, overcrowding on the popular “Cannonball” to the Hamptons, a non-stop express train to the Hamptons, was documented, Thiele said.

“The demand for public transit to the East End, as well as for commuting within the East End has been demonstrated. However, track capacity has been identified as a major infrastructure limitation,” he said.

An additional line would also provide sweet relief to area roads that are plagued with traffic woes during the high-intensity summer months. The local roads, never meant to handle such volume of traffic, are becoming “increasingly unsafe”, especially during the summer season.

For years, experts have said the answer does not like in just East End highways.

In 1996, the East End Supervisors and Mayors Association created the East End Transportation Council to work with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council and its member agencies in an effort to develop insight into, and possible solutions to, the growing transportation problems on the East End. The Sustainable East End Development Strategies, or SEEDS, initiative was developed as a federally funded pilot project and cutting-edge way to address regional transportation issues in conjunction with local land use policies.

In 2005, the SEEDS / EETC findings and recommendations were presented at a regional Transportation Summit attended by stakeholders, including 28 elected officials.

In 2006, 11 East End municipalities signed an agreement of cooperation on land use and transportation, one of the key SEEDS based summit recommendations. The towns participating in this agreement include East Hampton, Riverhead, Southold, and Southampton. The incorporated Villages are East Hampton, Greenport, North Haven, Sagaponack, Sag Harbor, Southampton, and Westhampton Beach.

A followup study focused on public transportation options for the East End was completed in 2009. Funded by a New York State shared municipal services grant and conducted by Volpe National Transportation Systems, other suggestions were made for transportation on the East End, including an East End coordinated rail-bus network.

And yet, in 2016, the East End is still in need of wider transportation options. “The answer lies with underutilized rail lines that could expand public transit,” Thiele said.

A second track from Sayville to Montauk would be a key part of the solution. Such a track certainly would provide the additional service necessary to get tourists and second homeowners out of their cars and onto the train to reach the East End. But it would do much more. That second track would also make regular shuttle trains possible from Patchogue to Montauk on the South Fork. These regular shuttle trains would also benefit the year round East Enders who now must commute to their jobs by car.”

And, too, local taxi drivers report an uptick in young revelers traveling between the South Fork and Patchogue on weekend nights, who could avail themselves of the shuttle trains.

In addition, Thiele said. Suffolk Transit bus service could then be reconfigured and coordinated with the shuttle trains to move people from the train stations to the commercial and job centers on the East End. “The second track would not only get passengers from the city to the East End, but would also provide new public transit opportunities for East End residents to get out of the ’trade parade’ that clogs County Road 39 and Sunrise Highway each morning and afternoon,” he said.

“This truly would be the type of transformative project that Governor Cuomo is seeking to improve the quality of life and economic climate on Long Island and in New York State. We only need the political will to make it happen,” Thiele added.