Caveat emptor in LIC

From DNA Info:

Noise from trains idling in the Hunters Point train yard is destroying the quality of life in the increasingly residential area, which is dotted with $1 million apartments, neighbors say.

Despite the Long Island Rail Road’s promises to alleviate the problem, the disruptive noise continues to be an issue, especially for people living in condominiums along Borden Avenue, say elected officials and residents.

The condos, directly across the street from the Long Island City train station began to pop up starting in 2007. Some units cost more than $1 million. 



Branko Kolbek, who has lived in one of the buildings since 2009, acknowledged that he had been aware of noise coming from the yard before he bought his home and moved in.



“But not until you spend enough time in the neighborhood, do you really get a full sense of what’s going on here,” said Kolbek, 29. “During the week, you have to keep the windows closed.”

The issue has been raised by various elected officials, most recently by Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents the area. 

“We have asked the LIRR to move these trains, to turn the engines off, to stop the idling and come up with ways to decrease the sound of these engines,” Van Bramer said. 



The LIRR has taken measures to address the issue and to reduce locomotive idling, according to spokesman Salvatore Arena. Equipment schedules in the yard have been revised, some locomotives have been shut down and idling trains have been moved as far away from Borden Avenue as possible, he said.

"It's an active rail yard in operation for more than 100 years, a station that services 10,000 customers every day and a transit center that plays a crucial role in the service we provide to our 80,000 daily customers," Arena said.

Open access to LIRR trains

From Fox 5:

A Fox 5 News producer found an empty and unattended Long Island Rail Road with the doors wide open just sitting at the platform on the Long Island City station. He was able to walk right up the door and could have stepped right inside and into the driver's seat.

Trains only come and go at the LIC stop during rush hours. But in the middle of the day, the producer walked around for hours and the station was like a ghost town, not far from Pennsylvania Station, which is loaded with guards.

"It's calling terrorists to do something vulnerability highest degree," said security expert Juval Aviv.

Just down the street, the producer spotted what looked like a work train sitting alone and running. The fence around it was broken down giving anyone total access.

This LIRR stop is directly across the water from Manhattan and right next to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel

The Long Island Rail Road issued a statement in response to Fox 5's inquiry: "Both trains require a specialized key to operate. LIRR keeps idling engines in yards for operational reasons. The yard is staffed when equipment is present, and patrolled by MTA Police, which would prevent unauthorized operation of trains or locomotives. Passenger trains at stations that are not in use should have doors to the cars and cab closed. The LIRR is investigating this."

News flash: Tower people's whining fails to close LIC trainyard

From the Times Ledger:

Two months after starting a petition drive to deal with the noise of idling Long Island Rail Road locomotives, residents of some of the newer residential buildings in Long Island City are not getting any relief.

“I work at nights most of the time and the idling is so loud and unbearable during the day that I cannot get any rest,” resident Andrea Modica wrote on the online petition to the LIRR. “Also, when I come home in the early morning there is constant idling, making it hard to get to sleep. It is a residential area and this needs to stop.”

The century-old railyard is the terminus of the non-electrified Montauk, Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson and Greenport lines because diesel locomotives are not allowed in the tunnels under Manhattan, much to the chagrin of residents of the 12-story, 132-unit condo tower One Hunters Point, which opened its doors at 549 Borden Ave. in late February just across the street.

Many of the 75 petition signatures came from residents of that building, though other signers said they lived in the Citylights building. There are now at least seven major residential developments either completed or under construction within three blocks of the railyard.

Did they think that after 100 years the railyard would just pick up and leave? Did they not notice it when they came to look at their luxury condo?

You folks now have something in common with residents of Maspeth & Glendale. Welcome to Queens, neighbors! Duane Reade sells earplugs.

Why don't you folks write to Amanda Burden and ask her where she developed her piss poor city planning skills. Who zones for high rises across the street from a diesel train yard?