Atlantic Branch

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Atlantic Branch
Info
Type	Commuter rail
System	Long Island Rail Road
Status	Operational
Locale	Western Long Island, New York, USA
No. of stations	8 passenger, 1 employee-only
Service routes	Atlantic Branch (City Terminal Zone) Far Rockaway Branch Long Beach Branch
Operation
Opened	1836 (west of Jamaica) 1867 (east of Jamaica)
Owner	Long Island Rail Road
Operator(s)	Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Technical
Gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	Third rail

The Atlantic Branch is an electrified rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It runs from Downtown Brooklyn to Valley Stream. The two-track line is partly underground and partly elevated.

The section between Flatbush Avenue and Nostrand Avenue is underground. From there, the line remains elevated above Atlantic Avenue in the road's median to Ralph Avenue, where it descends underground once again.

At East New York, the line rises onto street level, and descends once more to Jamaica. Between East New York and Jamaica, there is evidence of a closed station at Woodhaven Junction.

In Jamaica, the line heads to the street level, and passes through the Morris Park Facility, which includes an employee station and engine shops for the diesel engines that provide service deeper into the Island.

It heads southeast from Jamaica, ending at Valley Interlocking in Valley Stream.

The Flatbush Avenue station is undergoing a $93 million renovation and will be renamed Atlantic Avenue Terminal.^[1]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Flatbush Avenue to Jamaica 1.2 Jamaica to Valley Stream 2 Future service to Manhattan and JFK 3 Station listing 3.1 Full list, including all former stations 4 See also 5 References

[edit] History

Atlantic Branch

Legend 2.0 Flatbush Avenue 5.0 Nostrand Avenue 6.0 East New York Woodhaven Junction closed 1977 Boland's Landing LIRR employees only Montauk Branch Morris Park Facility Main Line AirTrain JFK Zone 1/Zone 3 11.3 Jamaica Main Line Montauk Branch 14.2 Locust Manor 15.1 Laurelton Montauk Branch 16.0 Rosedale Queens/Nassau County border Zone 3/Zone 4 17.7 Valley Stream Far Rockaway Branch Long Beach Branch Distances shown in miles from New York Pennsylvania Station.

The current Atlantic Branch is the successor to two separate lines: the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad (opened 1836) along Atlantic Avenue from Flatbush Avenue to Jamaica, and the South Side Railroad of Long Island (opened 1867) from Jamaica to Valley Stream.

[edit] Flatbush Avenue to Jamaica

See also: Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad

The Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad opened the line from South Ferry to what is now 151st Street in Jamaica on April 18, 1836.

Initially, the line turned halfway between Classon and Franklin Avenues, running halfway between Herkimer Street and Schuyler Street (now Atlantic Avenue) along the line of the present Herkimer Place. It turned slightly to the southeast near Howard Avenue, crossing the centerline of Schuyler Street about one-third of the way between Hopkinson Avenue (Thomas Boyland Street) and Paca Avenue (Rockaway Avenue). It crossed into the town of New Lots just beyond Stone Avenue (Mother Gaston Boulevard).^[2]

[edit] Jamaica to Valley Stream

See also: South Side Railroad of Long Island

The portion east of Jamaica was opened by the South Side Railroad of Long Island on October 28, 1867, as part of its initial line from Jamaica to Babylon. With the consolidation of the South Side into the Long Island Rail Road system in 1876, all passenger trains were rerouted to use the LIRR main line from Berlin Junction (west of Jamaica) to Rockaway Junction and the LIRR's Rockaway Branch to Springfield Junction, where it crossed the South Side. This change took effect Sunday, June 25, 1876, and resulted in the closure of the South Side's Berlin, Beaver Street (Jamaica), Locust Avenue, and Springfield stations.^[3][4] This formed the current configuration, where the Montauk Branch follows this route, mostly ex-South Side, and the Atlantic Branch (then the Old Southern Road) uses the old South Side to Springfield Junction.

The line was soon reopened due to a lawsuit, but closed again by Austin Corbin as of January 6, 1881.^[5]

Effective May 17, 1906, when an electrified third track opened alongside the Montauk Division from Springfield Junction to Valley Stream, the Old Southern Road and this new track became part of the Atlantic Division.^[6]

[edit] Future service to Manhattan and JFK

The MTA is studying the use of the LIRR Atlantic Branch as part of the Lower Manhattan-Jamaica/JFK Transportation Project that would extend the LIRR to a new station in Lower Manhattan near the new Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center complex. The LIRR Atlantic Branch would also be used as a part of an extension of the AirTrain JFK from the new Lower Manhattan terminal to the terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The proposal is estimated to cost $6 Billion and in the preliminary study stage.

[edit] Station listing

Only former stations that existed after the ca. 1905 improvement and electrification are listed in this table.

