Politically, this project is both ambitious and unrealistic. Andrew Cuomo at a breakfast unveiling the governor’s 2016 agenda. Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano (left) and his counterpart in Suffolk, Steve Bellone (center), join Gov. This isn’t to say that some local officials aren’t aware of the NEC Future project. Why are there public hearings set for Nassau County, New York City and other impacted areas, but not in Suffolk County, where a significant portion of this project is planned to be? For the length of LI, a lone public hearing is scheduled at the Nassau County Municipal Building, 1550 Franklin Ave., next Tuesday. The draft statement raises significant questions that extend far beyond the realm of “how are they going to build it?” The most disconcerting comes from the seemingly lackadaisical public input process. According to the draft statement, “roughly 75 trains a day” would connect Ronkonkoma and Boston’s South Station through its proposed Alternative 3 route option. Trains along the route might routinely reach speeds of nearly 160 mph, with stations placed at major existing transit hubs such as Ronkonkoma. Additional information is at The Foggiest Idea, my online land use resource, which first broke the story in December on how the proposal could impact Long Island.įor us here, the proposal entails an all-new high speed rail network that stretches from Floral Park to the Village of Port Jefferson, where it travels 22 miles under the Long Island Sound via a tunnel to emerge in New Haven. The specifics can be found within the Tier 1 Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The goal is the creation of an investment program that will guide passenger rail service improvement projects through 2040. Since 2012, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has been preparing a comprehensive plan for the Northeast Corridor (NEC) to improve service and resiliency of the much-travelled route between Boston and Washington, D.C. “We’re hopeful that we’ll get the turnout to hear what folks are thinking about the effort,” said Rebecca Reyes-Alicea, the Federal Railroad Administration’s Northeast Corridor Future Program manager. Surprisingly, aside from a few well-connected insiders, most Long Islanders haven’t heard about this project, but they’ll get their first chance to express themselves at public hearing in Mineola on Jan.
31 deadline.The federal government is proposing a multi-billion-dollar monumental expansion of the Northeast Corridor passenger rail line that, if realized, would run high-speed trains straight through the heart of Long Island. Government Accountability Office report stated that as many as two-thirds of the 29 commuter railroads required to implement PTC could miss the federally mandated Dec.
"The technology is available and the money for installation is in place, including via a billion dollar federal loan I supported, so there's simply no reason for Metro-North not to meet the positive train control deadline."Įarlier this year, a U.S. "Getting PTC installed as soon as possible should be at the top of Metro-North’s priority list," he said in a press release. Batory also expressed concern about Metro-North's progress toward fully implementing PTC.Īlthough railroads can apply for a two-year extension to roll out PTC, Metro-North would not meet the necessary criteria for an extension, The Poughkeepsie Journal reported, citing Batory's letter.Īfter the newspaper published the story about the FRA letter, Schumer said the railroad's pace of progress is "simply unacceptable." He also urged Metro-North leaders to have an "all-hands-on-deck" approach to implementing PTC. In a letter obtained by The Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News, FRA Administrator Ron Batory noted that Metro-North had installed 63 percent of the hardware needed for its PTC system. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) last week called on MTA Metro-North Railroad to speed up its positive train control (PTC) implementation after a Federal Railroad Administration letter cast doubt on the railroad's ability to meet the Dec.
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