Audit says LIRR exaggerated service boost after Grand Central Madison opening
MTA officials have touted that the scheduling changes that came with the February 2023 opening of Grand Central Madison increased LIRR train service by 41%. But many of those were shuttle trains between Jamaica and Brooklyn. Credit: Bruce Gilbert
A new state comptroller report calls into question the MTA’s repeated claim it boosted LIRR service levels by more than 40% with the opening of Grand Central Madison, asserting the overhauled service plan only added around 23% more trains and ignored concerns voiced by many Long Island commuters negatively impacted by the changes.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials stood by their figures, which include many more Brooklyn arrivals and departures, and rejected the notion they ignored rider feedback.
The audit by the Office of State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli examined Long Island Rail Road service planning efforts between January 2021 and November 2023 — the months leading up to, and after, the long-delayed conclusion of the MTA’s $11 billion East Side Access megaproject, which gave the LIRR a second Manhattan terminal, Grand Central Madison.
MTA officials have touted the scheduling changes that came with the February 2023 opening of Grand Central Madison increased LIRR train service by 41%, from 665 trains per day to 936, according to the audit. But it noted 118 of the 271 new trains were shuttles between Jamaica and the LIRR’s Brooklyn stations. The shuttles replaced direct service to and from Brooklyn on several LIRR branches and came with the added inconvenience of transferring at Jamaica.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- A new audit by the office of State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli calls into question the MTA’s assertion it boosted LIRR service levels by more than 40% with the opening of Grand Central Madison. Not counting new shuttle service between Jamaica and Brooklyn, the LIRR added only around 23% more trains, auditors found.
- The MTA stood by its math and said the additional Brooklyn trains provide an important service, even if they don't extend to stations on Long Island.
- Auditors also concluded the MTA did not adequately address concerns voiced by LIRR riders in the lead-up to and after the launch of Grand Central Madison. MTA officials rejected that finding.
Pushing back against the auditors' findings, John McCarthy, chief of policy and external relations for the MTA, said the additional Brooklyn trains, while not extending to Long Island stations, provided an important service for riders. He added that it's not unusual for some LIRR trains to originate or terminate at Jamaica.
After being bombarded with complaints from incensed riders in the months following the launch of Grand Central Madison, the LIRR in September 2023 released a new schedule it said aimed to address concerns. But, “the new timetable did not always address passenger needs as LIRR officials said it would,” according to DiNapoli’s audit.
"Some passengers may have been required to change their travel times, increasing wait times and adding more steps to their trips where direct service was eliminated,” auditors wrote. “LIRR also did not document and could not support that changes made adequately factored in passenger feedback."
McCarthy disputed the auditors’ findings and said customer feedback — much of it positive — has been at the forefront of the railroad’s service planning efforts since before Grand Central Madison opened, to recent schedule changes, including more trains between stations in Brooklyn and on Long Island.
Because each change to the schedule can have a ripple effect throughout the entire LIRR system, the railroad is limited in how it can respond to every issue raised by riders, McCarthy said.
In a statement in response to the audit, LIRR president Robert Free pointed to metrics that show many riders appreciate the service plan implemented since the opening of Grand Central Madison, including a recent “post-pandemic record” customer satisfaction rating and a 10% ridership increase over the last year.
“Riders — including tens of thousands using Brooklyn stations — are enjoying more trains and reverse-commuting options that didn’t exist before,” said Free, adding Grand Central Madison has provided “operational flexibility to ensure Long Islanders can get where they need to go.”
Peter Haynes, founder of the LIRR Commuters Campaign advocacy group and a former LIRR systems project specialist, was “glad to see (the LIRR) called out” for extolling statistics that don’t capture customers’ experience. He likened it to the LIRR’s policy of considering a train on-time if it arrives less than six minutes after its scheduled time, even if riders miss a transfer and are delayed by an hour.
“The railroad has a very long history of counting trains and equipment, rather than people,” Haynes said. “So I’m not at all surprised that someone has finally noticed that passenger experience is really not being addressed at all.”
DiNapoli’s office made several recommendations to the railroad, including that it develop a formal system for documenting the receipt and assessment of customer feedback on train schedules.
“MTA and LIRR have made major improvements in bringing service to Grand Central Madison, but more can always be done,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “It’s my hope that this audit provides some constructive insights into ways to improve how LIRR riders’ concerns are handled and their riding experience enhanced.”
Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.
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