Long Island City station
Long Island City is a rail terminal of the Long Island Rail Road in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York City. 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 consists of one passenger platform located at ground level and is wheelchair accessible.
Service
The station is served only during weekday rush hours in the peak direction by diesel trains from the Oyster Bay, Montauk, or Port Jefferson Branches via the Main Line. Until November 2012, some LIRR trains also ran via the Lower Montauk Branch to and from this station.
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.[3] The rebuilt, and fire-proof, station opened on April 26, 1903.[4]:13 Electric service to the station began 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, specifically to the East 34th Street Ferry Landing in Murray Hill, and the James Slip Ferry Port in what is today part of the Two Bridges section of Lower Manhattan. The passenger ferry service was abandoned on March 3, 1925.[5] A track spur split from the Montauk Branch east of the Long Island City station, running along the south border of the station before curving north to the North Shore Freight Branch running between 48th and 49th Avenues, where there were connections to car floats at what is today the Gantry Plaza State Park. These car floats carried freight trains to and from Manhattan and New Jersey until the mid-20th century. Today, ferry service is operated by NYC Ferry.
The station house was torn down again in 1939 for construction of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel, but continued to operate as an active station throughout the tunnel's construction and opening.
Station layout
This station has 13 tracks and three concrete high-level island platforms. The northernmost platform, Platform A, is two cars long and is accessible from Borden Avenue just west of Fifth Street. Platforms B and C are located within the secure area of the rail yard.
All tracks without platforms are used for train storage. The southernmost six tracks are powered by third rail, while the remaining are only used by diesel-powered trains.
| P Platform level |
Street level | Exit/entrance, ticket machine, access to ferry, buses, and subway |
| Track 0 | Storage track → | |
| Track 1 | Storage track → | |
| Track 2 | Port Jefferson Branch toward Huntington or Port Jefferson (Hunterspoint Avenue) → Oyster Bay Branch toward Oyster Bay (Hunterspoint Avenue) → Montauk Branch toward Patchogue, Speonk or Montauk (Hunterspoint Avenue) → | |
| Platform A, island platform | ||
| Track 3 | Port Jefferson Branch toward Huntington or Port Jefferson (Hunterspoint Avenue) → Oyster Bay Branch toward Oyster Bay (Hunterspoint Avenue) → Montauk Branch toward Patchogue, Speonk or Montauk (Hunterspoint Avenue) → | |
| Track 4 | Storage track → | |
| Track 5 | Storage track → | |
| Track 6 | Storage track → | |
| Platform B, no regular service | ||
| Track 7 | Storage track → | |
| Track 8 | Storage track → | |
| Platform C, no regular service | ||
| Track 9 | Storage track → | |
| Track 10 | Storage track → | |
| Track 11 | Storage track → | |
| Track 12 | Storage track → | |
Gallery
- Long Island City
Two trains on a Tuesday
Idle on a Sunday
The wooden platform on a Wednesday morning
References
- Long Island Rail Road Alphabetical Station Listing and History (TrainsAreFun.com) Archived January 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- "2012-2014 LIRR Origin and Destination Report : Volume I: Travel Behavior Among All LIRR Passengers" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. August 23, 2016. PDF pp. 15, 199. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
- "Long Island City Station Is Burned". The New York Times. December 19, 1902. p. 1. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
- The Long Island Railroad Thirtieth Annual Report For The Year Ending December 31st, 1903. Long Island Railroad Company. 1904.
- "34th Street Ferry Abandoned After 67 Years". The New York Times. March 4, 1925. p. 21. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
- 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.
