28 minute read

The Long Island Rail Road Company Business Information, Profile, and History

Jamaica Station
Jamaica, New York 11435-4380
U.S.A.

Company Perspectives:

Always maintaining close ties to the region it serves, the growth of the Railroad went hand-in-hand with the growth of Long Island as the thriving center of suburban life it is today.

History of The Long Island Rail Road Company

A subsidiary of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), The Long Island Rail Road Company (LIRR) is the most traveled commuter railroad in the United States and the oldest in the country to operate under its original name. The LIRR is also the only railroad in America more dependent on passengers than freight. Each workday, the LIRR carries an average of 274,000 passengers on 730 trains. The system stretches from Pennsylvania Station in the heart of Manhattan to the eastern tip of Long Island at Montauk, 120 miles away. All told, the system is composed of 700 miles of track on 11 different branches. In New York City the LIRR connects to MTA buses and subways to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of Long Island residents that commute into the city for work. The LIRR has been the source of humor over the years, especially in the 1970s, due to neglect that caused excessive delays and breakdowns. The line also has been the site of tragedy, as evidenced by the 1993 shooting spree that occurred on one of its trains, leaving six people dead and 19 wounded.

One of the Early American Railroads in the 1800s

The LIRR was chartered by the State of New York on April 24, 1834, less than ten years after the first railroad in the world was started in Great Britain. France followed suit in 1828, Austria in 1829, and in the United States the first true railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio, opened in 1830. The LIRR was intended to form part of a rail and ferry combination that would transport passengers from New York City to Boston. At the time, railroad engineers declared that building a railroad from New York to Boston was impossible because of the hills of southern Connecticut. Under the LIRR scheme, passengers would travel by train to Greenport on Long Island's North Shore, where they would then travel by ferry to Stonington, Connecticut, the terminus of the Old Colony Railroad, to pick up a train for the final leg to Boston by way of Providence. In fact, this rail-ferry connection was part of an all-rail route that stretched from Charleston, South Carolina, to Boston.

The first railroad chartered on Long Island was actually the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad in 1832. Within two years a ten-mile track from Brooklyn to the Long Island town of Jamaica was completed. The LIRR charter allowed the LIRR to absorb the Brooklyn and Jamaica road, which it did in 1836 by signing a 45-year lease. In 1836 the LIRR began using the line, even as it began laying new track down the center of Long Island where the terrain was more level. Because the purpose was to move people from Manhattan to the North Shore ferry, little thought was given to serving the Long Island population by building the road closer to population centers, which lay on the north and south shores and not in the center of the island. The LIRR tracks reached Hicksville in 1837, Farmingdale in 1841, Deep Park in 1842, Yaphank in 1843, and finally Greenport in 1844. It was on July 27, 1844, that the first train traveled the length of the line, from Brooklyn to Greenport, and launched the much anticipated "all rail" line to Boston. The trip took three and a half hours. More important, the trip from New York to Boston, which took 16 hours by steamer, was cut in half by using the LIRR link.

The LIRR prospered for several years carrying passengers and mail from Brooklyn to Greenport on their way to Boston. By 1850 the road operated 15 locomotives, 22 passenger coaches, 12 mail and baggage cars, and 128 freight cars. Five trains ran each day, making two stops for fuel and water. The Brooklyn to Greenport passenger fare was $1.75, $2 for the Boston Express. But the "all rail" dream of the LIRR came to an end in 1850 when a true all-rail line was built from New York to Boston through the hills of southern Connecticut, proving the engineers wrong. The Boston business evaporated overnight, and it appeared that LIRR investors had a white elephant on their hands. Ownership of the LIRR was passed onto receivers and new management tried to make the best of a poor situation.

