Aqueduct Racetrack (IND Rockaway Line)

Aqueduct Racetrack
New York City Subway rapid transit station
Station statistics
Address near 110-00 Rockaway Boulevard
Queens, NY 11420
Borough Queens
Locale South Ozone Park
Coordinates 40°40′20″N 73°50′09″W / 40.672086°N 73.835914°W / 40.672086; -73.835914Coordinates: 40°40′20″N 73°50′09″W / 40.672086°N 73.835914°W / 40.672086; -73.835914
Division B (IND, formerly LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch)
Line IND Rockaway Line
Services       A  (Northbound only)
Structure Embankment
Platforms 1 side platform
Tracks 4 (2 in passenger service)
Other information
Opened June 28, 1956 (1956-06-28) (as a Subway station)
Accessible (northbound only)
Traffic
Passengers (2014) 630,644[1] Increase 195.2%
Rank 396 out of 421
Station succession
Next north Rockaway Boulevard: A 
Next south none
(Aqueduct – North Conduit Avenue: A )
Next north Euclid Avenue: A 
Next south none
(Howard Beach – JFK Airport (via Rockaway): A )
Notes No southbound service at this station

Aqueduct Racetrack is a station on the IND Rockaway Line of the New York City Subway. Located on the west side of Aqueduct Racetrack near Pitkin Avenue in South Ozone Park, Queens, it is served by northbound A trains at all times as of August 2, 2013.

History

The former passageway to the racetrack in 2010.

Formerly a branch of the Long Island Rail Road, what is now the IND Rockaway Line was purchased by the city in 1955 and converted to rapid transit standards. As part of the project, an additional platform for northbound trains to Brooklyn and Manhattan was built north of the existing Aqueduct station.[2][3] The new station and the rest of the subway line opened on June 28, 1956.[2] A major reconstruction of the racetrack also occurred around this time.[4]

From 1959 until 1981, extra fare trains called the "Daily Double Special" and "Aqueduct Special" ran nonstop from the lower level of the 42nd Street – Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan and crossed over to the northbound platform to discharge passengers at the racetrack. The special train services were replaced in 1978 by the JFK Express, which ran until 1990 and also stopped at this station on racing days.[5][6] The remaining service along the line would only be scheduled to stop on race days, though some trains stopped here regardless of the time of day.[7]

In April 2011, the station was closed and underwent a $15 millon renovation, sponsored by the Resorts World Casino (or "Racino") which opened at the racetrack in 2011. The renovation added new staircases to street level, an enclosed passageway between the station and casino, and an elevator from the street to platform level to make the station ADA-accessible. The station reopened in August 2013, and now operates 24 hours a day.[7][8][9] In 2013, there was a proposal to rename this station to Aqueduct – Resorts World Casino[8][9][10] and to add a platform for Rockaway-bound trains.[9]

Station layout

P
Platform level		 Fare control Entrances/Exits
(Elevator to street and passageway to Resorts World Casino)
Side platform, doors will open on the right
Northbound local ← toward Inwood – 207th Street (Rockaway Boulevard)
Northbound express ← Trackbed
Southbound express → Trackbed
Southbound local → does not stop here (Aqueduct – North Conduit Avenue) →
G Street Level Exit / Entrance to Aqueduct Racetrack; street passageway to Aqueduct – North Conduit Avenue and Pitkin Avenue
The southernmost of the two new staircases added in the 2013 renovations.

Located on an embankment, the station has four tracks with only the two outer ones in revenue service. The two center express tracks have been disconnected from the line and have permanently been removed from service. North of this station, a portion of the southbound express track connects with the southbound local track at its north end, and ends at a bumper block at its southern end. This section of track can be used for revenue service or work train layups, but this use has been made completely redundant because of the nearby Pitkin Yard serving as the primary layup yard instead.

Unusually, the station has only one platform, located on the northbound side, with one exit leading directly to Aqueduct Racetrack. Thus, it can only be served by northbound trains.[7][11] This station was originally advertised as "open on racing days," however some trains stopped here regardless of the time of day, not guaranteeing an exit from the station.[7]

This station has three High Entrance/Exit Turnstiles (HEETs) and several emergency exit gates (one of which is equipped with an autogate farecard reader), but no token booth or MetroCard Vending Machines.[12] Although MetroCards can be purchased at any subway station in the system,[12] the Metropolitan Transportation Authority considers the station to be linked with Aqueduct – North Conduit Avenue located approximately 1,500 feet (460 m) to the south, which has a full time token booth and MetroCard machines.[12][13] Two wide staircases and the elevator lead down from platform level to the parking lots in front of the racetrack.[9] A passageway (a sidewalk along Aqueduct Road) leads south from Aqueduct Racetrack to the North Conduit Avenue station; the main fare control area is located at the south end of that station at North Conduit Avenue.[12] At the north end of the passageway at Pitkin Avenue is a gate which, when open, allows access between the station and racetrack and the local community.[9] The glass enclosed bridge, called the "SkyBridge", is temperature controlled and also ADA-accessible. It leads directly to the Resorts World Casino.[8][11] Formerly, the only entrance to the station was through a large wide passageway (similar to those at Mets – Willets Point), which led directly to the racetrack.

References

  1. ↑ "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved 2015-04-26.
  2. 1 2 Freeman, Ira Henry (June 28, 1956). "Rockaway Trains to Operate Today". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  3. ↑ "Transit Agency Jockeys Over Aqueduct's Station". The New York Times. July 15, 1955. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  4. ↑ Hegarty, Matt (September 27, 2010). "Aqueduct casino operator makes $380M payment". Daily Racing Form. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  5. ↑ Levey, Stanley (June 3, 1959). "IND Racing Train Gets a Workout". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
  6. ↑ Crist, Steven (October 11, 1981). "John Henry and 8-1 Timely Writer Win". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Guimaraes, Mayara; Donohue, Pete (August 8, 2013). "Aqueduct Racetrack stop on A train in Queens now running full time for easier casino access". Daily News (New York). Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 Hayes, Maggie (October 15, 2013). "Resorts World Casino operators want to buy Aqueduct Racetrack subway station naming rights". qns.com. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Rafter, Domenick (August 14, 2013). "Take ‘A’ train to reach the games: Subway stop at Resorts World opens". Queens Chronicle. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  10. ↑ Resorts World Casino in Queens may buy name of A train subway stop
  11. 1 2 "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Ozone Park" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York). 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Kennedy, Randy (March 26, 2002). "Tunnel Vision; A $60 Subway Ride? Maybe, but He's Fighting It". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 19, 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2015.}
  13. ↑ "Subway Ridership at Highest Levels Since 1950!". Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York). February 27, 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2015.

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