Long Island Rail Road

The Long Island Rail Road or LIRR is a railroad that serves the length of Long Island, New York. It is the busiest commuter railroad in the United States, and the oldest railroad still operating under its original name. It is owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which has styled it MTA Long Island Rail Road. There is legislation pending in the New York State legislature that would allow the MTA to merge the LIRR with the Metro-North Commuter Railroad to form MTA Rail.http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/capconstr/about.htm

Key terminals

The LIRR has two major terminals and one minor terminal in New York City - The major terminals are located at New York Penn Station in Manhattan, and the Atlantic Terminal located at the intersections of Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. The minor terminal is at Long Island City in Queens, New York. The Hunterspoint Avenue station, just east of the Long Island City terminal, is served by roughly 8 westbound trains and 12 eastbound trains per weekday. Five of those trains in each direction continue with passengers to/originate from Long Island City. All those trains, however continue to the yard at Long Island City.

Related Topics:
New York City - New York Penn Station - Manhattan - Atlantic Terminal - Flatbush Avenue - Atlantic Avenue - Brooklyn - Long Island City - Queens

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A third major terminal is currently under construction. In 2011/2012 the LIRR intends to initiate service to Grand Central Terminal via the East Side Access project. When the F train of the New York City Subway was routed beneath the East River dividing Manhattan and Long Island, provisioning was made for this LIRR route. Work to be done includes tunneling beneath Manhattan from 63rd Street and East River across to Park Avenue and then south to Grand Central Terminal, as well as tunneling from the LIRR Main Line near Amtrak's Sunnyside Yard in Queens to the East River.

Related Topics:
Grand Central Terminal - F - New York City Subway - Amtrak - Sunnyside

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There is also a major station and transfer point in Jamaica, Queens, where the railroad's headquarters are located. (The parent MTA is headquartered in Manhattan.) Jamaica Station encompasses eight tracks and six platforms, plus yard and bypass tracks. At Jamaica passengers can transfer between all western branches and all but one eastern branch. In fact, frequent riders of the LIRR use the phrase "change at Jamaica" often. Transfer is also made for separate facilities for two different subway lines, many bus lines, and the AirTrain automated electric rail system to JFK International Airport.

Related Topics:
Jamaica - Jamaica Station - AirTrain - JFK International Airport

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There are eleven branches on the LIRR. The longest two being the Main Line and the Montauk which "give birth" to six of the remaining nine branches. The Main Line and Montauk Branch each extend to points a few miles short of the end of each of Long Island's "forks," long peninsulas separated by Shelter Island Sound. The line to the north fork, with limited service east of the prime commuter zone, is at Greenport and the line to the south fork, with both commuter service and extensive seasonal excursion traffic, is at Montauk.

Related Topics:
Shelter Island Sound - Greenport - Montauk

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There are six subsidiary branches terminating in Nassau County, New York, at Port Washington, Oyster Bay, Hempstead, West Hempstead, Long Beach and Far Rockaway. This latter terminal actually loops back to, and terminates in New York City, but the remainder of the branch is in Nassau. In addition to the two major branches, there is one subsidiary branch in Suffolk County, New York, to Port Jefferson.

Related Topics:
Nassau County, New York - Port Washington - Oyster Bay - Hempstead - West Hempstead - Long Beach - Far Rockaway - Suffolk County, New York - Port Jefferson

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