Babylon (LIRR station)

Babylon

Suffolk County Transit's S27 bus leaves Babylon Station
Station statistics
Address Railroad Avenue, west of Deer Park Avenue
Babylon, New York
Lines
Connections Nassau Inter-County Express: n19, n72
Suffolk County Transit: S20, S23, S25, S27, S29, S40, S42, S47
Trailways Transportation System
Sunset Taxi
Platforms 2 island platforms
Tracks 3
Parking Yes; Village permit and Metered
Bicycle facilities Yes
Other information
Opened October 28, 1867 (SSRRLI)[1]
Rebuilt 1881, 1964
Electrified May 21, 1925
750V (DC) third rail
Accessible
Owned by Long Island Rail Road
Fare zone 9
Formerly Seaside (July 1868 – 1869)[1]
Traffic
Passengers (2006) 6,586[2]
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station
Montauk Branch
(Babylon Branch)
toward Montauk
Montauk Branch
(Central Branch)

Babylon is a station on the Long Island Rail Road in the village of Babylon, New York at Railroad Avenue west of Deer Park Avenue(Suffolk CR 34). It is on the Montauk Branch, and is the eastern terminus of the Babylon Branch service. To the west is the junction (Belmont Junction) with the Central Branch, which heads northwest to join the Main Line at Beth Interlocking southeast of the Bethpage station. Babylon station is elevated with two island platforms and is wheelchair accessible through elevator access. The electrified portion of the Montauk Branch ends east of the station. Babylon is 38.9 miles from Penn Station (in Manhattan, New York City), and travel time is 50 minutes to 1 hour 13 minutes, depending on the number of stops.

Contents

History

Babylon Station originally opened as a South Side Railroad of Long Island depot on October 28, 1867. It was briefly renamed Seaside station in the summer of 1868, but resumed its original name of Babylon station in 1869. The Central Railroad of Long Island had once planned an extension to the Great South Bay and Fire Island which was never built, and a horse car and later trolley line was provided by the Babylon Rail Road company as a substitute. The second depot opened on July 2, 1881, and was razed in 1963 as part of the grade elimination project that was taking place along the entire Babylon Branch during the post-war era.[3] The new elevated third station opened on September 9, 1964. East of the station, a train washing canopy existed in West Islip until 2005.[4][5] In June 2010, the LIRR broke ground on a new environmentally friendly train wash canopy, since Ronkonkoma station had the only train wash on the east end. This new train wash is be able to recycle water already used using filters and is capable of washing up to 180 electric multiple unit cars a day (equivalent to 15 twelve-car trains, 18 ten-car trains, about 22 eight-car trains, or 30 six-car trains.)

As budgeted in the 2008–2013 Capital Plan, station rehabilitation over the next five years will include the demolition of the existing platforms and design and construction of a new platform as well as replacement of platform waiting rooms, escalators, and elevators. The project is projected to cost $39 million and will replace infrastructure that has existed since 1964.[6]

Platforms and tracks

The station has two 12-car-long high-level island platforms. The Montauk Branch has three tracks here, with the north platform between Tracks 1 and 2 and the south platform between Tracks 2 and 3.

Bus connections

The station is also an inter-modal transportation hub with connections to several bus lines.

Suffolk County Transit

Nassau Inter-County Express

Trailways Transportation System:

Note: The S29 is the only bus that serves Babylon station but does not terminate there.

References

  1. ^ a b Vincent F. Seyfried, The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History, Part One: South Side R.R. of L.I., © 1961
  2. ^ Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
  3. ^ Morrison, David D.; Pakaluk, Valerie (2003). Long Island Rail Road Stations. Images of Rail. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 90-91. ISBN 0738511803. http://books.google.com/books?id=20BUDIVc-5AC&pg=PA90. Retrieved 2011-11-25. 
  4. ^ Two mid-1980s views of West Islip...
  5. ^ ..train wash racks
  6. ^ 2008-2013 Capital Plan. Page 69

External links