Second Half of the 1800s: Struggling to Find Its Place

Because the island was scarcely populated, and most of the people who lived there were located far from the railroad, the LIRR had no choice but to help grow Long Island in order to build up traffic while extending lines to the north and south communities. Other railroad companies were launched to fill in the gaps on Long Island, and the LIRR either leased these lines or bought them outright. The situation also was complicated by the City of Brooklyn banning steam locomotives from operating within its limits, forcing the LIRR to build a terminal in Hunter's Point, now Long Island City. The most western part of Long Island, Brooklyn, had 90 percent of the island's population, so that being denied a terminal was a major setback for the railroad. Starting in 1860, LIRR's major trains ended their journeys at Hunter's Point, where ferries made connections to 34th Street in Manhattan. Ten years later Brooklyn would relent, but by then it was too late--the line that had run from Flatbush Avenue to the East River ferry terminal had been abandoned and the LIRR would never do significant business in Brooklyn. There would be a stop where Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues converged, but essentially LIRR was linked to Manhattan, and it was the trolley cars and the subway system that emerged in the early years of the 20th century that would build the rail lines that served Brooklyn.

In the populated areas where it did operate, the LIRR met with increasing competition from a number of new lines, including the Flushing and North Side Railroad owned by Conrad Poppenhusen. Because there was not enough business to support all of these lines, they were either abandoned or bought out by the survivors. In 1976 Poppenhusen bought out the LIRR, and he was able to consolidate all the railroad operations on Long Island for the first time since the 1850s. But fixed costs proved too high and the LIRR took on too much debt, so that in 1879 it again went into receivership, taken over by its lender, Drexel, Morgan & Co.

In December 1880, Drexel, Morgan sold the LIRR to Austin Corbin and a group of Boston and London investors, the latter of which were interested in building a number of major resort hotels on Long Island and wanted the railroad to service them. Corbin had made a success of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, and he also had the backing of the most powerful financier of the era, J.P. Morgan. Under Corbin's leadership over the next 17 years the LIRR enjoyed something of a golden era. The line had fallen into disrepair, prompting wags of the period to call the LIRR "a right of way and two streaks of rust." Not only did Corbin make sure that the roadbeds and right-of-ways were made safe and iron rails replaced with steel, he also bought more powerful locomotives and new passenger cars. He had the new Westinghouse air brakes installed and adopted an improved signaling system. In addition, he filled out the LIRR's network of track. In 1881 the company built the Patchogue to Eastport link and a year later bought the New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach Railroad. Other lines built during his tenure included Locust Valley to Oyster Bay in 1889, Bridgehampton to Montauk and Port Jefferson to Wading River in 1895, and Great Neck to Port Washington in 1898. Corbin died on June 4, 1896. He had done much to improve the LIRR, but he failed to achieve his dream for the railroad, akin to the one that launched the line in the first place. Corbin wanted to build a great international port at the eastern end of Long Island and use the LIRR to transport passengers bound by ship to England. In this way, some four to 12 hours could be saved. Unfortunately, he was unable to convince the U.S. Congress to pay for the necessary harbor improvements.

In 1900 the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) acquired the LIRR to use as a major link in its extensive network of railroad lines, connecting the resorts and Long Island beaches and the residential sections of Long Island to the cities of New Jersey. Moreover the PRR wanted to connect the 1.5 million people who lived in Queens and Brooklyn to the rest of the United States. With PRR's backing, the LIRR invested liberally on improvements. In 1905 the first third-rail electric service began. In 1907 the Flatbush terminal at Atlantic Avenue opened. From 1903 to 1910 construction of the East River Tunnels were completed into Manhattan. Also in 1910 the Holban Yards were completed after five years of labor. More important, Pennsylvania Station opened in Manhattan in 1910, the crown jewel of the Pennsylvania Railroad, connected to Long Island by the East River Tunnels and to New Jersey by Hudson River tunnels, the construction of which was one of the largest railway projects in history as well as one of the world's greatest engineering accomplishments. Pennsylvania Station also would become, in essence, the home of the LIRR. Of today's 730 daily trains, 500 originate or terminate at the new Pennsylvania Station. (The original, ornate facility was torn down in the 1960s, despite civic protests, leading to the landmark preservation movement in New York City.) The other major LIRR station, the Jamaica Station, was built from 1910 to 1913.

The LIRR grew steadily during the first two decades under PRR control. In 1905 it accommodated 18 million passengers and hauled nearly 2.8 million tons of freight, while in 1923 the number of passengers increased to more than 86 million and the amount of freight approached 8 million tons. But already another mode of transportation was growing rapidly and preparing to eclipse the usage of the railroad: the automobile.

