I have a lot of resptect for Mr. Haikalis and the energy he dovotes to these issues, especially the 42nd St Light Rail. But he's way off base on this one. I recently went to a lecture by one of the planners involved at the time and the WSY increased LIRR capacity during the peak by nearly 50% by allowing 3 tunnels to be run in the peak direction instead of 2. All the additional capacity was used by the opening of the Ronkonkama direct service shortly after the WSY opened. Plus all that deadhead movement (even if yard space were available) costs money in energy and crews.

To claim the LIRR doesn't need WSY because it didn't have it for 70+ years is deceptive. Long Island was mostly farmland and the commuter flows were much smaller. Just look at the number of trains and people coming in during rush hour and it's clear the system is operating at a very high capacity that would not be possible without WSY.

The cost of building the WSY in the past is completely irrelevant - that money is spent and destroying the yard won't get it back. Claiming that as a point is a cute rhetorical trick, but only adds to distrust of the entire premise.