Posted by Tom Bogdan on September 17, 2003 at 11:42:11:
Montauk station was monitored on an hourly basis from 8:25 A.M. to 8:56 P.M., Sunday, September 14th.
Four trains were lay overs from Saturday 13th.
All four engines were shut down Saturday and were still
off on Sunday, 8:25 A.M.
By 9:14 A.M. all were on and idling.
Engine 405 left by 1:50 P.M. Total idling -4 hours
Engine 419 left by 5:15 P.M. Total idling -8 hours
Engine 413 left by 6:51 P.M. Total idling -9 1/2 hours Engine 415 left by 8:45 P.M. Total idling 10 1/2hours
Additional trains arriving and departing on 9/14 were:
Engine 418 left by 3:53 P.M. Total idling -1 1/2 hours
Engine 406 left by 7:45 P.M. total idling - 4 hours
The above does not include trains arriving in Montauk after 8:45 P.M. which idle for atleast anothr 5-8 hours. This represents LIRR engines idling in Montauk for 20-22 hours in the 24 hour period of (9/14/03.
The above also does not include Saturday (9/13/24) which is atleast as busy as Sunday the 14th. Multiply the two days together and your close to 80 hours of idling in a two day period. This is needless expensive, ultra polluting idling. The engines were turned on up to 12 hours in advance of their intended departure. The LIRR's on record excuse in letting desiels idle is "they are too hard to restart". Is it easier to restart engines 12 hours in advance than the 40 minute manufacturer recommended warm up time?
This is a disgraceful situation and you can be sure we will exploit this information to all our political and
media contacts.