LIRR should electrify tracks, not just engines

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s plan to add 44 “dual-mode” locomotives to the Long Island Rail Road’s fleet could transform the ride for Long Islanders who have long depended on less-reliable, emissions-spewing, diesel-only trains.

The new locomotives, which are budgeted to cost $788 million and scheduled to arrive as soon as 2027, can operate as either diesel or electric trains, on either electrified or non-electrified tracks. That means passengers heading east finally can get a one-seat ride, after years of having to change trains to travel past the end of electrified lines.

That will benefit riders enormously, especially those who live along non-electrified stretches in Oyster Bay and east of Huntington and Ronkonkoma and who have long faced frustrating, lengthy commutes, prone to breakdowns and other difficulties. The new locomotives will help engineers, too, with better operating and communications systems.

All of that is extremely promising. But getting it done won’t be simple. The first five locomotives will be funded through the current capital program — funds that, in part, will come from the Manhattan central business district toll that began this week. The rest will come from the 2025-2029 capital plan, which was abruptly rejected last month by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

What’s more, the MTA has long had trouble with vendors, particularly when it comes to new cars and improved technology. Delays and mistakes have been far too common. The authority must manage the new dual locomotives contract more carefully, with constant oversight and penalties if things go wrong. The MTA historically doesn’t have a good record for being on time or on budget. Yet it has shown, with projects such as the LIRR’s Third Track, that it can succeed. The dual locomotives contract must be a success story, too.

But the MTA can’t rely on diesel-electric locomotives over the long term. The only real solution for upgrading public transit on eastern Long Island lies in electrification. It’s an expensive, complicated proposition — but it must be the ultimate goal. The authority included $800 million for expansion projects, which includes laying groundwork for electrifying LIRR tracks. That should include the stretch between Ronkonkoma and Yaphank, where there already are plans to move the LIRR station so it’s closer to Brookhaven National Laboratory. Also worth converting: the Port Jefferson branch east of Huntington, where the MTA still has to complete a deal to utilize the former Lawrence Aviation property as a train yard.

The best dual locomotives won’t change the region as profoundly as electrifying the tracks. But in the short term, new engines would make an enormous difference by improving the ride for Long Islanders — an upgrade that could lead to new business, housing and jobs, and put the region on a new track.