East New York station
East New York station is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Branch in the East New York and Ocean Hill neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York City, where that branch passes through the historic Jamaica Pass. It is generally served by the Far Rockaway, Hempstead, and West Hempstead Branches of the LIRR. The East New York station also formerly served the LIRR's Bay Ridge Branch until passenger service on that branch ended in 1924.
East New York | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 A westbound LIRR train at East New York station, as seen from the eastbound platform in 2017. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Atlantic Avenue & Havens Place East New York, Brooklyn, New York 11207 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 40.676053°N 73.905925°W | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | Long Island Rail Road | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line(s) | Atlantic Branch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 side platforms | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Connections | New York City Subway: at Atlantic Avenue    at Broadway Junction (three blocks north) NYCT Bus: B12, B20, B25, B83, Q24, Q56 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fare zone | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1878 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | 1924 (Bay Ridge Branch platforms) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electrified | July 26, 1905 750 V (DC) third rail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Previous names | Manhattan Beach Railroad Crossing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Passengers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012—2014 | 1,358 daily[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | 66 of 125 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Station layout
This station is located at ground level, in the median of Atlantic Avenue, and underneath the elevated main lanes of Atlantic Avenue, with one eight-car side platform on either side of the two-track line. A closed ticket office is located in the underpass, which has staircases to the southwest corner of East New York and Atlantic avenues and the northwest corner of Van Sinderen and Atlantic avenues. On either side of the station, the tracks submerge into a tunnel, allowing the main lanes of Atlantic Avenue to return to the surface.
The only crossings of Atlantic Avenue here are the freight tunnel on the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch, a tunnel carrying East New York Avenue diagonally under the area, and elevated BMT Canarsie Line (L train) (and formerly the BMT Fulton Street Line). The Atlantic Avenue elevated New York City Subway station lies along this line, directly over this station.
| P Platform level |
Side platform, doors will open on the right | |
| Track 1 | Atlantic Branch services toward Atlantic Terminal (Nostrand Avenue) → | |
| Track 2 | Atlantic Branch services toward Jamaica and Points East (Boland's Landing or Jamaica) → | |
| Side platform, doors will open on the right | ||
| B | Underpass | Connection between platforms and exit/entrance stairs, to Atlantic Avenue station (L train) |
History
When the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad opened in 1836, under lease to the LIRR, it did not include a station at East New York. The LIRR began stopping at East New York by early 1843,[2] eventually stopping at the Howard House at Alabama Avenue, shared with all the other horse car and steam lines into East New York.[3] From 1861 to 1877, East New York served as the west end of steam service along the Atlantic Branch.[4][5]
By 1878, local Atlantic Avenue rapid transit trains began stopping at a new station, Manhattan Beach Railroad Crossing, at the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway crossing at Van Sinderen Avenue. This later became the main East New York station, with only these local trains stopping at Howard House.[6] The Atlantic Avenue Improvement, completed in 1905, resulted in the closing of the Howard House station, and the expanded Manhattan Crossing station was renamed East New York. The elevated Warwick Street station, 18 blocks east, was also labeled as serving East New York;[7] it closed in 1939, when the elevated railway east of East New York was buried in the current tunnel.[8]
East New York was also a station on the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway, now the Bay Ridge Branch, from its opening in July 1877 until May 1924, when passenger service on the branch ended. It was initially at grade level where the lines crossed, but was placed in a tunnel in 1915; the platforms, under East New York Avenue, still exist. Until the 1930s, a grade-level freight connection existed in the southeast quadrant between the two lines.[9]
In 1924, the station was the location of a firework accident that resulted in Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co., an oft-cited court case on the doctrine of proximate cause.
In the 2010s, many locals and elected officials such as Brooklyn's borough president, Eric Adams, advocated for renovations to the station, including bringing it into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.[10]
References
- "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 Railroad Co". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, NY. March 4, 1843. p. 3.
- "A Model Mass Meeting". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, NY. July 22, 1870. p. 2.
- Felix Reifschneider's 1925 History of the Long Island Railroad (The Third Rail)
- New York and Vicinity Railroad Map from 1860 (BrooklynRail.net)
- Employee timetables, November 4, 1878 and summer 1897
- Employee timetables, 1905
- LIRR Notice for November 1, 1939
- Abandoned Stations: East New York
- "East New York LIRR Station: In Desperate Need of Repairs and Upgrades!". Retrieved August 13, 2020.
