Main Line (Long Island Rail Road)

For other uses, see Main Line (disambiguation).

LIRR Main Line
Overview
Type	Commuter rail
System	Long Island Rail Road
Status	Operational
Locale	Long Island, New York, USA
Termini	Long Island City Greenport
Stations	29 passenger, 1 employee-only
Services	Main Line (City Terminal Zone)   Belmont Park Branch   Hempstead Branch   Oyster Bay Branch   Port Jefferson Branch   Ronkonkoma Branch
Operation
Owner	Long Island Rail Road
Operator(s)	Long Island Rail Road
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	Third rail (west of Ronkonkoma)

The Main Line is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It begins in Long Island City and runs along the middle of Long Island about 95 miles (153 km) to Greenport. A mile east of Long Island City (east of Hunterspoint Avenue) the four tracks of the East River Tunnels join the two tracks from Long Island City; most Main Line trains use those tunnels rather than running to or from Long Island City.

Continuing east, five branches split from the Main Line; in order from west to east, they are:

• Port Washington Branch (at Wood Interlocking in Woodside, Queens)
• Hempstead Branch (at Queens Interlocking along the Queens/Nassau County border)
• Oyster Bay Branch (at Nassau Interlocking, east of Mineola station)
• Port Jefferson Branch (at Divide Interlocking, east of Hicksville station)
• Central Branch (at Beth Interlocking, east of Bethpage station) - a single track with no stations, connecting the Main Line to the Montauk Branch

Public timetables refer to the Main Line east of Hicksville as the Ronkonkoma Branch.

Trains on the Main Line between Long Island City and Ronkonkoma are governed by Automatic Block and Interlocking Signals and by Automatic Train Control (known as Automatic Speed Control by the LIRR). East of Ronkonkoma to Greenport trains operate in non-signalled or "Dark Territory", with all train movements governed by train orders and timetable authority.

Route description and current train service

The Main Line has two tracks from just east of Long Island City to Harold Interlocking (0.6 miles [1.0 km] northwest of the Woodside station), where the four tracks from Penn Station in Manhattan join the Main Line after passing through the East River Tunnels. East of Harold^[1] the four-track Main Line runs adjacent to the two-track Port Washington Branch until, 0.7 miles (1.1 km) southeast of the Woodside station, the Port Washington Branch turns northeastward. The Main Line continues southeast with four tracks to Jay Interlocking where it meets the Atlantic Branch and Montauk Branch at the west end of Jamaica station. Eight platform tracks and two bypass tracks pass Jamaica station, along with a few yard tracks and two former freight tracks on the south side that can be used by trains bypassing Jamaica. At Hall Interlocking^[2] just east of the station there are eight through tracks: two usually-westward tracks for Main Line and Montauk trains, two Atlantic Branch tracks that are about to duck under and turn southeast, two usually-eastward Main Line/Montauk tracks, and the two former freight tracks on the south side of Hall tower.

Just east of there Montauk Branch trains get their own two tracks in the center of the four Main Line tracks until the Montauk tracks fly over^[3] the other tracks and head southeast. At Queens Interlocking, just inside Nassau County between the Queens Village and Bellerose stations, the four-track Main Line splits into the two-track Main Line and the two-track Hempstead Branch; the four tracks continue parallel to Floral Park where the Hempstead Branch curves away southward. To just east of Farmingdale Station the Main Line has two tracks, then is single track with passing sidings to Greenport except for a three-mile stretch of double track from west of Deer Park to east of Brentwood. The Main Line was electrified between Hicksville and Ronkonkoma in 1987, requiring construction of high platforms along that stretch. LIRR plans eventually to complete double track to Ronkonkoma.

The Main Line west of Jamaica to Harold Interlocking is the only line that can reach the East River Tunnels, so all trains bound for Penn Station use it. The portion between Harold and the Long Island City station is used by trains originating or terminating at Hunterspoint Avenue and LIC.

Power station at Nassau Interlocking in Mineola

East of Jamaica Station the Main Line is used by all trains on the Hempstead Branch, the Oyster Bay Branch (diverging east of Mineola), the Port Jefferson Branch (diverging east of Hicksville), and the Ronkonkoma Branch (terminating at Ronkonkoma, the easterly limits of the line's electrification). Some Montauk Branch trains use the Main Line on their way to Babylon via the Central Branch, diverging east of Bethpage.

Only a few diesel shuttle trains, informally known as scoots, operate between Ronkonkoma and Greenport. Weekend service east of Ronkonkoma only operates between Memorial Day and Columbus Day.

