Rockaway Park Shuttle

Rockaway Park Shuttle
Rockaway Park Shuttle train of R46 cars at its northern terminus, Broad Channel.
Northern end	Broad Channel (Rockaway Boulevard seasonal)
Southern end	Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street
Stations	5 (9 seasonal)
Rolling stock	12 R46s (3 trains)
Depot	Pitkin Yard
Started service	June 28, 1956 (1956-06-28)
Route map  A  Inwood–207th Street Dyckman Street 190th Street 181st Street 175th Street  A  switches to local during late nights  C  (local) 168th Street 163rd Street–Amsterdam Avenue 155th Street  B   D  trains continue to the Bronx 145th Street 135th Street 125th Street 116th Street Cathedral Parkway–110th Street 103rd Street 96th Street 86th Street 81st Street–Museum of Natural History 72nd Street 59th Street–Columbus Circle  B   D  trains continue south  E  trains continue to Queens 50th Street southbound only 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal 34th Street–Penn Station 23rd Street 14th Street West Fourth Street–Washington Square Spring Street Canal Street  E  trains diverge  A  express and  C  local merge  E  Chambers Street Fulton Street Manhattan Brooklyn High Street  F  trains continue to Manhattan Jay Street–MetroTech  F   G  trains continue south no regular service trains continue west Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets  G  trains continue to Queens  C  local  A  express Lafayette Avenue Clinton–Washington Avenues Franklin Avenue Nostrand Avenue Kingston–Throop Avenues Utica Avenue Ralph Avenue Rockaway Avenue Broadway Junction Liberty Avenue Van Siclen Avenue Shepherd Avenue  C  (local)  A  (nightly shuttle) Euclid Avenue  A  switches to local during late nights Grant Avenue Brooklyn Queens 80th Street 88th Street Rockaway Boulevard 104th Street 111th Street  A  Ozone Park–Lefferts Boulevard Aqueduct Racetrack (northbound only)   Aqueduct–North Conduit Avenue Howard Beach–JFK Airport  S  Broad Channel Beach 67th Street Beach 60th Street Beach 44th Street Beach 36th Street Beach 25th Street  A  Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue Beach 90th Street Beach 98th Street Beach 105th Street  A   S  Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street Lines used by the  A  and  C  Other services sharing tracks with the  A  and  C  Unused lines, connections, or service patterns Cross-platform interchange Platforms on different levels

The Rockaway Park Shuttle is a shuttle service of the New York City Subway operating in Queens. It connects with the A train at Broad Channel station and is the latest iteration of the Rockaway Shuttle services that have been running in the Rockaway peninsula since 1956. This shuttle train provides service to the western part of the peninsula, with a terminus at Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street. The fully aboveground route operates on trackage that was originally part of the Long Island Rail Road's Far Rockaway Branch until the mid-1950s. Like the other two shuttles, 42nd Street in Manhattan and Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn, its route bullet is colored dark gray on route signs, station signs, rolling stock, and the official subway map. The internal designator for this service is H, though the MTA does not show this on any maps, train rollsigns, or schedules.^[1]

History

Subway Goes To Rockaway

The Rockaway Shuttle started operating on June 28, 1956. During its early years, it essentially provided non-rush hour and weekend service between Euclid Avenue and either Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue or Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street. At first, the route did not have an official assigned letter code on maps, although sometimes trains displayed either the A or E route on their rollsign boxes.

Beginning on February 1, 1962, the Rockaway Shuttle was officially lettered on maps and trains as HH. From November 26, 1967 to September 10, 1972, it was colored red, with daytime non-rush hour and weekend service usually available between Rockaway Park and Euclid Avenue or Broad Channel, plus some weekday mid-afternoon service provided between Far Rockaway and Euclid Avenue.

During the late night-early morning hours, service operating to and from Euclid Avenue on the IND Fulton Street Line in Brooklyn was extended between roughly midnight and 6:00 a.m., which were the hours when the A did not run to and from Far Rockaway. At those times, the HH would operate from Euclid Avenue to Rockaway Park, then to Far Rockaway via Hammels Wye, and finally back to Euclid Avenue, thus earning this night owl service the unofficial nickname as Rockaway Round-Robin.

