The doubly silly part is the approaches through Hay and Hall from the South Shore to Jamaica and Jamaica to Atlantic were already grade separated from the Main Line. LIRR has never consistently operated it that way… and so the shuttle was born to “simplify” the operation. Whole thing is a headbanger
Also leads to really silly stuff like this happening despite having Tracks 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 available for eastbound service basically 24/7 — bsky.app/profile/thel...
The South Shore requires a merge with the Main Line, which is why they are building the HALL Interlocking bridge now. There were definitely better ways to solve these problems: 1drv.ms/b/c/566715f8... & 1drv.ms/b/c/566715f8...
I’m thinking about the Atlantic to Atlantic grade sep, which I guess is usually just the Far Rock and maybe the Long Beach…
The progression through at Atlantic 1-Jamaica 3&4/Jamaica 6&7-Atlantic 2
It's not, though, when they are using 3 tracks on the Main Line during rush hours. That's why they need another overpass (marked tracks C, D on my sketch) over the VWE.
Can’t get the files open on the ferry but I’ll look later
IMO: Off the track map, one solution to this might be to have the diesels dwell on Track 7 and then send the electrics to 6 and 8, both of which provide a cross-platform transfer opportunity.
I think the logic here is electric to diesel transfers are same platform but… there’s 10 electric trains for every diesel, so… You back up the whole eastbound electric service. 🤷♂️