History

The Main Line opened beyond Jamaica to Hicksville on March 1, 1837; shortly afterwards, the Panic of 1837 severely curtailed construction. It was extended to Farmingdale on October 15, 1841, Deer Park on March 14, 1842, Brentwood on June 24, Central Islip on July 14, and Yaphank on June 26, 1844. An opening excursion to Greenport was operated on July 27, 1844, and revenue service began over the full line on July 29.^[4][5][6][7]

Third Main Line track

To accommodate an expected increase in Long Island Rail Road ridership once the East Side Access project to Grand Central Terminal is completed and to expand local and reverse peak service, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has proposed to build a third Main Line track from Floral Park to Hicksville in the future.^[8][9] Components of the project include purchasing properties in the track's right of way, eliminating grade crossings (in conjunction with NYSDOT), relocating existing stations, and reconfiguring Mineola Station. Fierce opposition for building a third track comes from the villages of Floral Park, New Hyde Park, and Garden City,^[10][11][12] which say the construction and the resulting increased train service will reduce the quality of life in their neighborhoods. However, these villages do support station improvements and the elimination of grade crossings.

Stations

[v · d · e]LIRR Main Line

Legend Grand Central Terminal starting 2013 0.0 New York Pennsylvania Station 63rd Street Tunnel East River Tunnels 1.9 Long Island City Montauk Branch (east) 2.5 Hunterspoint Avenue 5.1 Woodside Port Washington Branch Rockaway Beach Branch closed in 1962 8.7 Forest Hills 9.7 Kew Gardens Montauk Branch (west) Morris Park Facility LIRR employees only Atlantic Branch (west) AirTrain JFK Zone 1 Zone 3 11.3 Jamaica Atlantic Branch (east) Montauk Branch (east) Hillside Facility LIRR employees only 13.6 Hollis 15.4 Queens Village Zone 3 Zone 4 Belmont Park 16.9 Floral Park Hempstead Branch 18.2 New Hyde Park 19.3 Merillon Avenue 20.5 Mineola Oyster Bay Branch Zone 4 Zone 7 22.4 Carle Place 23.4 Westbury 26.8 Hicksville Port Jefferson Branch 29.9 Bethpage Central Branch 32.2 Farmingdale Zone 7 Zone 9 34.4 Pinelawn 36.6 Wyandanch 38.4 Deer Park Zone 9 Zone 10 42.8 Brentwood 45.3 Central Islip 50.3 Ronkonkoma Ronkonkoma Yard 56.1 Medford Zone 10 Zone 12 60.6 Yaphank Manorville closed 1968 Manorville Branch closed in 1949 Zone 12 Zone 14 75.3 Riverhead 84.4 Mattituck 92.1 Southold 96.3 Greenport Highlighted route is owned by Amtrak and is not part of the LIRR Main Line. Distances shown in miles from Pennsylvania Station.

Hempstead Branch trains run on separate tracks east of Queens Village (and split south, east of Floral Park), Oyster Bay Branch trains split off after Mineola, and Port Jefferson Branch trains split off after Hicksville. Montauk Branch trains that use the Main Line and Central Branch split off after Bethpage, but only some stop at Mineola and Hicksville east of Jamaica.

Jamaica is 11.2 to 11.3 (18 km) from Penn Station.

Station/ location	Miles (kilometers) from Jamaica[13]	Notes
Long Island City
Hunterspoint Avenue
Woodside	5.9 (9.5)	Transfer to Port Washington Branch
Forest Hills	2.3 (3.7)
Kew Gardens	2.0 (3.2)
Jamaica	0.0 (0.0)
Hillside Facility		Employee-only station
Hollis 193rd Street and Woodhull Avenue, Hollis	2.6 (4.2)
Queens Village Springfield Boulevard and Amboy Lane, Queens Village	4.2 (6.8)
Floral Park Tulip Avenue and Atlantic Avenue, Floral Park	5.9 (9.5)	Hempstead Branch diverges
New Hyde Park New Hyde Park and 2nd Avenue, New Hyde Park	7.2 (11.6)
Merillon Avenue Nassau Boulevard and Merillon Avenue, Garden City	8.3 (13.4)
Mineola Front Street and Mineola Boulevard, Mineola	9.5 (15.3)	Oyster Bay Branch diverges
Carle Place Cherry Lane and Atlantic Avenue, Carle Place	11.3 (18.2)
Westbury Union Avenue and Post Avenue Westbury	12.4 (20.0)
Hicksville Newbridge Road (Route 106) and West Barclay Street, Hicksville	15.8 (25.4)	Port Jefferson Branch diverges
Bethpage Stewart Avenue and Jackson Avenue, Bethpage	18.9 (30.4)	Central Branch diverges
Farmingdale Off Secatogue Avenue, on Front Street and Atlantic Avenue, Farmingdale	21.2 (34.1)
Pinelawn Wellwood Avenue and Long Island Avenue, Pinelawn Memorial Park	23.4 (37.7)
Wyandanch Straight Path and Long Island Avenue, Wyandanch	25.7 (41.4)
Deer Park Pine Aire Drive and Long Island Avenue, Deer Park	29.4 (47.3)
Brentwood Brentwood Road and Suffolk Avenue, Brentwood	32.1 (51.7)
Central Islip Lowell Avenue and Suffolk Avenue, Central Islip	36.4 (58.6)
Ronkonkoma Hawkins Avenue and Johnson Avenue, Ronkonkoma	39.5 (63.6)	easternmost electrified service
Medford Medford Avenue (New York State Route 112) and Long Island Avenue, Medford	45.1 (72.6)
Yaphank Yaphank Avenue and Park Street, Yaphank	49.6 (79.8)
Riverhead Osborne Avenue and Railroad Street, Riverhead	64.1 (103.2)
Mattituck Love Lane and Pike Street, Mattituck	73.4 (118.1)
Southold Youngs Avenue and Traveler Street, Southold	81.1 (130.5)
Greenport Wiggins Street and 4th Street, Greenport	85.3 (137.3)	Ferry to Shelter Island and New London, Connecticut

