In the coming years, the Long Island Rail Road’s Montauk branch will see upgrades aimed at improving service and reliability, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday.
The first in a two-phase upgrade will entail the extension of track siding, a span of additional track that allows trains to pass each other on the otherwise single track, at the L.I.R.R.’s Amagansett station. The station falls along a 27-mile stretch of single-track rail between Southampton and Montauk, limiting the number of trains that can run on the branch. Extending the siding by 14 train car lengths will break up the distance of single-track rail on the branch to 11 miles between Amagansett and Montauk and 16 miles between Southampton and Amagansett.
This upgrade is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2028, with completion projected for the second quarter of 2029, the governor said.
The second phase will include the construction of a permanent second platform at the Hampton Bays station. There, a temporary second platform was installed to accommodate increased ridership for the 2026 U.S. Open golf tournament, held in June at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. The addition of a new eastbound-side platform will allow passengers to board and exit trains in both directions without requiring the train to make additional movements when entering or leaving the station, increasing accessibility for passengers while giving the L.I.R.R. more operational flexibility.
The Hampton Bays station will also receive track and signal upgrades, allowing the track siding to accommodate trains with as many as eight cars, an increase from the current six, and passengers will be able to board and disembark from trains on the entire length of the platform. The scope and timeline for these upgrades will be developed as part of the project’s planning and design process.
According to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Montauk branch has seen 1.212 million passengers this year, a 6.4-percent increase over last year. To date this year, ridership is up by 46 percent over last year at the Southampton station, and 23 percent over last year at the Hampton Bays station. Many of the L.I.R.R.’s trains to the South Fork are at close to 100-percent capacity in the summer.
Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni, who discussed public transportation and other matters during mobile office hours at the East Hampton Library last Thursday, said in a statement on Tuesday that the announcement “demonstrates a commitment to expanding transit options on Long Island’s underutilized East End railroads. As summers get more crowded, more options will be necessary to accommodate commuters and combat excessive traffic. That is why I am proud to share these planned upgrades, which will support the capacity for more trains out east.”
Tuesday’s announcement follows news that the weekday 5:13 p.m. train from Manhattan’s Penn Station to Montauk, which historically ran east of Speonk only during the summer months, will run year round starting in September.
