Aqueduct – North Conduit Avenue (IND Rockaway Line)

Aqueduct – North Conduit Avenue is a station on the IND Rockaway Line of the New York City Subway. Located at North Conduit Avenue near the intersection of Cohancy Street in Ozone Park, it is served at all times by the A train.

Description

The station has two side platforms and four tracks, but the two center express tracks are not used in revenue service. The platforms are only canopied on the north and south ends. The remaining section has beige concrete windscreens on the Manhattan-bound platform and black steel fence on the Rocakway-bound platform. The platforms are extra long, about 800 feet (240 m) in length, which is 200 feet (61 m) more than a standard IND platform length.

The station's only mezzanine is at sidewalk level on the north end of North Conduit Avenue underneath the tracks. It has a token booth, three turnstiles, and one staircase to each platform on the south end.

There is an additional exit-only at north end of Rockaway-bound platform. Two platform-level turnstiles lead to a staircase that goes down a pedestrian tunnel that runs underneath the line. This connects North Conduit Avenue to the Aqueduct Racetrack and is only open during racing days. It has a chain link fence that keeps this area locked when it is closed and there are signs informing people that there is no subway entrance in the tunnel.

History

The station was originally built by the New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad in 1883 as Aqueduct station along what would become the former Long Island Rail Road's Rockaway Beach Branch in 1887, and was taken out of service on November 29, 1939 as part of a grade elimination project. A temporary center-island station was built west of the station between that date and the opening of the new high-level station on September 24, 1940. This station was located 26 feet (7.9 m) south of the previous station. On October 3, 1955, and like most of the Rockaway Beach Branch was acquired by the New York City Transit Authority and reopened as a subway station along the IND Rockaway Line on June 28, 1956. Evidence of the stations previous incarnation can be found with Long Island Rail Road-type exit steps near the south end, and the aforementioned longer platforms.

On January 18, 2003, a conductor on a northbound A train was killed when she stuck her head out the window and accidentally struck a metal fence located 4 inches (100 mm) away from the edge of the platform while the train was departing the station. The fence separated the 200-foot-long (61 m) abandoned section of platform at the north end of the station from the rest of the Manhattan-bound platform.^[3]

References

External links

• nycsubway.org — IND Rockaway: Aqueduct/North Conduit Avenue
• Station Reporter — A Rockaway
• The Subway Nut — Aqueduct – North Conduit Avenue Pictures
• North Conduit Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View