Full list, including all former stations

Miles from LIC	Name	Opened	Closed
0.0	Long Island City earlier Hunter's Point	June 26, 1854	present
	Hunterspoint Avenue	August 1860	present
	Woodside	1861	present
4.0[14]	Winfield	1865	1929
	Grand Street	1913	1925
	Rego Park	1928	1962
	Matawok	1922	1925
	Forest Hills	1906	present
	Hopedale	1875	by 1884
	Kew Gardens originally Maple Grove, then Kew	1879 1883 1910	1882 1909 present
	Westbridge earlier High Bridge	1916	1939
	Dunton	1897	1939
9.9[14]	Jamaica	1836	present
	Union Hall Street earlier New York Avenue	ca. 1890	1976
	Canal Street	June 24, 1890[15]	1899
10.9[14]	Hillside earlier Rockaway Junction	June 24, 1890[15]	July 1, 1966
	Hillside Facility	1991	present
	Willow Tree	ca. 1837
11.9[14]	Hollis	1885	present
12.8[14]	Bellaire originally Flushing Avenue, then Brushville, then Interstate Park, then Brushville Road	March 1, 1837[16] 1900	ca. 1871 1972
13.6[14]	Queens Village originally Queens	1881 1924	present
	Belmont Park	1905	present
14.5[14]	Bellerose	1898	present (Hempstead Branch only)
15.3[14]	Floral Park originally Plainfield, then Stewart Junction, then Hinsdale, then East Hinsdale	1870s	present
	New Hyde Park earlier Hyde Park	ca. 1837	present
	Merillon Avenue originally Clowesville, then Garden City	1837	present
	Mineola originally Hempstead, then Branch or Hempstead Branch	March 1, 1837[16]	present
	Carle Place earlier Carll Place	May 1842[17]	present
	Westbury	March 1, 1837[16]	present
	New Cassel	1875
	Hicksville	March 1, 1837[16]	present
	Grumman	1942	1970's
	Bethpage originally Jerusalem, then Central Park	by 1854[18]	present
	Bethpage Junction (Beth Interlocking)	1873	closed
	Farmingdale	October 15, 1841[19][20]	present
	Republic	1940	1970's
	Pinelawn earlier Melville	1890s	present
	Wyandanch originally West Deer Park, then Wyandance	1875	present
	Edgewood	1892	1914
	Deer Park	March 14, 1842[21][22]	present
	Pilgrim State Hospital		1978
	Thompson	June 1842[23]	1869
	Pineaire	1915	1986
	Brentwood originally Modern Times	1870	present
	Suffolk	August 10, 1842[24]	1873
	Central Islip	1873 1916 1958 1987	present
	Central Islip State Hospital
	Nichols Road
	Lakeland earlier Lake Road	1843	1883
	Ronkonkoma earlier Lake Ronkonkoma	1883	present
	Holbrook	1844	1962[25]
	Holtsville earlier Waverly[26]	1843	March 16, 1998
	Medford	June 26, 1844[27]	present
	Bartlett's earlier Bellport	1852
	Fire Place	June 26, 1844[27]
	Yaphank earlier Milleville	1844	present
	Carman's River	June 26, 1844[27]	1945
	Upton Road	1918	1922
	Camp Upton	1917	1922
	Wampmissic	by 1852
	Manorville originally St. George's Manor, then Manor	by 1845	ca. 1968
	Calverton originally Hulse Turnout, then Baiting Hollow	1852	ca. 1958
	Riverhead	1844	present
	Aquebogue	1892	c. 1967
	Jamesport	1844	1985
	Laurel	1901	1967
	Mattituck	by 1845	present
	Cutchogue	1844	1962
	Peconic earlier Hermitage	1844	ca. 1970
	Southold	1844	present
	Greenport	1844	present

