Port Jefferson Branch
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The Port Jefferson Branch is a rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch begins at the Main Line just east of Hicksville station, and runs northeast and east to Port Jefferson. LIRR maps and schedules indicate that the Port Jefferson Branch service continues west along the Main Line to Floral Park, which is where the Hempstead Branch begins to parallel the Main Line. However, the Hempstead Branch does not merge with the Main Line until east of Queens Village, and so the Main Line between Floral Park and Queens Village is served by Port Jefferson Branch trains.[1][2]
The Port Jefferson Branch is one of the busier branches of the LIRR, with frequent electric service to Huntington, and diesel service east of Huntington.
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[edit] Route description and plans
Port Jefferson Branch service in Nassau County begins when the Hempstead Branch separates from the Main Line at the Queens Interlocking in Bellerose. The line from Queens Interlocking to Huntington is electrified and double tracked. Electrification extends to a point east of Huntington before Greenlawn Station on a layup track for electric trains. The line east of that point is not electrified and has a single track with passing sidings at Greenlawn, east of Northport, Kings Park, Smithtown and Stony Brook.
Stations on the electrified portion that have the heaviest traffic include Mineola, Hicksville, and Huntington. On the non-electrified portion, the heaviest traffic tends to be to the Stony Brook station where the State University of New York at Stony Brook is located.
There are occasional plans to electrify this line past Huntington, at least to Northport, in conjunction with the construction of a planned new electric train yard, to alleviate overcrowding and service limitations on the Ronkonkoma Branch, and to otherwise accommodate increased ridership expected once the East Side Access project to Grand Central Terminal is completed.[3] As of 2006, funding for this project has been deferred to a future capital budget and preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement has been suspended.
In addition, a third Main Line track from Bellerose to Mineola has also been proposed in order to provide increased services.
Most Port Jefferson electric trains operate the full route from Penn Station to Huntington. Supplemental service is provided on Ronkonkoma Branch trains to Mineola and Hicksville. Additional service to Mineola is provided by Oyster Bay Branch trains, and a Patchogue-bound Montauk Branch train also stops at Mineola during the weekdays. During off-peak hours, including weekends, a diesel shuttle runs between either Hicksville or Huntington and Port Jefferson. During rush hours, there are specialized services to and from stations west of, and including, Huntington Station. These services provide for express service, through service to Flatbush Avenue, and service to Penn Station that bypasses Jamaica. Also, east-of-Huntington service is extended to Jamaica, Hunterspoint Avenue, Long Island City, or Penn Station.[citation needed]
[edit] History
The line from Hicksville to Syosset opened in 1854. The LIRR later planned to extend to Cold Spring Harbor, but Oliver Charlick, the LIRR's president, disagreed over the station's location, so Charlick abandoned the grade and relocated the extension south of Cold Spring, refusing to add a station stop near Cold Spring for years. Another argument at Huntington led to the line bypassing the town two miles to the south, though a station was built. The line was extended from Syosset past Huntington to Northport in 1868,[4] and in 1873 the Smithtown and Port Jefferson Railroad opened from a mile south of Northport to Port Jefferson,[5] turning the old line into Northport into the Northport Branch, the result of another argument between Charlick and Northport.[6]
The Port Jefferson Branch formerly extended to Wading River, and was once slated to continue eastward and rejoin the Main Line at Riverhead. The line east of Port Jefferson was abandoned in 1938. The right-of-way is now used for the Long Island Power Authority's power lines.
