Long Island Rail Road

The Long Island Rail Road (reporting mark LI), legally known as the Long Island Rail Road Company and often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in southeastern New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average weekday ridership of 337,800 passengers in 2014, it is the busiest commuter railroad in North America. It is also one of the few commuter systems in the world that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year-round. It is publicly owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, as MTA Long Island Rail Road. The current LIRR logo combines the circular MTA logo with the text Long Island Rail Road, and appears on the sides of trains. The LIRR is one of two commuter rail systems owned by the MTA, the other being Metro-North Railroad. Established in 1834 and having operated continuously since then, it is the oldest U.S. railroad still operating under its original name and charter.

There are 124 stations, and more than 700 miles (1,100 km) of track, on its two lines to the two forks of the island and eight major branches, with the passenger railroad system totaling 319 miles (513 km) of route.

Long Island

Coordinates: 40°48′N 73°18′W / 40.8°N 73.3°W / 40.8; -73.3

Long Island is an island located just off the northeast coast of the United States and a region within the U.S. state of New York. Stretching east-northeast from New York Harbor into the Atlantic Ocean, the island comprises four counties: Kings and Queens (these form the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, respectively) to the west; then Nassau and Suffolk to the east. However, many people in the New York metropolitan area (even those living in Queens and Brooklyn) colloquially use the term "Long Island" (or "The Island") exclusively to refer to the Nassau-Suffolk county area collectively, which is mainly suburban in character. North of the island is Long Island Sound, across from which lie the states of Connecticut and a small part of Rhode Island.

With a Census-estimated population of 7,804,968 in 2014, constituting nearly 40% of New York State's population, Long Island is the most populated island in any U.S. state or territory, and the 18th-most populous island in the world (ahead of Ireland, Jamaica, and Hokkaidō). Its population density is 5,571 inhabitants per square mile (2,151/km²). If Long Island geographically constituted an independent metropolitan statistical area, it would rank fourth most populous in the United States; while if it were a U.S. state, Long Island would rank 13th in population and first in population density.

EMD DE30AC and DM30AC

The EMD DE30AC and EMD DM30AC are 46 locomotives built in 1997-1998 by Electro-Motive Division in the Super Steel Plant in Schenectady NY for the Long Island Rail Road of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York. Originally split evenly between DE and DM locomotives, the fleet currently consists of 24 DE30AC locomotives (engines that operate on diesel power only) and 21 DM30AC locomotives (engines that can operate on both diesel and electric power).

Details and usage

The DE30AC and DM30AC locomotives replaced aging GP38s, Alco FA1/FA2s, F7As and F9As, and MP15AC and SW1001 locomotives, with GP38s used to push and pull diesel trains and other locomotives used to provide Head End Power for the trains. The bodies of the DE30AC and the DM30AC are similar; the difference is the ability of the DM30AC to use electric third rail while the diesel engine is off, enabling the locomotive to use the East River Tunnels into New York Penn Station. DM30ACs have third rail contact shoes, permitting direct service from non-electrified lines in eastern Long Island via the western electrified main lines all the way to Penn Station. A few such trains a day run on the Port Jefferson, Oyster Bay, and Montauk branches.