Although it may take much more to convince residents otherwise, newly installed Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) President Helena Williams ardently stated earlier this month that the highly controversial "third track" project is not moving forward to accommodate increased freight on the Main Line but rather to improve overall service.

"The Long Island Rail Road doesn't need a track for freight," she told editors at Anton Newspapers during a meeting in Mineola Jan. 3. "Freight is a very expensive proposition. We have the capacity to move more freight on the current tracks if New York & Atlantic [Railway] needs more. We don't need another track to do that."

Since taking the helm in June 2007 as the first woman ever to take on this leadership role, Williams' priorities include first and foremost customer safety, service liability and economic viability. "My goal is for us to be the best," she said.

In accomplishing that, Williams believes a "passing lane" is key to improving service performance. "We have lots of stuck trains," she admitted. This additional track would improve performance and decrease delays. The passing lane theory is intended to improve capacity, President Williams continued.

This "third" track, however, is not intended to act as just a passing lane. President Williams explained that the additional track would help the railroad improve capacity and increase reliable on-time service for its customers.

A report released just last week stated that the MTA/LIRR capped off 2007 with an on-time performance of 94.7 percent, the best since modern record keeping started in 1979. President Williams, although proud of the hard-won accomplishment, said the MTA/LIRR is committed to achieving even better performance in the future, which is why "we are moving ahead with plans for a third track."

"It's residential delays that hurt our reliability," she continued. "If we have a Main Line third track expansion, we would have the passing lane capacity to keep train traffic moving. We need a passing lane in order to keep trains moving."

Originally, local officials were told that the third track - which would have actually been a fifth in Floral Park - was necessary to accommodate a reverse commute. It appears, however, that MTA/LIRR officials have now abandoned that theory.

Improved service reliability would only better the East Side Access project, the highly anticipated connection to Grand Central Station that would, for the first time in history, create two Manhattan gateways. "This is a tremendously exciting project that's been in the works for well over ten years," Williams said, adding that the project would add 24 trains per hour to Grand Central Station while maintaining 37 trains per hour to Penn Station.

The expected service date for the new terminal station at Grand Central is June 2014. This project, Williams said, relies heavily on three key investments essential to its success: (1) eliminating what she described as the "Jamaica crawl" - the "spaghetti" of tracks at Jamaica station where all trains converge with the exception of the Port Washington branch; (2) adding 264 additional cars, for which the railroad is in the process of locating yards in Suffolk County to store the cars in; and (3) Main Line corridor improvements. The third investment is what has residents living along the 10-mile Main Line stretch worried.

Williams assures though that railroad officials have heard the voice of the people. "The railroad is well aware of the issues. No one wants the railroad on their back steps. We're very aware of that," she said.

Two alternatives came to light as a result of residential concern. The early proposal was first introduced when the idea of a fifth track in Floral Park was still in the picture. This alternative included 17 potential residential takings and 251 total property impacts.

Now, the current proposal carries two potential residential takings -which are both in Westbury near the Ellison Avenue Bridge - and would impact 31 residential properties, 21 of which would be impacted by less than five feet and eight of which would be impacted between five and 13 feet. Williams did not, however, reveal the specific locations of the properties she mentioned.

Among the infrastructure improvements included in the third track project are grade crossing eliminations at Urban Avenue in New Cassel and New Hyde Park Road along with continuing the work at the Roslyn Road grade crossing (which is currently making way for a third track). A grade crossing elimination at School Street in Westbury, which was included in the LIRR's initial third track proposal, has been removed from the current project proposal. Officials state School Street would have been too costly because, to make way for the project, the Rail Road would have been required to purchase Jamaica Ash's property, at some $15 million.

Additionally, attempts to eliminate major flooding issues along the Mineola tracks and the necessary repair of the Ellison Avenue Bridge are also included. Signal replacement could be one of the last aspects of the project.

The Ellison Avenue Bridge, which was constructed as an overpass by the LIRR in 1896, lies in the jurisdiction of Westbury Village and borders several homes within the boundaries of the Carle Place School District. According to village officials, the LIRR is responsible for repairing the bridge; Westbury would be responsible for the roadway above.

"The village is willing to use its funding resources to redo the roadway once the bridge is replaced," said Westbury Village Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer Thomas Savino. "We cannot fix the roadway above because [the current bridge] wouldn't support it."

Savino added that while the bridge does indeed need to be replaced he advised drivers not to panic. Over the years, "the village has utilized state funding to do emergency repairs and temporary patching and securing of the bridge so that it remains safe," said Savino. "We have put in steel plates, but that is all temporary."

While neither Mayor Ernest Strada or the village's board of trustees have yet to make a formal decision for or against the third track proposal, Savino said rehabilitating the bridge is of serious importance and something that needs to be done sooner, rather than later. "Repair of the bridge is a safety issue that should not be tied into the third track. That could take 10 years and it cannot wait that long," said Savino.

Additionally, the LIRR president said the railroad has no intention at this time to lay additional track for the Hub proposal now under the Town of Hempstead's review. She did however state that she intends on repairing track near Belmont Racetrack and to make needed improvements in that area.

Funding for the East Side Access project is already in place; officials however are still waiting for monies to fund the alignment project. Officials intend to submit the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) and hold public meetings between the second and third quarter of 2008.

The Federal Transportation Authority (FTA) could grant a record of decision in the first quarter of 2009 and construction could start in early 2010. President Williams assured the MTA/LIRR would keep residents abreast of a timetable and ensure them a chance to speak sometime between now and May.