Postwar Decline in Rail Usage

Railroad usage reached it culmination during World War II. Cars and trucks had begun to cut into the business of the railroad, but with wartime rationing limiting the number of tires and amount of gas available to the public, the railroads were relied on more than ever to move war materials and commercial freight, as well as soldiers and everyday passengers. With the end of the war and a booming economy that emerged in the late 1940s, however, Americans moved to the suburbs and bought cars at an accelerated pace. The result was a severe drop in rail usage across the country. With the rise of a national highway system in the 1950s, a Cold War defense initiative, freight also would be transported increasingly by truck. The LIRR countered with improvements like air-conditioned cars, which first went into service in 1955. It also upgraded its locomotives, as the last of the steam engines also were retired in 1955.

The LIRR remained a vital part of the transportation system of Long Island, prompting the state of New York to acquire the line from PRR in 1966. Two years later the MTA, which had been established in 1965 as the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority, turned over the running of the LIRR. Over the next 20 years the system would go electric, but this and other improvements were costly and took time to implement. In the meanwhile, the LIRR deteriorated on a number of fronts. Passengers were forced to endure constant delays, resulting in frayed tempers and contention interactions with train personnel. The LIRR's reputation was such that it became the butt of jokes from Johnny Carson ("Tonight Show") and countless comedians.

In the early 1980s the MTA began investing in capital improvements in the LIRR to bring the line into good repair. But the LIRR remained a troubled line, one that faced "a peculiar set of circumstances," in the words of Long Island Business News in a 1990 profile: "It has a monopoly on a vital business in a lucrative landlocked area, but its control by a net of bureaucratic rules and regulations severely limits its ability to perform as a profitable business. ... The railroad is buckling under recessional economic times that are causing ridership to decline and its costs to surge." Moreover, the LIRR's freight system declined steadily, losing 58 percent of its business from 1975 to 1990. It also lost much of its federal funding during this period, and almost all of its top executives were ultimately purged, leaving the line in a perilous state. In 1990 railroad industry veteran Charles Hoppe, who brought with him global experience, was hired as the president of the LIRR.

Hoppe was credited with removing the homeless from Pennsylvania Station in a sensitive manner. He also oversaw the upgrading of 15 important stations, making them fully accessible to the disabled. Hoppe made great strides in revitalizing the freight business, which lost money in 1991 but turned a profit in 1992. On-time performance improved and funding was arranged to replace an aging fleet of diesel locomotives with new diesels and add 114 bi-level coaches. Moreover, he oversaw the $190 million on-budget and on-time renovation of the LIRR terminal at Pennsylvania Station. But also during his watch, the LIRR suffered the greatest tragedy in its history. On December 7, 1993, a man named Colin Ferguson calmly walked through an evening rush hour train, firing a gun at passengers, only stopping when he had depleted his cache of 30 bullets and was subdued by three passengers. He left six people dead and another 19 wounded. His trial would become an international sensation, due in large part to his decision to defend himself. After three weeks of testimony and often bizarre cross-examination, followed by ten hours of deliberations, the jury in February 1995 found him guilty on six counts of second-degree murder and 19 counts of attempted murder.

In light of the Colin Ferguson murder case, the events that led to Hoppe's resignation from his post at the LIRR were trivial. In February 1994 New York City and Long Island was hit with a major blizzard that left thousands of LIRR riders stranded as the line was unable to cope with the conditions and ceased to function. Unfortunately for Hoppe, he was out of town attending a labor relations meeting in Washington, D.C., and was unable to return to New York to personally deal with the problem because of an ice storm. He chose instead to handle the situation by telephone from his Virginia home. In the media feeding frenzy that ensued, he became the ready target for public rage, blamed personally for the paralysis that struck the system. Ironically, before he resigned in July 1994, Hoppe developed new snow emergency plans to prevent a recurrence of what had happened that winter.

