Will the Flow Rider Open Again in Belmont Park
Gov. Cuomo has announced a major taxpayer delivery towards funding a new Long Island Railroad station to serve a proposed new arena for the New York Islanders at Belmont Park. At that place is an existing, albeit part-time, LIRR platform at Belmont — exactly where the loonshit will be built — but the governor wants to put a full-fourth dimension station near a one-half-mile away, requiring hockey-loving transit users to accept shuttle buses. The $105-million (estimated!) plan raises many questions, many of which are asked below.
Gov. Cuomo claims that it will only cost $105 million to pay for a new full-fourth dimension station between Bellrose and Queens Hamlet on the Primary Line and for the upgrades to the existing spur for part-time events at Belmont Park Arena station. Merely how did he come upwards with this number? A reliable toll estimate takes more than than just a printing release with station renderings. What about costs to modify, upgrade or build new interlockings along the Main Line? Will there exist any costs for modification to the ongoing Positive Train Control projection? How volition this projection be integrated with Principal Line 3rd Rails, Jamaica Capacity Improvements and other nearby LIRR uppercase and routine maintenance projects? Is there a detailed projection upkeep, procurement strategy, forcefulness account plan, track outage plan and schedule to validate both the $106 million cost and project completion to coincide with the opening of the Islanders Belmont Loonshit which is less than 27 months away?
Costs will exist further refined as the project progresses through completion of the environmental review process, preliminary and final design, honor of construction contracts followed by modify orders to the base contracts during construction, due to concluding minute changes in telescopic or unforeseen site conditions.
If Cuomo, Empire State Development Corporation, MTA, LIRR, elected officials, consultants and their respective employees are and then confident in the $106-1000000 cost tag, let them put up their respective retirement pensions, 401Ks and mortgage their homes as collateral. They tin can cover whatsoever inevitable future cost overruns.
There is a fatal flow in building a new station on the north side of the Main Line to serve the future Belmont Park Islanders Arena versus upgrading the existing station located inside the Belmont Park perimeter.
Anyone in the transit industry knows that customers being asked to pay a premium fare ever prefer a one seat ride. This is what is provided for most who attend events at Madison Foursquare Garden or the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Few Islanders fans coming from Nassau or Suffolk County will desire to first bulldoze to a local LIRR station, park their car, lath the LIRR (and in some cases have to switch at Huntington. Mineola, Babylon or Ronkonkoma from a diesel to electrical train) and then lath a shuttle bus from the new LIRR station to the Islanders Arena (which is directly next to the existing Belmont Park LIRR platform).
Which trains from the Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma branches will exist serving the new Elmont LIRR station rush hr and non rush hr?
How many LIRR riders from Port Washington, Speonk, Babylon, Long Beach, Far Rockaway and Westward Hempstead branches will still have to change at Jamaica before being able to board an east leap train to accomplish the Belmont Islanders Arena?
The aforementioned will be true for those attention rock concerts and more than 100 other potential evening events when the Islanders are not in boondocks. An overwhelming majority will go with a door to door 1 seat ride using their ain auto.
Imaging how long it would accept 500 to a 1,000 LIRR riders exiting a train from this new station to lath a shuttle for their last destination? There is no fashion you could simultaneously board x to 20 buses at the same fourth dimension. Who will want to expect for a shuttle bus to the game or back to the LIRR platform?
It costs NYC Transit an boilerplate of $218 per hour to operate a bus. Even if the Empire State Development Corporation asked Nassau Canton Dainty Motorbus to provide shuttle jitney services, who knows if that agency can spare 10 to twenty buses between 6 and 8 p.grand. when they may be needed to support rush 60 minutes service?
Who is going to buy, operate and maintain electric shuttle buses? Someone will take to build a maintenance facility for the electric buses. Will there be plenty equipment during elevation periods to simultaneously serve both LIRR riders traveling to the Islanders Loonshit, hotel, conference center, movie theater and retail complex, while at the aforementioned fourth dimension providing shuttle service within Belmont Park parking lots to the Arena? What are the capacity of these electric buses which can vary from 20 to 50 riders?
What will the costs for LIRR tickets be at the new Elmont Station — Zone 3 or Zone 4? Volition the thousands of potential nearby Queens commuters be offered any weekday or weekend City Zone discount tickets?
Who will be responsible for building and maintaining the parking lot adjacent to the new Elmont LIRR station for commuters and those who want to attend both day and night events at the Islanders Belmont Loonshit? What will the parking fee be? Will LIRR commuters be offered weekly or monthly discounted parking fees? How will y'all bargain with potential conflicts between those wanting to use the parking facility prior to events at the Islanders Arena versus daily commuters coming home from work? Will spaces be fabricated available or reserved on a proportional basis?
There is no mention of the demand for a bus final to accommodate Nassau Inter Canton Limited, NYC Transit and private charabanc operators, who may institute new routes for serving the new Belmont Arena. Will upgrades to the existing Belmont Park LIRR station include a bus concluding to adapt NICE coach, NYC Transit bus, MTA bus and individual jitney charter operators who may institute new routes for serving the Islanders Belmont Arena?
There are several grand reverse-commuters from New York Metropolis who travel from either Flushing or Jamaica to jobs or schools in Nassau County via Dainty Double-decker. Using the Metro Carte with a free transfer from the NYC Transit subway to Prissy Motorbus, this only cost $2.75. They ride the bus rather than more expensive LIRR. The same volition be true many hundreds of futurity employees at the Islanders arena, hotel, retail, restaurants and briefing centre who will exist dependent upon autobus service to access job opportunities. In many cases, they don't own a motorcar and can't beget LIRR premium fares. How is the Empire Country Development Corporation planning for establishment of these futurity services? Who will pay for these transit improvements?
There are so many other questions:
- Does the LIRR intend to ask Main Line Third Track Structure Contractors to perform this piece of work via a construction contract alter order to their existing $1.eight-billion contract?
- How will the Third Track joint venture members including Dragados Usa, John P. Picone, CCA Civil, Halmar International, Stantec and Cameron Engineering perform these tasks?
- How would this additional work be integrated into the primary contract schedule which already includes 50 major activities?
- Are there sufficient additional employees bachelor to perform this additional work while keeping the original piece of work on schedule?
- How will MTA legal and procurement staff justify this alter guild to the existing contract?
- How will the MTA board justify voting in favor of this change order?
- How volition the LIRR integrate this piece of work into the upcoming 2020 and 2021 main track outages and force account plans for the agencies overall almanac uppercase and maintenance track programs?
In January 2018, one-time MTA Chairman Joe Lhota informed the Empire State Development Corporation that there is no current Penn Station capacity to support new Belmont Park service. He said that his bureau must commencement perform a planning study. The study started in July with a promised completion date by terminate of September, 2018. Why the 11-month delay in making information technology public? They have yet to fifty-fifty make a presentation to the monthly LIRR or full MTA Committee Board meetings. The MTA has never publicly committed to a new schedule and date for release of the study.
What happened to open up transparency promised by Gov. Cuomo for all country agencies and public authorities including the MTA? Is at that place something within the study contents they want to continue to hibernate from commuters, taxpayers and elected officials?
Larry Penner is a transportation historian, author and advocate who worked 31 years for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office. During that time, he was involved in the development, review, approving and oversight for billions in capital projects and programs for the MTA, NYC Transit, Long Isle Rail Road, Metro Northward Rail Route, MTA Bus, NYC Department of Transportation and xxx other transit agencies in the New York area.
Source: https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2019/07/09/op-ed-gov-cuomos-plan-for-new-lirr-station-for-islanders-is-a-boondoggle/
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