Statement to the MTA Board on LIRR Yaphank Electrification

ETA welcomes the MTA's commitment to study electrification and double-tracking to the new Yaphank-BNL station. But prior studies rested on assumptions that inflate costs and reduce benefits, jeopardizing the value of the project.

The LIRR's environmental assessment put electrification beyond Ronkonkoma at 25 million dollars per mile, in today's dollars. Recent international commuter rail projects electrify for 2 to 3 million dollars per mile — an order of magnitude less. The difference is catenary and modern installation methods. Catenary requires less track work and fewer substations, and supplies more power for faster acceleration. The MTA instead proposed third rail, a legacy technology.

We ask the LIRR to study catenary electrification, and to study railcars that run on both third rail and catenary, like the M8, and that clear every LIRR tunnel. ETA's "M10" concept is one example worth examining.

We also ask the LIRR to consider passing sidings rather than full double-tracking, as Utah's Frontrunner 2x is doing. That requires less track and signal work, freeing funds for service increases elsewhere. Several diesel branches carry more riders than this stretch of the Main Line, and deserve the same study.

Finally, this work should serve a region-wide goal: incrementally unifying on a single electrical standard, 25 kV 60 Hz AC Catenary, as expensive-to-maintain third rail equipment reaches its normal end of life.

Scoping the study this way will identify the most cost-effective ways to improve service for LIRR riders. We ask that you include these suggestions. Thank you.