After Hoppe's departure, the LIRR continued to upgrade its system. The last of the 1950s-era diesel locomotives was retired in 1999, and in 2002 the first M-7 electric cars came into service. The line's on-time performance also improved significantly. Going forward, the LIRR planned to fill out its locomotive fleet with the M-7 cars. A new Jamaica hub was to be added, as was a new Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn. In addition, a long cherished plan to gain access to Manhattan's east side was in the works. LIRR trains would now be able to use Grand Central Station, thus relieving congestion at Pennsylvania Station, which was designed to accommodate 200,000 passengers but now serviced 500,000 each day. Steps were taken to build a new Pennsylvania Station across the street. In any event, the use of Manhattan's two major train stations would mark a new and promising era in the history of the LIRR.

Related information about Long Island Rail Road



The Long Island Rail Road or LIRR (often referred to as the "L-I-double-R") is a commuter rail system serving the length of Long Island, New York. It is the busiest commuter railroad in the United States, and the oldest railroad still operating under its original name. The LIRR is also a Class II railroad, as one of two railways providing freight service along Long Island. The primary terminals are Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan and the Atlantic Terminal at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn; and a minor terminal is at Long Island City in Queens. In 2011?2012 the LIRR intends to initiate service to Grand Central Terminal via the East Side Access project; provision was made for this route during the construction of the 63rd Street Tunnel, which runs beneath the East River between the Upper East Side and Long Island City and currently carries the NYCS F service of the New York City Subway. Work to be done includes tunneling beneath Manhattan from 63rd Street and the East River across to Park Avenue and then south to Grand Central Terminal, as well as tunneling from the LIRR Main Line near Amtrak's Sunnyside Yard in Queens to the East River.

There is a major station and transfer point in Jamaica, Queens, where the railroad's headquarters are located. Transfer is also made to the separate facilities for three different subway lines, eighteen bus lines, and the AirTrain automated electric rail system to John F. The Main Line and Montauk Branch each extend to points a few miles short of the end of Long Island's "forks," long peninsulas separated by Shelter Island Sound. The line to the North Fork, with limited service east of the prime commuter zone, ends at Greenport, and the line to the South Fork, with both commuter service and extensive seasonal excursion traffic, ends at Montauk.

There are five branches terminating in Nassau County, New York, at Port Washington, Oyster Bay, Hempstead, West Hempstead, and Long Beach; In addition to the two major branches, there is one subsidiary branch in Suffolk County, New York, to Port Jefferson.

Fleet

From the early 1970s through the early 2000s, the LIRR's fleet was dominated by the electric multiple unit M1/M3 cars, built by Budd. Diesel-hauled trains through the late 1990s were operated using 1950s-era P72/PT75 series built by Pullman-Standard.

In the late 1990s, Kawasaki-built double-decker passenger cars hauled by General Motors Electro-Motive Division dual-mode diesel/electric locomotives replaced the 1950s-era equipment, allowing trains from non-electric territory to access Pennsylvania Station for the first time in many years, due to the prohibition on diesel operation in the East River Tunnels leading to Penn Station. These new trains have the distinction of being the only double-decker commuter trains in the New York City area, although New Jersey Transit is currently in the process of buying their own. They were also the first trains with computerized voices (complete with LED displays) announcing stations along the routes.

Beginning in the early 2000s, the M1 cars were mostly replaced by the new Bombardier-built M7 electric multiple units, which also have an automatic station announcement system. The Long Island Rail Road itself was founded in 1834, leasing the track laid by the B&J and building its own.

The original plan was not as a local service to serve Long Island, but rather a quicker route from Boston to New York. The reason for this rather complicated plan was the impossibility, at the time, of building a railroad through southern Connecticut.

The LIRR thus built its original tracks running straight down the middle of the island, which was largely uninhabited at the time, rather than serving the existing Long Island communities. This route was chosen as the most direct way to travel to New York.

The Island-long route was completed in 1844 and at first was highly successful.

Cornelius Vanderbilt was elected a director the railroad in 1844 when he was primarily famous for ferry empire in the New York area. Corbin set his sights on extending the rail from Bridgehampton, New York to Montauk, New York, which was occupied by Montaukett Native Americans, who occupied nearly 10,000 acres (40 km族) there. Benson, president of Brooklyn Gas & Light Company and founder of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, had acquired 10,000 acres of land in Montauk in 1879 for US$151,000, at what is now considered a suspect auction of land held by the U.S. government in trust for the Montaukett tribe. By 1895 Corbin had acquired a further 4,000 acres from Benson.

