Rally to Urge LIRR for South Fork Train Improvements

The South Fork Commuter Coalition, a group that formed to urge the MTA to increase local Long Island Rail Road service on the eastern portion of the Montauk Branch, is taking to the streets.

The Rally for the Rails, as the group’s demonstration is called, plans to rally at 3:43 p.m. this Friday, May 17 at the Hampton Bays train station to call on the LIRR to add rail sidings — a short separate section of track that would allow trains to pass one another in the far-flung single-track territory — to bolster service on the South Fork Commuter Connection (SFCC), a train dedicated to serving the South Fork. The rally is timed to coincide with the arrival of an SCCC train at that stop.

“This is an important first step in helping to solve the transportation crisis that we are experiencing on the South Fork,” said Southampton Town Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni. “Increased train service will go a long way in improving the quality of life for commuters and residents alike.”

Coalition organizers say it is made up of elected officials, educators, medics, business leaders and riders. Speakers at the rally plan to press the Metropolitan Transit Authority to add the spur to the agency’s five-year capital plan, in order for the necessary infrastructure improvements to be installed to increase train service for the South Fork.