Far Rockaway
Looking northeast at the station
General information
LocationNameoke Avenue and Redfern Avenue
Far Rockaway, Queens, New York
Coordinates40°36′31″N 73°45′03″W / 40.608610°N 73.750792°W / 40.608610; -73.750792
Owned byLong Island Rail Road
Line(s)Far Rockaway Branch
Platforms1 island platform
Tracks2
ConnectionsNew York City Subway
"A" train at Far Rockaway – Mott Avenue
Local Transit MTA Bus: Q22, Q113, Q114
Local Transit Nassau Inter-County Express: n31, n32, n33
Construction
ParkingYes
AccessibleYes
Other information
Fare zone4
History
OpenedFebruary 21, 1958
Passengers
2006316[1]
Services
Preceding station Long Island Rail Road Following station
Inwood
toward Penn Station or Grand Central
 Far Rockaway Branch Terminus

Far Rockaway is the terminus of the Long Island Rail Road's Far Rockaway Branch in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens in New York City. The station is located at Nameoke Avenue (formerly Nameoke Street) and Redfern Avenue.

History

Far Rockaway station was originally built by the South Side Railroad of Long Island on July 29, 1869. From 1872 to 1877, the station was located in close proximity to the southern terminus of the LIRR's Cedarhurst Cut-off.[2][3] The original station house was converted into a freight house, and replaced by the 2nd station which was moved from Ocean Point Station (a.k.a. Cedarhurst Station), remodeled, and opened on October 1, 1881. The 3rd depot opened on July 15, 1890, while the 2nd depot was sold and moved to a private location in October 1890. From 1897 to 1926 the Ocean Electric Railway used Far Rockaway station as both the eastern terminus and as their headquarters. It also served as the terminus of a Long Island Electric Railway trolley line leading to Jamaica. The tracks and platforms were elevated as with much of the Far Rockaway Branch on April 10, 1942.

The Far Rockaway Branch had originally been part of a loop that traveled along the existing route, continuing through the Rockaway Peninsula and heading on a trestle across Jamaica Bay through Queens where it reconnected with the Atlantic and Lower Montauk branches, and even the Main Line. Frequent fires and maintenance problems led to the LIRR abandoning the Queens portion of the route (with the exception being this station), which was acquired by the city to become the IND Rockaway Line, with service provided by the A train. The line was divided with the portions from Mott Avenue becoming part of the subway system on January 16, 1958, and the current Far Rockaway station becoming not only the terminus of the LIRR branch on February 21, 1958,[4] but also the newest station on the branch.

Although the station is located within New York City, it was not initially part of LIRR's CityTicket program—which provides discounted tickets for LIRR and Metro-North Railroad trips entirely within the city—as the line passes through Nassau County.[5] Residents and politicians had asked the MTA to include the station in the program.[6][7] The MTA previously stated that they are concerned about customers from other stations along the line in Nassau boarding trains at the reduced CityTicket rate.[8]

The MTA announced in May 2023 as part of wider fare changes, that a discounted ticket option would be introduced which would provide the same discounts as a regular CityTicket.[9][10] In August 2023, the special fare was unveiled and implemented as the Far Rockaway Ticket.[11] Geolocation restrictions in the TrainTime app only allow purchase of discounted tickets within the vicinity of the Far Rockaway station.[10] Paper tickets are also available from vending machines at the station.[11]

Station layout

This station has one 10-car-long island platform. North of the station, the two tracks merge, then split into four tracks––two of which are used for storage and two continue on towards Jamaica. The station house dating to 1958 was demolished in 2020.

References

  1. ↑ Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
  2. ↑ The New York and Rockaway Railroad (Arrt's Arrchives)
  3. ↑ 1873 Map of the NY&R (Arrt's Arrchives)
  4. ↑ IND Rockaway Branch/Jamaica Bay Crossing, accessed June 14, 2006
  5. ↑ "CityTicket for travel within NYC on Metro-North and LIRR". MTA. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  6. ↑ Duggan, Kevin (March 17, 2022). "Too Far: This one LIRR station in Queens didn't get MTA's $5 CityTicket promotion | amNewYork". www.amny.com. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Sanders Calls for Far Rockaway to be Included in LIRR's Discount Weekend Fare Program". NY State Senate. March 25, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  8. ↑ Bessen, Jeffrey (March 30, 2016). "Fare not fair, says State Sen. Sanders". Herald Community Newspapers. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  9. ↑ O'Flynn, Fiona (May 5, 2023). "MTA Expands CityTicket Program To Include Far Rockaway". The Wave. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  10. 1 2 "MTA Will Extend $5 City Ticket To Far Rockaway LIRR Riders This Summer - Streetsblog New York City". nyc.streetsblog.org. May 5, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  11. 1 2 "MTA Announces New LIRR Far Rockaway Ticket Available Starting Aug. 20". MTA. Retrieved August 25, 2023.

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