City Terminal Zone

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox rail line The City Terminal Zone is the set of Long Island Rail Road lines within New York City west of Jamaica station, except the Port Washington Branch.

Routes

Current routes

There are four routes that are part of the City Terminal Zone:

• New York Penn Station (NYP) – Trains that, from Jamaica, travel west along the Main Line to Penn Station in Manhattan via the East River Tunnels.
• Grand Central Madison (GCM) – Trains that travel along the Main Line to Grand Central Madison via East Side Access, which includes the lower level of the 63rd Street Tunnel and a new tunnel under Park Avenue. Due to clearance restrictions in the tunnel, the C3 bilevel cars cannot access the terminal.
• Atlantic Terminal (AT) – Trains that travel along the Atlantic Branch to Brooklyn.
• Long Island City (LIC) – Trains that serve Hunterspoint Avenue and Long Island City in Queens. These trains also use the Main Line west of Jamaica, but typically skip Woodside, Forest Hills, and Kew Gardens. This route is served only during weekday rush hours in the peak direction (to Long Island City in the morning, from Long Island City in the afternoon).

Former routes

The City Terminal Zone formerly included the Lower Montauk Branch from Long Island City to Jamaica until passenger service on that route was discontinued in November 2012. This line formerly included Penny Bridge, Haberman, Fresh Pond, Glendale, and Richmond Hill stations until they were closed in March 1998.

Stations

East of Template:Lirrs, trains continue in Long Island on the Main Line (Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson, Ronkonkoma), Atlantic Branch (Far Rockaway and Long Beach), and Montauk Branch (West Hempstead, Babylon, Montauk).

The Atlantic Terminal, Nostrand Avenue, and East New York stations are primarily served by a shuttle running between Atlantic Terminal and Jamaica. These stations are also served by select trains on the West Hempstead Branch on weekdays only, and a limited number of weekday peak trains from the Hempstead and Babylon branches. Other trains traveling east of Jamaica only run to Penn Station, Grand Central Madison, or Long Island City.

Zone	Routes				Location	Station	Connections and notes
	NYP	GCM	AT	LIC
1	■				Midtown Manhattan	Pennsylvania Station Disabled access	Template:Ric (long-distance): Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl Template:Rint Amtrak (intercity): Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl Template:Rint NJ Transit Rail: Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb Template:Rint NYC Subway: Template:NYCS time 2Template:NYCS br​Template:NYCS time 2Template:NYCS br​Template:NYCS time 2Template:NYCS time 2Template:NYCS br​Template:NYCS time 2Template:NYCS br​Template:NYCS time 2 Template:Bus icon NYCT Bus
		■				Grand Central Madison Disabled access	Template:Ric: Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb Template:Rint NYC Subway: Template:NYCS Grand Central
				■	Long Island City, Queens	Long Island City Disabled access	Template:Rint NYC Subway: Template:NYCS time 2​ Template:Bus icon MTA Bus Template:Rint NYC Ferry: East River
				■		Hunterspoint Avenue	Template:Rint New York City Subway: Template:NYCS time 2​Template:NYCS time 2 Template:Bus icon MTA Bus, NYCT Bus
	■	■			Woodside, Queens	Woodside Disabled access	Template:Ric: Template:Rcb Template:Rint NYC Subway: Template:NYCS time 2​ Template:Bus icon MTA Bus, NYCT Bus
	■	■			Forest Hills, Queens	Forest Hills Disabled access	Template:Rint NYC Subway: Template:NYCS time 2Template:NYCS br​Template:NYCS time 2Template:NYCS br​Template:NYCS time 2Template:NYCS br​Template:NYCS time 2 Template:Bus icon MTA Bus
	■	■			Kew Gardens, Queens	Kew Gardens	Template:Bus icon MTA Bus, NYCT Bus
			■		Downtown Brooklyn	Template:Lirrs Disabled access	Template:Rint NYC Subway: Template:NYCS Atlantic-Pacific Template:Bus icon NYCT Bus
			■		Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn	Template:Lirrs Disabled access	Template:Rint New York City Subway: Template:NYCS time 2Template:NYCS br​Template:NYCS time 2 Template:Bus icon NYCT Bus
			■		East New York, Brooklyn	Template:Lirrs	Template:Rint New York City Subway: Template:NYCS time 2Template:NYCS br​Template:NYCS time 2​Template:NYCS brTemplate:NYCS Jamaica east J​Template:NYCS brTemplate:NYCS time 2​Template:NYCS brTemplate:NYCS time 2 Template:Bus icon NYCT Bus
			■		Richmond Hill, Queens	Boland's Landing	Employees only
3	■	■	■	■	Jamaica, Queens	Template:Lirrs Disabled access	Template:Ric: Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb Template:Rint NYC Subway: Template:NYCS time 2​Template:NYCS br​Template:NYCS time 2Template:NYCS br​Template:NYCS time 2 Template:Bus icon MTA Bus, NYCT Bus, Nassau Inter-County Express Template:Ric: Template:Rcb

Future stations

The MTA planned a new station in Sunnyside, Queens, once East Side Access was completed. The MTA later proposed in their 20-year needs assessment for 2025 to 2044 that Sunnyside station serve both the LIRR and the Metro-North Railroad, with the latter providing service to Penn Station after Penn Station Access is completed.

See also

• List of Long Island Rail Road stations

External links

• City Terminal Zone branch timetable