(The following article by Joie Tyrrell was posted on Newsday’s website on January 20.)
NEW YORK — Despite a stormy winter last year and a snowy early December, the Long Island Rail Road’s on-time performance dipped only slightly in 2003, railroad officials said today.
The on-time performance, the measure of how many trains are late each day, declined to 93.1 percent in 2003 from 94 percent in 2002. There were also more late trains in the rush hour, with 91.5 percent arriving on time in 2003 compared to 93.2 percent in 2002.
“We had one of the most severe winters at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year,” LIRR President James Dermody said at a Metropolitan Transportation Authority meeting today.
Delays averaged 15.54 minutes in 2003 and 13.4 minutes in 2002. Faring the worst of all the lines was the Ronkonkoma branch, with an on-time performance of 84.6 percent, also a drop from 2002 when it reached 85.8.
A train is considered late if it arrives more than five minutes and 59 seconds at its intended destination. Railroad officials said the LIRR’s performance is among its best in the past two decades.
But, one transit advocate said that the railroad’s statistics are an inaccurate measure.
“The numbers are meaningless to what commuters experience,” said Peter Haynes, president of the LIRR Commuter’s Campaign. “There are any number of reasons why it is meaningless … The on-time performance is based on all trains, midnight trains, trains with no passengers.”
Beverly Dolinsky, executive director of another transit advocate’s group, the LIRR Commuter’s Council, said the railroad has improved.
“I think they are really trying,” she said. “On-time performance is so much better than it used to be.”
Not all delays were weather related. For example, on Dec. 30, up to 12 trains were late including two trains in Far Rockaway and Long Beach due to a dog that had wandered onto the tracks.
Also at the meeting yesterday, railroad officials told the MTA that some of the new M-7 cars delivered over the past year need to be repaired because they sway in cold weather.
Dermody said the first 160 of the new M-7 cars will need new trucks, but the repairs are covered under warranty and will be done when the cars come in for maintenance. All new M-7 cars currently being received by the railroad have already been fit with the new trucks.
“It will be transparent to the commuter,” he said.
But what won’t be is the price of a drink. The LIRR may soon be asking more for the price of the beer and liquor it sells on platforms and on-board the Hamptons Reserve service. Prices could jump 25 to 50 cents. The railroad is awaiting MTA approval for the price hike that could bring the cost of a double Bloody Mary to $8.75 a pop.
“It’s a moderate and competitive price increase,” Dermody said.