References

1. ^ from 40°45′03″N 73°54′43″W / 40.75075°N 73.912°W / 40.75075; -73.912 to 40°44′18″N 73°53′38″W / 40.7382°N 73.894°W / 40.7382; -73.894
2. ^ 40°42′01″N 73°48′22″W / 40.70025°N 73.8061°W / 40.70025; -73.8061
3. ^ 40°42′21″N 73°47′04″W / 40.70585°N 73.7845°W / 40.70585; -73.7845
4. ^ PRR Chronology, 1837PDF (98.8 KiB), June 2004 Edition
5. ^ PRR Chronology, 1841PDF (60.7 KiB), May 2004 Edition
6. ^ PRR Chronology, 1842PDF (70.6 KiB), May 2004 Edition
7. ^ PRR Chronology, 1844PDF (41.4 KiB), May 2004 Edition
8. ^ Main Line Corridor Improvements EIS
9. ^ Main Line Corridor Improvements Project brochure
10. ^ Stephanie Mariel Petrellese (2005-11-11). "Floral Park Mayor To Address LIRR Expansion". The Garden City News. http://www.gcnews.com/news/2005/1111/Front_Page/001.html. Retrieved 2006-12-23. 
11. ^ Carisa Keane (2005-06-24). "Residents: MTA/LIRR Needs to Get on Right Track". New Hyde Park Illustrated News. http://www.antonnews.com/illustratednews/2005/06/24/news/. Retrieved 2006-12-23. 
12. ^ Stephanie Mariel Petrellese (2006-12-15). "Village Meets With LIRR On "Third Track" Project". The Garden City News. http://www.gcnews.com/news/2006/1215/Front_Page/001.html. Retrieved 2006-12-23. 
13. ^ Station pages linked from LIRR Map
14. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Employee timetable, November 5, 1905
15. ^ ^{a b} "Rapid Transit Extension". Brooklyn Daily Eagle: p. 1. June 24, 1890. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?BaseHref=BEG/1890/06/24&Page=1&skin=BE. 
16. ^ ^{a b c d} Brooklyn Advocate, Long Island Rail Road, February 1837
17. ^ "Long Island Railroad Company". Brooklyn Daily Eagle: p. 3. May 28, 1842. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?BaseHref=BEG/1842/05/28&Page=3&skin=BE. 
18. ^ "RAILROADS". New York Times. 1854-04-13. pp. p7. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9403E5DC153DE334BC4B52DFB266838F649FDE. Retrieved 2008-04-07. 
19. ^ "The Long Delay at Hicksville". Newsday. http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-history-hs515c,0,6895555.story. 
20. ^ "Brooklyn Eagle v1, #1 (LIRR timetable)". Brooklyn Eagle. 1841-10-26. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/getimage.dll?path=BEG/1841/10/26/1/Img/Pg001.png.  This is the very first edition of the paper. (Whether "late Bethpage" is meant to indicate 1> a flag stop at the community near Merritts Road, or 2> that the area near the Farmingdale LIRR station had lately been called Bethpage, or 3> that the Merrits Road community had been a temporary stop until the Farmingdale station was completed has not yet been determined.)
21. ^ "untitled". Brooklyn Daily Eagle: p. 2. March 14, 1842. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?BaseHref=BEG/1842/03/14&Page=2&skin=BE. 
22. ^ "Long Island Railroad Company". Brooklyn Daily Eagle: p. 3. March 16, 1842. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?BaseHref=BEG/1842/03/16&Page=3&skin=BE. 
23. ^ "Long Island Railroad". Brooklyn Daily Eagle: p. 2. June 29, 1842. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?BaseHref=BEG/1842/06/29&Page=2&skin=BE. 
24. ^ "untitled". Brooklyn Daily Eagle: p. 2. August 6, 1842. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?BaseHref=BEG/1842/08/06&Page=2&skin=BE. 
25. ^ Holbrook Station @ Ronkonkoma MP 49-50; October 1957(TrainsAreFun.com)
26. ^ May 13, 1912 Photo @ Ron Zeil collection (Unofficial LIRR History Website)
27. ^ ^{a b c} "Long Island Railroad Co". Brooklyn Daily Eagle: p. 2. June 24, 1844. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?BaseHref=BEG/1844/06/24&Page=2&skin=BE.