One project that will command attention in the coming years is a Long Island Rail Road proposal for a third track that would run along the main line from Hicksville through to the Floral Park train stations, including the Mineola train station.

Although motives for the third track have ranged from its use to provide additional service for a reverse commute, to its current objective as a passing lane, some elected officials in the areas that would be affected, including Mineola Mayor Jack M. Martins, feel a use for a third track hasn't been justified.

"My question really is why do they need it? They still haven't told us why they need it, why they're building it. It's a simple question," Martins said.

While some community leaders were initially led to believe that the third track would be built for a reverse commute, which is a commute that would go from west to east in the morning and east to west in the evening, that reason seems to have been abandoned.

Some are now led to believe that the third track would be used as a passing lane so that trains that are stuck or disabled would not cause a disruption in service for commuters who need to get to work or home from work.

"She [Long Island Rail Road President Helena Williams] has stated in public and on the record that in fact a reverse commute is not the reason for the project, but that they want to create a passing lane so that trains will not suffer from residual delay. A $1 billion passing lane?" New Hyde Park Deputy Mayor Robert Lofaro was quoted as saying in The Illustrated News, an Anton Community Newspaper.

According to Williams, a third track would be used to enhance service for 41 percent of the railroad's daily riders, increase safety and support local and regional economic growth.

While some may wonder whether the railroad has enough delays and service interruptions to warrant the construction of a third track for a "passing lane," there is another project on the horizon that may fit in with the third track. That project, the East Side Access project, will bring Long Island Rail Road trains into a new station at Grand Central Terminal. The new terminal, estimated to be in service in 2014, will enable the railroad to transport passengers to two points in Manhattan - Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central.

Williams said 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," she said, adding that you could 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 provide 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."

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, such as Mineola, New Hyde Park, Carle Place, Westbury and Garden City, it will run through.

According to Williams, the current proposal that is being considered, which includes a grade crossing elimination project on New Hyde Park Road, a grade crossing elimination project on Urban Avenue in New Cassel and the rehabilitation of the Ellison Avenue Bridge in Westbury, as well as the construction of the third track, would impact 85 properties including 31 residential properties, although Williams wouldn't specify which properties the project would impact.

Of the 31 residential properties, 21 would be impacted by less than five feet, eight would be impacted by between five and 13 feet and two would be taken. However, those figures could change because final engineering designs and alternatives chosen.

Williams said that the early proposal included more properties to be impacted but the railroad listened to the communities during its outreach period and lessened the impacts. "But there's benefits to everybody and there's some burdens. The counties have to view themselves as a bi-county region that work together for the benefit for all the residents and transportation is one of the key elements that will keep Long Island a viable region for economic development for people to live and continue to work," she said.

Some, including Mayor Martins, aren't convinced that a third track wouldn't also be used to move freight. It appears that a rail tunnel to be built under New York Harbor linking New Jersey with Brooklyn remains a possibility. Williams said, however, that the third track project is not a freight project.

The next step in the process for a third track is for the Long Island Rail Road to submit a Preliminary Draft Environmental Impact Statement (PDEIS) to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Public review and hearings for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement are expected sometime this year.