Atlantic Terminal

Atlantic Terminal
The terminal's entrance pavilion, opened 2010
Location	Atlantic Avenue, Flatbush Avenue & Hanson Place Downtown, Brooklyn, New York
Coordinates	40°41′03″N 73°58′38″W / 40.684226°N 73.977234°W / 40.684226; -73.977234Coordinates: 40°41′03″N 73°58′38″W / 40.684226°N 73.977234°W / 40.684226; -73.977234
Owned by	Long Island Rail Road
Line(s)	Atlantic Branch (City Terminal Zone)
Platforms	3 island platforms
Tracks	6
Connections	New York City Subway: at Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center NYCT Bus: B41, B45, B63, B65, B67
Construction
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	1
History
Opened	July 2, 1877
Rebuilt	1907, 2010
Electrified	July 26, 1905 750 V (DC) third rail
Previous names	Brooklyn (1852–1877)[1] Flatbush Avenue (1877–2010)
Traffic
Passengers (2010)	27,850[2]
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station Terminus Atlantic Branch (City Terminal Zone) Nostrand Avenue toward Long Island

Atlantic Terminal, formerly called Flatbush Avenue, is the westernmost stop on the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) Atlantic Branch, located at Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City. It is the primary terminal for the Far Rockaway, Hempstead, and West Hempstead Branches. The terminal is located in the City Terminal Zone, the LIRR's Zone 1, and thus part of the CityTicket program. The LIRR announced that extra service from Babylon and Hicksville will go directly to Atlantic Terminal during New York Islanders games at Barclays Center. Passengers would normally have to transfer at Jamaica to go to Babylon or Hicksville.^[3]

History

The station was originally built as Brooklyn station in 1852,^[4] twenty years after the line was established as the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad, and wasn't originally a terminus. The original terminus was South Ferry. When LIRR subsidiary New York and Jamaica Railroad built a new line between Hunter's Point and Jamaica in 1861, the main line was relocated there, and the line was abandoned west of East New York, in compliance with Brooklyn's ban on steam railroads. West of East New York, the tracks were taken over by horse car lines.

Brooklyn station was replaced by Flatbush Avenue station on July 2, 1877. That same summer local Atlantic Avenue rapid transit trains began to stop here on August 13.^[5] The old depot was renovated between July-August 1878, when it also began serving the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railroad. It was rebuilt again in June 1880. The headquarters for the Long Island Express Company was installed there in 1882, and gave the station a series of tracks that would later be known as the "EX Yard." In 1888, the Union Elevated Railway built an elevated railway line and station that connected to the LIRR station, which was better known as the Atlantic Avenue (BMT Fifth Avenue Line). The Union Elevated eventually became part of the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation. Further rebuilding took place again in 1893.

Between 1904 and 1906, the Carlton Avenue Freight Yards were replaced by the Vanderbilt Avenue Freight Yards. This was just a portion of a major improvement project that included the complete reconstruction of the station. The second depot opened on April 1, 1907 with the depot at street level and the tracks installed underground. The station had a lobby that was larger than most LIRR stations, and contained subway type entrances to the tracks.^[6] It also served as a post office building until 1925,^[7] and contained a baggage depot, express buildings, some meat houses which were inherited fro the previous version of the station, and a merchandise terminal for "less than carload freight" added on in 1908. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company built a subway line called the Eastern Parkway Line and a station on Atlantic Avenue, that connected to the station on May 1, 1908. The BMT also built two more subway lines on Pacific Street along the Fourth Avenue Line on June 22, 1915, and Atlantic Avenue along the Brighton Line on August 1, 1920. The connection to the BMT Fifth Avenue Line was lost on May 31, 1940.

The station was refurbished and the exterior was sandblasted in the early-1940s. The decline of rail service after World War II lead to the station's gradual demise, however. Track #1 was out of service on April 10, 1959. Former express tracks numbers 9-14 (“EX” Yard) were taken out of service on March 3, 1971. At some point, the express buildings became a parking garage. Local businesses were still allowed to utilize the station, such as a barber shop, restaurants, candy stores, a snack bar, a podiatrist's office, a dental office, a beauty school, and even a row of telephone booths. Those businesses were gone by 1978. The tracks that were originally numbered from south to north were renumbered from north to south on July 1, 1978. Despite efforts to repaint the lobby in the early-1980s, random vandalism plagued the station interior causing water damage that was so severe, the street level depot was closed in 1988, and portions were razed during the 1990s.

In 2010, the station was renamed Atlantic Terminal after a six-year reconstruction project,^[8] during while trains continued to operate. It was named for the nearby shopping mall, although the name was used as an informal name for the former Flatbush Avenue station in the past.^[9]

Station layout

This terminal has three high-level island platforms adjacent to six tracks. The north platform, Platform A, is ten cars long and adjacent to Tracks 1 and 2. The two eastern-most cars on Track 1 are not accessible due to a large gap between the train and the platform. The center platform, Platform B, is eight cars long and adjacent to Tracks 3 and 4. (Brook Tower is at the east end of this platform.) The south platform, Platform C, is six cars long adjacent to Tracks 5 and 6. Because the west end of Track 6 is adjacent to the inbound local platform of the IRT Eastern Parkway Line, this track has only enough space for four cars to meet the platform.

Subway and bus connections

Atlantic Terminal is connected to the New York City Subway's Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center complex, which is served by the 2 3 4 5 B D N Q R trains. Buses serving outside the complex include B41, B45, B63, B65, and B67.

On January 5, 2010, a new entry pavilion opened, providing improved connections between the LIRR, subways, and buses.^[10]

Nearby locations

The rail terminal is adjacent to and below the Atlantic Terminal mall and near the Barclays Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower.

The massive Pacific Park residential, commercial and sports complex (including Barclays Center) is being built near the station and above its yard tracks.^[11]

Gallery

• 

  Interior of the station, c. 1893

• 

  1910 photo of the former LIRR Atlantic Terminal (demolished 1988)

• 

  Looking down Platform B. A train to Far Rockaway is on the right

• 

  Looking down to track level in entry pavilion

See also

• Times Plaza
• Pacific Park
• Lower Manhattan-Jamaica/JFK Transportation Project

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Atlantic Terminal.

• Official LIRR station information page for Atlantic Terminal
• Station timetable for Atlantic Terminal
• LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD - I. R. T. CONNECTION 1
• NYCSubway.org's page about the terminal
• Ministry of Travel: The New LIRR Brooklyn Terminal (Forgotten New York)
• Flatbush Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• main entrance at Flatbush Avenue and Hanson Place from Google Maps Street View
• BROOK Interlocking (LIRR Today) (registration required)