The Long Island Rail Road is America’s busiest commuter route and one of the country’s most historic and legendary railroads – and it’s coming soon to Train Sim World!

Operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the famed “LIRR” carries nearly 90 million passengers a year and averages more than 700 train movements each weekday. And soon, the extraordinary hustle and bustle – and unique railroading challenges – of the Long Island Rail Road will be yours in Train Sim World!

Extending east from New York City to the far reaches of Long Island at Greenport and Montauk, New York, the LIRR stretches over 324 route miles and serves more than 310,000 passengers each work day on its eleven lines. Indeed, everything about the LIRR seems bigger than life: More than 1,100 passenger cars operated, 124 stations served, and home to America’s busiest passenger station (New York Penn) and busiest railroad junction (Jamaica, New York).

Train Sim World’s upcoming LIRR route will feature the heart of the LIRR – its ultra-busy western end which carries hundreds of thousands of commuters into and out of New York City every weekday. The upcoming Train Sim World LIRR route includes all three of the railroad’s New York terminals – historic Penn Station in Manhattan; Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn; and Long Island City Station in Queens. The superbly detailed and authentic route extends eastward through LIRR’s famed Jamaica station and junction (“Change at Jamaica” is indeed part of the lexicon of most New Yorkers!) and on to Hicksville, New York, junction point of the LIRR’s Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma lines. The upcoming Train Sim World route will also include the LIRR’s captivating Hempstead Branch, its line to Belmont Park, and sprawling facilities such as the West Side Yard adjacent to New York Penn Station, the East River Tunnels, and LIRR’s Hillside Support Facility near Jamaica. Total length of the upcoming TSW LIRR route is 42 miles and the route features 26 stations.

The Long Island Rail Road is not only America’s busiest commuter carrier, but it also is the country’s oldest railroad. Chartered in 1834, the Long Island Rail Road was originally envisioned as a rail-ferry-rail route between New York and Boston but emerged instead as one of the world’s busiest commuter railroads as Long Island’s suburban population grew dramatically in the early twentieth century. LIRR came under the control of the giant Pennsylvania Railroad beginning in 1900 and during its half-century of PRR-control was notable for using Pennsy-style equipment and signaling and for being an innovator, including the D. C. (third-rail) electrification of much of the western end of its route system beginning in 1905. Following World War II and into the 1960s, the LIRR became a siren for New York train-watchers, first for its operations of classic PRR-design steam locomotives, then for its eclectic diesel locomotive fleet that featured Fairbanks-Morse and Alco locomotives.

Like virtually all U. S. commuter carriers, the LIRR struggled financially and endured bankruptcy after WWII. In 1966 the LIRR was purchased by the Metropolitan Commuter Transport Authority, and in 1968 the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) was formed. Today, MTA is the owner and operator of the Long Island Rail Road as well as the Metro-North Commuter Railroad.

As its statistics suggest, the contemporary LIRR is a dynamic commuter railroad. Virtually all LIRR’s west-end trackage and approximately half its total track miles are electrified with 750-volt DC power delivered via third rail. The present-day workhorse of the LIRR is a fleet of 836 M7-class EMUs constructed by Bombardier, the first of which entered LIRR service in 2002 – and with the upcoming TSW route, you’ll be taking the controls of the Bombardier M7s for challenging duties across the length of the route!

Of stainless-steel construction, the Bombardier M7s were constructed in married pairs (with one car of each pair including a handicapped-accessible restroom). Each married pair has a capacity of 211 commuters, and on the LIRR, the M7s typically operate in consists of up to 12 cars in length. Maximum operating speed on the LIRR is 80 mph.

New York City is known as the “city that never sleeps,” and so it is with the LIRR! Captivating, challenging, and unforgettable modern American commuter railroading is coming soon to Train Sim World with the Long Island Rail Road route! – Gary Dolzall