Long Island City (LIRR station)

Long Island City

Looking west at the station (to the right of the fence) and yard (to the left); the brick building to the right is ventilation for the Queens Midtown Tunnel.
Location Borden Avenue & Second Street
Long Island City, New York
Coordinates 40°44′29″N 73°57′25″W / 40.74139°N 73.95694°WCoordinates: 40°44′29″N 73°57′25″W / 40.74139°N 73.95694°W
Owned by Long Island Rail Road
Line(s)
Platforms 2 island platforms
Tracks 14
Connections New York City Subway:
NYCS 7 NYCS 7d at Vernon Boulevard – Jackson Avenue
MTA Bus: Q103
NY Waterway
Construction
Parking Yes
Other information
Fare zone 1
History
Opened June 26, 1854
Closed December 18, 1902
Rebuilt 1861, 1870, 1875, 1878, 1879, April 1881, July 1891, April 26, 1903[1]
Electrified June 16, 1910
750V (DC) third rail
Previous names Hunter's Point
Traffic
Passengers (2006) 115[2]
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station
TerminusMain Line
(City Terminal Zone)
toward Long Island
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station
Terminus Montauk Branch
(current and former locations)		 Penny Bridge station
until 1998
Terminus Montauk Branch
(current and former locations)		 Jamaica station
1998-2012

Long Island City is a rail terminal of the Long Island Rail Road in Long Island City, Queens. Located within the City Terminal Zone at Borden Avenue and Second Street, it is the westernmost LIRR station in Queens and the end of both the Main Line and Montauk Branch. The station is wheelchair accessible.

Service

The station is served only during weekday rush hours in the peak direction (to Long Island City in the morning, from Long Island City in the evening) by diesel trains from the Oyster Bay, Montauk, or Port Jefferson Branches via the Main Line. There is a connection to the Lower Montauk Branch, but as of November 2012, no LIRR trains run on that branch, which is now leased to and controlled by the New York and Atlantic Railway, which uses the line exclusively for freight operations.[3]

History

This station was built on June 26, 1854, and rebuilt seven times during the 19th Century. On December 18, 1902, both the two-story station building and office building owned by the LIRR burned down.[4] The station was rebuilt on April 26, 1903, and electrified on June 16, 1910.

Before the East River Tunnels were built, this station served as the terminus for Manhattan-bound passengers from Long Island, who took ferries to the East Side of Manhattan. The passenger ferry service was abandoned on March 3, 1925, although freight was carried by car floats through Gantry Plaza State Park to and from Manhattan until the middle 20th century.[5] Today, ferry service is operated by NY Waterway. The station house was torn down again in 1939 for construction of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel, but still continued to operate as an active station, as it does today.

Platforms and tracks

14–10 ■  Yard tracks, no platform
9 ■  restricted platform
8 ■  restricted platform
7 ■Main Line toward Long Island (Hunterspoint Avenue)
6 ■Main Line toward Long Island (Hunterspoint Avenue)
5/3X ■  Yard tracks, no platform
3 ■Main Line toward Long Island (Hunterspoint Avenue)
2 ■Main Line toward Long Island (Hunterspoint Avenue)
1/0 ■  Yard tracks, no platform

This station has 13 tracks, two concrete high-level island platforms, and one wooden high-level island platform. All platforms are two cars long and accessible from Borden Avenue just west of Fifth Street. The other concrete platform adjacent to tracks 6 and 7 and the wooden one adjacent to tracks 8 and 9 are used for employees only. All tracks without platforms are used for train storage. The southernmost four tracks are powered by third rail while the remaining tracks are used only by diesel-powered trains.

Gallery

Sources

  • Harrison, Richard J. (1981). Long Island Rail Road Memories: The Making of a Steam Locomotive Engineer. New York: Quadrant Press. p. 53. ISBN 0-915276-36-4.

References

  1. ↑ Long Island Rail Road Alphabetical Station Listing and History (TrainsAreFun.com)
  2. ↑ Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
  3. ↑ The LIRR Says Goodbye to the Lower Montauk (The LIRR Today; March 15, 2013)
  4. ↑ "Long Island City Station Is Burned". The New York Times. December 19, 1902. p. 1. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  5. ↑ "34th Street Ferry Abandoned After 67 Years". The New York Times. March 4, 1925. p. 21. Retrieved 2010-05-30.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Long Island City (LIRR station).