Corbin was successful in lobbying Congress to establish a duty-free port at Fort Pond Bay, despite objections from the United States Army Corps of Engineers about the suitability of the bay for a port. On June 4, 1896, Corbin was thrown from his carriage while traveling with friends on a fishing expedition on his 24,000 acre nature preserve in New Hampshire, and his dream of a port at Montauk died with him. More than 1,000 acres (4 km族) that he had bought were eventually sold to the U.S. Government for Camp Wikoff, where Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders were quarantined after returning from the Spanish-American War. The PRR built a grand station, Pennsylvania Station, with tracks oriented approximately east-west, and dug two sets of tunnels, one under the Hudson River to connect the new station with the PRR network, and another set under the East River to connect with the LIRR.

In April 1905, Ralph Peters was elected president of the LIRR.

Due to a fatal accident caused by decreased visibility from smoke and steam in the tunnels near Grand Central Terminal, New York City passed laws in 1910 forbidding the operation of steam-powered trains within city limits. Thus, an ambitious program of electrification was initiated, culminating in a large portion of the LIRR's network being electrified via a third rail direct current system. The PRR struggled to find new avenues for cash, including the infamous 1964 demolition of New York's Penn Station to make way for the Penn Plaza office towers and a new home for Madison Square Garden, with a new train terminal under the complex of buildings. In 1966, New York State acquired all of the capital stock of the LIRR.

Trimming the LIRR from its system did not provide the relief the PRR sought and, on February 1, 1968 the PRR merged with the New York Central Railroad to form the Pennsylvania New York Central Transportation Company, popularly known as the Penn Central. As a condition for approval of the merger, the Interstate Commerce Commission required the railroad to include the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in its system on January 1, 1969.

One of the most popular decisions by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller after the 1966 takeover was replacing the entire electric passenger fleet with Budd Company M1 and M3 cars.

George Pataki initiatives

Under Governor George Pataki the LIRR remodeled its lower level concourse of Penn Station in the 1990s, increasing the ceiling height and making it less dreary, as well as opening two new entrance/exit corridors spanning various tracks and lengthening some platforms. The LIRR also added air conditioning, which was not in the original Penn Station.

The MTA announced in October 2002 that it plans to merge the LIRR and the Metro-North Commuter Railroad into a new entity, to be called MTA Rail RoadMetropolitan Transportation Authority Announces Historic Restructuring, press release dated October 9, 2002, which requires approval by the New York Legislature, which has so far rejected the pleas for merger.

Shortly after 2000, LIRR began replacing its electric fleet with new-generation Bombardier M7 cars.

Citing costs, the LIRR has refused to join New Jersey Transit at the proposed "new" Penn Station one block west across Eighth Avenue at the James Farley Post Office Building at what is to be called the "Moynihan Station."

Between 2001 and 2006, Jamaica Station underwent massive changes as a result of 2002 construction of the AirTrain JFK connecting the LIRR at the station to John F.

East Side Access to Grand Central


East Side Access is a project being undertaken by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), designed to bring the LIRR into a new East Side station to be built below and incorporated into Grand Central Terminal.

The project, under construction since 1998, would connect the Port Washington and Main lines to the station via Sunnyside Yard in Queens and cross the East River on the lower level of the 63rd Street Tunnel, which is currently served on the upper level by the NYCS F train of the New York City Subway.

The project cost has jumped in price from US$3 billion in 1998 to US$6.3 billion in 2006, with the biggest and most expensive work yet to be done窶杯unneling through Manhattan 90 feet below the current Metro-North Railroad tracks under Park Avenue (175 feet below the street surface).

There would be no connections between the two sets of tracks. In addition, Cardinal Edward Egan has expressed concerns about the impact of a proposed air vent (disguised as a building) at 50th Street and Madison Avenue, very near to St. Patrick's Cathedral.

