New LIRR switching system set for November launch

The same fire that created days of disruptions for Long Island Rail Road riders might cause only a few hours of trouble on a new state-of-the art switching system set to replace the LIRR's antiquated machinery at Jamaica station this fall, officials said Tuesday.

The impact from the electrical fire Monday that shut down the integral switching system at Jamaica - the busiest location of the continent's largest commuter rail system - was worsened because the damage occurred inside equipment designed 97 years ago.

The arduous process of checking and replacing each of the hundreds of tiny wires inside the manual lever switching machine could take days; in the meantime, the LIRR is forced to run a reduced schedule.

In a case of pure coincidence, the damage was done and the repairs are being made just three months before the aged equipment is scheduled to be decommissioned and replaced with a computer-based switching system that LIRR officials said will hold up a lot better under any similar circumstance.

"We'll have better redundancies in place. We'll have better diagnostics in place. We'll have a better ability to find the problem quicker and fix it, presumably quicker, than we're able to do right now," LIRR spokesman Joe Calderone said.

The LIRR has worked for about seven years to design and build the system, which cost about $56 million and will allow train directors in towers to control Jamaica's complex network of 155 ground switches with the click of a mouse. The new system is set to go live in November.

During a tour Tuesday of a similar switching system installed last year in Valley Stream, assistant engineer Michael Chieco said the microprocessor-based system is designed to withstand electrical surges like the one that devastated Hall Tower in Jamaica, and even a lightning strike. It also would not involve the complex network of bundled wires that are necessary for the old pneumatic switching equipment.

"We're not dealing with the spaghetti here," Calderone said.

If a malfunction did occur in the new switching system, backups would be available and could be easily accessed while repairs were made to the damaged system. In Valley Stream, just above the three computer monitors that two train directors watch all day, three other unpowered backup monitors wait to be utilized if necessary.

LIRR officials said the system's software makes problems easier to diagnose and parts are easier to find and replace.

Still, for all its bells and whistles, the new computerized switching operation will not be impervious to catastrophe, Chieco said. Cables feeding into the signal tower still could catch fire and temporarily knock out the entire system.

"A cable's a cable. If it burns up, it burns up," Chieco said.

While the new system is largely in place, LIRR officials say they don't plan to bring it online any sooner than the original target date of November: Extensive coordination is required to pull off the project's final testing stage, which will take place over two weekends, and they don't intend to rush. Train service will be very sparse while the tests are conducted, and the LIRR needs plenty of time to notify customers, Calderone said.