Between September 11, 1972 and August 29, 1976, the shuttle's identifier was known as the E (colored aqua blue), although during rush hours this train was extended all the way to Jamaica–179th Street on the IND Queens Boulevard Line in Queens. Afterward, the designation CC (colored green) was used for the shuttle, although during rush hours this train was extended all the way to Bedford Park Boulevard on the IND Concourse Line in the Bronx.

On May 6, 1985, the shuttle's identifier was changed to H (colored blue) instead of reverting to HH, as the New York City subway system had abolished two-letter designations by then.^[2] Prior to 1993, late night A service went to Lefferts Boulevard with no service to Far Rockaway. During this time again, the Rockaway Shuttle ran from Rockaway Park to Far Rockaway, to Euclid Avenue, and finally, back down to Rockaway Park.

In 1993, service was changed. All late night A service traveled to Far Rockaway and service to Lefferts Boulevard was provided by a shuttle to Euclid Avenue. The Rockaway Park Shuttle now ran between Rockaway Park and Broad Channel at all times. Also in 1993, special A diamond service began running from Rockaway Park to Dyckman Street on the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Inwood, Manhattan, during the morning rush (later Inwood–207th Street) and from 59th Street–Columbus Circle (now 168th Street with the fifth trip out of Dyckman Street) to Rockaway Park during the evening rush.

Formerly, some maps had shown the current S service in blue, but this had never been used on trains. Since May 2004, the official system map shows the Rockaway Park Shuttle as carrying a grey bullet. Recent prints, however, depicted the service itself in blue, but has been changed back to grey, as of January 2013.^[3] In order to distinguish it from the other shuttles, NYCT Rapid Transit operations still refers to it internally as the H.

The Rockaway Park Shuttle was suspended following the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, due to track being washed out between Broad Channel and Howard Beach. On November 20, 2012, a free shuttle designated as H replaced the Rockaway portion of the A service between Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue and Beach 90th Street via the Hammels Wye. Additionally, the remainder of the Rockaway Line from Beach 90th Street to Rockaway Park was damaged and awaited repair. With the emergency implementation of this service, the H rollsign designation returned to public usage for the first time since 1993.^[4] Despite the service's free status, few riders used the signed H service,^[4] partly due to the extremely low ridership at Rockaway stations to begin with; this ridership had been lowered further since Hurricane Sandy.^[5] In addition, the service did not run during late nights, and the service was only connected to the rest of the subway via a shuttle bus to Howard Beach.^[4] On May 30, 2013, full service to the Rockaways was restored, and the free H service was discontinued.^[6][7]

In late May 2016, the MTA announced that it would extend the Rockaway Park Shuttle from Broad Channel to Rockaway Boulevard during weekends from mid-June until Labor Day 2016.^[8] This extension allowed passengers on both Lefferts Boulevard and Far Rockaway-bound trains to transfer to the shuttle, and for shuttle passengers to transfer to more frequent A train service at Rockaway Boulevard. The trains were also lengthened to eight cars instead of the usual four. This extension was implemented again in summer 2017.^[9]

Stations

For a more detailed station listing, see IND Rockaway Line.^[10]

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
	Stops summer weekends only
Time period details

	Stations		Subway transfers	Connections/Other Notes
Seasonal extension (Weekends)
Fulton Street Line
	Rockaway Boulevard		A	Northern terminus of seasonal extension
Rockaway Line
↑	Aqueduct Racetrack		A	Station serves northbound trains only
	Aqueduct–North Conduit Avenue		A
	Howard Beach–JFK Airport		A	AirTrain JFK
Regular service
Rockaway Line (Rockaway Park Branch)
	Broad Channel		A	Northern terminus of regular service
	Beach 90th Street		A
	Beach 98th Street		A
	Beach 105th Street		A
	Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street		A	Southern terminus

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to H (New York City Subway service) and Rockaway Park Shuttle.

• MTA NYC Transit – Rockaway Park Shuttle
• "S Subway Timetable, Rockaway Park Shuttle, Effective June 25, 2017" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved June 25, 2017. 
• thesubwaynut2 (August 16, 2014). "Backfanning on the Rockaway Park Shuttle". Youtube. Retrieved August 16, 2014.