The project was justified by a 1998 study that showed that approximately 70 percent of all jobs in Midtown Manhattan are within walking distance of Grand Central, while only 36 percent of jobs are within walking distance of Penn Station (there is some overlap, and some jobs are not within walking distance of either facility).

If the project is completed, Metro-North is considering bringing trains into Penn Station via the West Side Line along Manhattan's west side, which currently handles Amtrak and freight service.

In addition to this plan, a proposal is on the table to build a new tunnel in the East River to bring LIRR trains downtown to the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub. have contributed to the MTA's decision not to join New Jersey Transit on the "Moynihan Station" project.

Montauk Branch


"The Montauk" or "Montauk Line" is the longest LIRR branch, extending 115 miles (185 km) east from Long Island City to Montauk, New York.

The westernmost portion of the Montauk Branch in Queens, known as the "Old Montauk" or "Lower Montauk", runs from Long Island City to a connection with the Atlantic Branch west of Jamaica Station, mostly at street level with grade crossings. Five intermediate stations in Queens (Richmond Hill, Glendale, Fresh Pond, Haberman, and Penny Bridge) were abandoned in 1998 as unprofitable when all platforms on the railroad were raised to floor-level loading for the new double-decker trains.

The portion from Jamaica to Babylon Station has been electrified since 1925, and is the busiest single commuter railroad branch in the U.S. From Babylon east to Montauk, diesel-electric or hybrid electric/diesel-electric locomotives haul trains of passenger coaches.

The Montauk Line has heavy ridership and frequent service as far as Patchogue and commuter service as far as Speonk. In the summer, with travelers going out to The Hamptons, Fire Island and other beaches, additional service is operated to the far eastern terminal at Montauk, such as "The Cannonball," a Friday afternoon train departing from Hunterspoint Avenue and running non-stop between Jamaica Station and Westhampton. The Montauk Branch, along with the parallel Atlantic Branch, spawns three subsidiary branches: the West Hempstead, Far Rockaway, and Long Beach branches.

The electrified portion of the Montauk Branch ends at Babylon Station窶杯he electric service to Babylon is often identified as a separate service, the "Babylon Branch". Other Montauk diesel trains operate into New York City, to Jamaica Station, Hunterspoint Avenue, Long Island City or Pennsylvania Station. Most Montauk Branch diesel trains operate west to NYC via the Montauk Branch, though a handful of trains operate via the diesel-only Central Branch, joining the Main Line east of Bethpage Station. Plans are underway to suspend hooping by mid-May 2006.

The Montauk Branch enjoys frequent service and has heavy ridership because it serves the suburban communities on Nassau County's and westernmost Suffolk County's south shore. It is grade-separated on embankments or elevated structures from Lynbrook Station to Babylon Station, the only LIRR branch east of New York City to have no road crossings at grade.

The Southampton College stop was demolished in 1998, along with other lightly-used stations. In 2004, the stop was temporarily reinstated, complete with a steel walkway over Sunrise Highway to the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, during the U.S. Open (golf) tournament.

Main Line

The Main Line, also known as the Ronkonkoma, begins in Long Island City and runs directly across the middle of Long Island before turning North and terminating in Greenport approximately 95 miles (153 km) from its starting point. These branches, in order from west to east, are:

  • Port Washington (at Harold Interlocking in Sunnyside, Queens)
  • Hempstead (at Queens Interlocking along the Queens/Nassau County border)
  • Oyster Bay (at Nassau Interlocking in Mineola)
  • Port Jefferson (at Divide Interlocking in Hicksville)
  • Central (at Beth Interlocking just east of Bethpage Station)

The Main Line's electric service ends at Ronkonkoma. New York State has declined this request and will most likely continue to do so, as Long Island's population continues to grow eastward.

Port Jefferson Branch


This branch provides frequent electric service to Huntington, with diesel service continuing to Port Jefferson. This line formerly extended to Wading River, and was once slated continue eastward and rejoin the Main Line at Riverhead. This is the remains of the Central branch, which ran to Bethpage, meeting up with the Main Line near where the current Central Branch cuts off towards Babylon.

