MTA still promises idling train relief

Despite money challenges, the MTA has promised an additional track to help quell idling trains in Patchogue Village. After the MTA’s proposed track work came in over budget from the initial $3 million, residents and officials grew concerned.

“The MTA has been in receipt of the $3 million from the legislature to do the track work in Patchogue and still has not done so,” said New York State Sen. Alexis Weik, unsure if the additional funding was there. “If the MTA has increased the projected costs of the project, it must find the resources among the billions of dollars the state allocates to it to do so. The residents who live near the idling trains have suffered for far too long.”

According to the MTA, the $3 million that was received from the state has enabled them to advance the project in time for an expected completion next year. However, the MTA is continuing to develop a final budget projection.

“We anticipate that any additional funds that should be needed would be covered by the MTA,” said MTA spokesperson Dave Steckel.

Back in 2018, former assemblyman Dean Murray, then-assemblyman, now congressman Andrew Garbarino and Sen. John Flanagan announced a total of $3 million awarded to the Patchogue Village train station through a state capital investment project to quell idling train noise.

For nearly a decade, Academy Street resident Bob Goodhue has been the “squeaky wheel” in an effort to finally see the project through. He claims the issue has been ongoing, dating back to the ‘80s. The trains, he said, idle by his home and others for about 15 minutes up to a half an hour on any given weekday, but come Saturday and Sunday, they idle pretty much all day. On Saturdays, a train is there for about an hour at noon and between 10 a.m. and 3 to 4 p.m. On Sundays, he said, the train can be there nearly all afternoon.

“It’s a quality-of-life issue. I’ve got a front porch I can’t sit on,” he said. “I can’t open my windows because of the fumes and I have cracks in the ceilings.”

Noise complaints and other quality-of-life issues associated with idling locomotives were to be addressed through the investment, which, according to the MTA, was going to add a new rail siding to the west of the station, farther away from residential areas of the village. The siding is now expected to be located east of the existing siding between Rider and Bay avenues.

According to the MTA, the project is still underway, with design finished and construction completion expected late next year.

Of the approximately 56 trains, 10 remain in the Patchogue area: three turn in the station; five lay up on the north track, which runs from the station to South Ocean Avenue and is adjacent to the station platform; and two lay up on the schoolhouse track, which is situated south of the residences on Academy Street.

On weekends, 10 trains remain in the Patchogue area: six lay up on the north track, one on the schoolhouse track and three in the stations. Basically, due to the lengthy engine shutdown processes, the MTA said, idling is unavoidable.

Most of the 56 diesel trains that operate through Patchogue on a normal weekday schedule proceed east and are held in either Speonk or Montauk. The track, according to the MTA, will reduce but not eliminate trains being stored in Patchogue, with higher volume expected in summer.