Station	Station link	Connections/notes
Flatbush Avenue	[1]	Subway: 2 3 4 5 at Atlantic Avenue, D M N R at Atlantic Avenue–Pacific Street, B Q at Atlantic Avenue Bus (New York City Transit Authority): B41, B45, B63, B65, B67
Nostrand Avenue	[2]	Subway: A C at Nostrand Avenue Bus (New York City Transit Authority): B25, B44, B65
East New York	[3]	Subway: L at Atlantic Avenue, A C at Broadway Junction, J Z at Broadway Junction Bus (New York City Transit Authority): B12, B20, B25, B83, Q24, Q56
Warwick Street	closed 1939
Autumn Avenue	closed 1939
Union Course	closed 1939
Woodhaven	closed 1939
Woodhaven Junction	closed 1977
Clarenceville	closed 1939
Morris Park	closed 1939
Boland's Landing	N/A	Employee only station
Dunton	closed 1939
Jamaica	[4]	Subway: E J Z at Sutphin Boulevard/Archer Avenue Bus (New York City Transit Authority and MTA Bus): Q6, Q8, Q9, Q20A/B, Q24, Q25 Q30, Q31, Q34, Q40, Q41, Q43, Q44, Q60, Q65 Airtrain JFK
South Street	closed 1922
Cedar Manor	closed 1959
Locust Manor	[5]	Bus (New York City Transit Authority): Q3 (to JFK Airport), Q85
Higbie Avenue	closed 1960
Laurelton	[6]
Rosedale	[7]	Bus (New York City Transit Authority): Q5; Q85
Valley Stream	[8]	Bus (Long Island Bus): N1, N2, N3

[edit] Full list, including all former stations

Miles from Flatbush	Name	Location	Opened	Closed
	South Ferry
	Henry Street
	Clinton Street
0.0[7]	Flatbush Avenue		July 2, 1877	present
	Vanderbilt Avenue		August 13, 1877[8]
	Washington Avenue		by late 1878[9]
	Grand Avenue		August 13, 1877[8]	by late 1878[9]
1.22[10]	Bedford also called Franklin Avenue	east of Franklin Avenue	by mid-1842[11]
1.57[10]	Nostrand Avenue		August 13, 1877[8]	present
	Brooklyn Avenue		August 13, 1877[8]
	Kingston Avenue
	Albany Avenue		August 13, 1877[8]
2.27[10]	Troy Avenue		August 13, 1877[8] by mid-1890[12]	by late 1878[9]
	Schenectady Avenue		by late 1878[9]
2.56[10]	Utica Avenue		August 13, 1877[8] by mid-1890[12]	by late 1878[9]
	Rochester Avenue		August 13, 1877[8]
	Ralph Avenue		August 13, 1877[8]
	Saratoga Avenue
	Hopkinson Avenue		August 13, 1877[8]	by late 1878[9]
	Rockaway Avenue		by late 1878[9]
	Stone Avenue		August 13, 1877[8]	by late 1878[9]
3.97[10]	East New York earlier Manhattan Beach Railroad Crossing		by late 1878[9]	present
4.10[10]	Howard House earlier East New York	Alabama Avenue	by early 1843[13]
	Pennsylvania Avenue
	Wyckoff Avenue	Wyona Street	by late 1878[14]
	Bradford Avenue	mid-1899[10][15]
	Van Siclen Avenue		by late 1878[16]
4.8[7] or 4.9[17]	Warwick Street
5.02[10]	Linwood Street earlier Van Wicklens		by late 1878[9]
5.32[10]	Norwood Avenue		by mid-1890[12]
	Cypress Avenue	Crescent Street	by mid-1853[18]
	Cypress Hills	west of Autumn Avenue	by early 1849[19]
5.8[7]	Autumn Avenue earlier Railroad Avenue
	Adamsville	west of Eldert Lane	by late 1874[20]
	City Line
	Unionville	west of 80th Street
6.3[7]	Union Course	east of 80th Street	by late 1842[21]
6.69[10]	Woodhaven earlier Woodville	east of 87th Street	by mid-1848[22]
	Trotting Course Lane	94th Street
7.19[10]	Woodhaven Junction	west of 100th Street	by mid-1890[12]	1977
	Chester Park	104th Street
7.79[10]	Clarenceville	111th Street	by late 1874[20]
	Lefferts Avenue	west of 119th Street
8.07[10]	Morris Park	west of 120th Street	by mid-1890[12]
	Morris Grove	west of 124th Street
	Boland's Landing	126th Street
	Berlin	west of 130th Street
	Berlin Junction	??
8.86[10]	Dunton originally Van Wyck Avenue, then Berlin	Van Wyck Avenue
9.6[7]	Beaver Street		October 28, 1867	1913
	South Street	South Road
10.8[7]	Cedar Manor earlier Power Place			1959
11.7[7]	Locust Manor earlier Locust Avenue		June 1869	Present
12.6[7]	Higbie Avenue earlier Springfield	140th Avenue?		1960
	Springfield	Springfield Boulevard
13.1[7]	Laurelton earlier Central Avenue	224th Street	April 1907	Present
13.8[7]	Rosedale earlier Foster's Meadow			Present
15.7[7]	Valley Stream		June 1869	Present

[edit] See also

• Lower Manhattan-Jamaica/JFK Transportation Project - Proposal to use the LIRR Atlantic Branch in a new direct JFK connection to Lower Manhattan

[edit] References

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