West Hempstead Branch


This electric branch splits off from the Montauk Branch at Valley Stream to West Hempstead.

Atlantic Branch


The Atlantic Branch begins at the second major city terminal, Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, and runs 16 miles (26 km) through Kings, under Atlantic Avenue, Queens, and enters Nassau County, terminating at Valley Interlocking in Valley Stream. The Flatbush Avenue station is undergoing a $93 million renovation and will be renamed Atlantic Avenue Terminal.Governor Tours Atlantic Avenue Terminal Improvement Project: $200 Million Project Underway at Terminal Complex in Brooklyn, press release dated July 11, 2002

Far Rockaway Branch


This double-tracked electric branch begins in Nassau County at Valley Interlocking in Valley Stream, proceeds east and ends in Queens at the Far Rockaway station. During rush hour, express service bypasses Jamaica station.

It was originally part of a loop that travelled along the existing route, continuing through the Rockaway Peninsula and heading on a trestle across Jamaica Bay through Queens where it reconnected with other branches. Frequent fires and maintenance problems led the LIRR to abandon the Queens portion of the route, which was acquired by the city to become the IND Rockaway Line, providing service on the NYCS A train and NYCS S Rockaway Rockaway Park Shuttle. it diverges at Lynbrook and heads south to Long Beach. It splits off the Main Line east of Woodside and runs through northeastern Queens to Port Washington, in the northwestern corner of Nassau County.

The line is double-tracked for most of its length, but the Manhasset and Plandome stations have one track and platform. A second track cannot be added through Manhasset and Plandome due to the proximity of businesses to the narrow right-of-way in Plandome.

To eliminate as many delays as possible on the heavily-used line, most peak-hour trains are either local from Penn Station to Great Neck (making all stops in between the two) or express from Penn Station to Port Washington (making stops only at Great Neck, Manhasset, Plandome, and Port Washington, although some trains make their first stop at Bayside).

Extra service is offered during the U.S. Open tennis tournament and for New York Mets home games, both of which are held in Flushing Meadows?Corona Park. These trains stop at a special Shea Stadium station between Woodside and Flushing?Main Street. In addition, a large portion of the threatened Main Line east of Ronkonkoma has been slated for electrification by 2016 as part of LIRR forward planning.

The 2005-2009 capital program of the MTA provides for a third Main Line track from Bellerose to Mineola, with the intent of extending it to Hicksville.

A second track between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma on the Main Line is also planned, which would greatly increase capacity. The process of shedding freight service accelerated with the acquisition of the railroad by New York State.

In recent years there has been some appreciation of the need for better railroad freight service in New York City and elsewhere on Long Island. Both areas are primarily served by trucking for freight haulage, an irony in a region with the most extensive rail transit service in the Americas.

Freight service is now operated on lease by the New York and Atlantic Railway, a short line railroad owned by the Anacostia and Pacific Company.

Long Island Rail Road Massacre

On December 7, 1993, Colin Ferguson, a New York City resident, boarded the 5:33 p.m. local train to Hicksville at Pennsylvania Station with a concealed weapon. When the engineer realized that there was a serious problem on the train, he stopped the train at the Merillon Avenue station in Garden City. This propelled Carolyn McCarthy, whose husband was killed and son seriously injured, to successfully run for the United States House of Representatives on a gun control platform.

Chronology

  • Key Dates:
  • 1834: Long Island Rail Road is chartered by New York State.
  • 1844: The entire line is completed.
  • 1900: Pennsylvania Railroad acquires the line.
  • 1910: Pennsylvania Station opens.
  • 1966: New York State acquires LIRR.
  • 1968: Metropolitan Transit Authority begins running LIRR.
  • 1990: Industry veteran charles Hoppe is hired as president of LIRR.
  • 1993: LIRR suffers the greatest tragedy of its history when a shooting spree on a train during evening rush leaves six people dead and 19 wounded.
  • 2002: The first M-7 electric cars enter service.

Additional topics

Company HistoryRailroad Transportation

This web site and associated pages are not associated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by The Long Island Rail Road Company and has no official or unofficial affiliation with The Long Island Rail Road Company.