Last week the president of the Long Island Rail Road, Helena Williams, sat down with Anton Community Newspapers editors to try to explain to them why the LIRR needs the Third Track Expansion Project.

She started her PowerPoint presentation by stressing that the LIRR does not need the third track project for freight and that the project is not a "freight" project.

She explained that the third track would be used for a passing lane rather than the previously described use as a reverse commute, which she said was, "before my time."

She said, "There are so many times when there are breakdowns of the trains on the track and the way the tracks are now configured the trains behind the stalled train are all stalled as well. However, with the third track that would not be the case since the trains would be able to go around the stalled train and continue on without a delay, and we are in the business of 'on time' performance."

This description prompted New Hyde Park Deputy Mayor Robert Lofaro to comment in an earlier issue of the Illustrated News, when he heard the latest reasoning for the project, "A $1 billion passing lane?"

Williams continued, "The LIRR is the largest commuter railroad in the United States and the $6 billion project will culminate with the east side access connection to Grand Central Station, not just to Pennsylvania Station, as is now the case. The goal of the east side access project is to provide 24 trains per hour to Grand Central while maintaining the railroad's 37 trains per hour to Penn Station. The opportunity to give Long Island customers the choice to go directly to Grand Central and avoid having to go to Penn and take a subway to the east side would dramatically improve commuting time for customers door-to-door, and that would save up to 40 minutes in daily travel time."

The Long Island Rail Road president acknowledged that a third track would not only be used as a passing lane, but would also be used to increase the capacity of the railroad to move the majority of customers who are going to and from Manhattan during peak hours. "Everybody loves express service. You build more express service, trains that can go right from Hicksville into Manhattan, trains that go from Hicksville to Jamaica to Manhattan," she said. "What we're trying to suggest is that having a third track would give us greater utility for express service, for train reliability and in the event, we need it, an ability to go around disabled trains."

She continued, "The main plan, Plan I, that we are about to present to the FTA, (Federal Transit Administration), which has not been submitted as of yet, will be to correct the flooding at the Mineola train station; to construct a passing lane (the third track), eliminate the at-grade crossing at Urban Avenue, Westbury, to upgrade the Ellison Avenue Bridge in Westbury and to depress the at-grade crossing at New Hyde Park Road in New Hyde Park.

"Due to the New Hyde Park community objection, and mainly the meetings we have had with the Save Our Village Organization, that have so strongly objected to having properties taken by eminent domain, Plan I does not include the depression of either the Covert Avenue crossing or the South 12 Street Crossing. However, Plan II, which is also being presented to the FTA does include the depression of all three grade crossings."

But some who are critics of a third track proposal are concerned about what a project of the magnitude of building a third track would have on the communities it will run through, such as Mineola, New Hyde Park, Carle Place, Westbury and Garden City.

Williams said, "The new plan will only impact 85 properties. Thirty-one of those properties will be residential; it will impact less than 5 feet of 21 properties and impact eight properties between 5 and 13 feet. However, property impacts are subject to change depending on alternates selected, final engineering design and measures selected to reduce the impact of the project."

Therefore, Williams was not able to say which properties would be eliminated as it would depend on the final draft issued by the FTA, after which the engineers will adjust their recommendations.

The time-line, Williams said, "Can only be projected as to when FTA approval of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is received, and we are hoping it will be sometime in May of '08. Then, probably sometime in June of '08, the FTA will hold another public hearing to gain further input from the community. If all goes well, and the plan is approved, the construction will start sometime in the first quarter of 2010."

At the questioning of the editors, Williams said that the timeline for the completion of the entire project would probably be sometime in 2017.