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[edit] Station listing
| Station/ location |
Station link |
Miles (kilometers) to Penn Station |
Connections/notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| For continuing service to Jamaica and points west, see Hempstead Branch | |||
| Floral Park (limited service) Tulip Avenue and Atlantic Avenue, Floral Park |
[1] | 16.9 | |
New Hyde Park  New Hyde Park and 2nd Avenue, New Hyde Park |
[2] | 18.2 (29.3) | Bus (MTA Long Island Bus): N24, N25 |
| Merillon Avenue Nassau Boulevard and Merillon Avenue, New Hyde Park |
[3] | 19.3 (31.1) | |
| Mineola Front Street and Mineola Boulevard, Mineola |
[4] | 20.5 (33.0) | Transfer to Oyster Bay Branch trains Bus (MTA Long Island Bus): N22, N23, N24, N40, N41, N78, N79 |
| Carle Place Cherry Lane and Atlantic Avenue, Carle Place |
[5] | 22.4 (36.0) | Bus (MTA Long Island Bus): N22 |
| Westbury Union Avenue and Post Avenue Westbury |
[6] | 23.4 (37.7) | Bus (MTA Long Island Bus): N22, N35 |
| Hicksville Newbridge Road (Route 106) and West Barclay Street, Hicksville |
[7] | 26.8 (43.1) | Transfer to Ronkonkoma Branch trains Bus (MTA Long Island Bus): N20, N22, N48, N49, N50, N73, N74, N78, N79, N80, N81, N94 |
| Landia Locust Grove |
closed | ||
| Syosset Oyster Bay Road/Jackson Avenue and Underhill Avenue, Syosset |
[8] | 31.0 (49.9) | |
| Cold Spring Harbor West Pulaski Road and East Gate Drive, Cold Spring Harbor |
[9] | 34.0 (54.7) | |
| Huntington New York Avenue (Route 110) and Broadway, Huntington Station |
[10] | 36.6 (58.9) | Bus (Suffolk County Transit): S1 Bus (Huntington Area Rapid Transit): H9 |
| Greenlawn Broadway (Centerport Road) and Boulevard Avenue, Greenlawn |
[11] | 39.4 (63.4) | Bus (Huntington Area Rapid Transit): H4, H6 |
| Northport Village Northport |
closed 1899 | ||
| Northport Larkfield Road and Bellerose Avenue, Northport |
[12] | 42.5 (68.4) | Bus (Suffolk County Transit): S41 Bus (Huntington Area Rapid Transit): H4, H6 |
| Kings Park Indian Head Road and Main Street, Kings Park |
[13] | 45.3 (72.9) | Bus (Suffolk County Transit): S56 |
| Smithtown Redwood Lane and Scott Lane, Smithtown |
[14] | 49.0 (78.9) | Bus (Suffolk County Transit): S45 |
| St. James Lake Avenue and 2nd Street, St. James |
[15] | 51.5 (82.9) | |
| Flowerfield Head of the Harbor |
closed 1958 | ||
| Stony Brook North Country Road (Route 25A) and Chapman Street, Stony Brook |
[16] | 55.1 (88.7) | Bus (Suffolk County Transit): S71, S76, 3D |
| Setauket Setauket |
closed | ||
| Port Jefferson Route 112 (Main Street) and Oakland Avenue, Port Jefferson Station |
[17] | 59.4 (95.6) | Bus (Suffolk County Transit): S60, S61, S62, S69, S76, 5A Ferry to Bridgeport, Connecticut at Port Jefferson |
| Miller Place Miller Place |
closed October 9, 1938 | ||
| Rocky Point Rocky Point |
closed October 9, 1938 | ||
| Shoreham Shoreham |
closed October 9, 1938 | ||
| Wading River Wading River |
closed October 9, 1938 | ||
[edit] References
- ^ MTA LIRR - LIRR Map
- ^ LIRR Port Jefferson Branch Timetable
- ^ Port Jefferson Branch Yard EIS
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1868PDF (93.8 KiB), June 2004 Edition
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1873PDF (100 KiB), February 2005 Edition
- ^ Ron Ziel and George H. Foster, Steel Rails to the Sunrise, ©1965
[edit] External links
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| Routes | Main Line • Atlantic • Montauk • (Central) |
| Branch services | Babylon • Belmont Park • City Terminal Zone • Far Rockaway • Hempstead • Long Beach • Montauk • Oyster Bay • Port Jefferson • Port Washington • Ronkonkoma • West Hempstead |
| Former and freight lines | Atlantic Avenue rapid transit • Bay Ridge • Bethpage • Bushwick • Central Extension • Creedmoor • Evergreen • Manhattan Beach • Manorville • Rockaway Beach • Sag Harbor • West Brighton Beach • Whitestone |
| Other | East Side Access • Fleet • Former lines • History • Stations |
