ELMONT |
New Elmont Station |
A
brand-new LIRR station is opening for the first time in almost half a
century! The new Elmont Station, located between Queens Village and
Bellerose on the LIRR's Hempstead Branch, is part of the Belmont Park
Redevelopment Project, which includes the 19,000-seat UBS Arena, new home of
the New York Islanders and an exciting venue for concerts and other events.
The eastbound platform at the LIRR’s new Elmont Station is complete. While
construction continues on the westbound platform through 2022, eastbound
customers can use the new Elmont Station for service to the UBS Arena
starting in November 2021. Initially, only Hempstead Branch eastbound
service will be offered at Elmont Station. This service will be available
immediately before and after games or events at UBS Arena. Off peak fares
will be accepted on all trains through the end of 2021. 11/17/2021 MTA
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Project
Overview: For the first time in almost half a century, the LIRR
will build a brand new, full-time station. The new Elmont Station will be
part of the $1.26 billion Belmont Park Redevelopment Project, which also
includes a new 19,000-seat arena, hotel and retail village. The arena will
be the new home of the New York Islanders and will also host concerts and
other events. The design-build project is expected to generate nearly $50
million in new public revenue per year and produce $725 million in annual
economic output.
The new train station will be located between the Queens Village and
Bellerose stations on the LIRR’s Main Line, straddling the Cross Island
Parkway. Electric shuttle buses – which are already planned to run from
parking lots within Belmont Park to the arena site – will also serve LIRR
riders traveling to the grandstand and planned arena, hotel and retail
village. The new full-time station will relieve pressure on the existing
Belmont spur station during major events like the Belmont Stakes and will
provide critically needed redundancy if there is a service disruption to the
spur.
The new Elmont Station will provide direct service to Belmont Park from both
the east and west, as opposed to the LIRR spur, which can only provide
westbound service. Now, travelers who live east of Belmont on the Hempstead,
Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma branches will have a one-seat
public transit ride straight to Belmont Park. This will reduce travel times
and is expected to increase the number of event attendees who use public
transportation rather than driving, reducing congestion.
In addition to providing a regular, full-time public transit option to and
from Belmont Park and the new arena, hotel and retail village, the new train
station will also serve as an additional commuting option for area residents
– something the community has needed for years. The station is expected to
receive service approximately every half hour during peak times and hourly
during off-peak periods. The parking lot north of the Belmont race track,
which has 2,860 spaces, will be shared by commuters and arena patrons.
Previously-agreed-to upgrades to the existing LIRR Belmont spur, including
the installation of automated track switches, are still included in the
project. These upgrades will allow trains leaving the spur after an event to
serve stations both east and west of Belmont – providing another post-event
public transit option for attendees.
Constructing the new full-time station on the LIRR’s Main Line and upgrading
the existing spur is estimated to cost $105 million. The arena developers
will cover $97 million – 92 percent of the total cost – and the State will
invest $8 million.
The new Elmont Station is part of a broader LIRR initiative to enhance the
quality of life for New Yorkers, revitalize the communities and strengthen
the overall economy of Long Island and the wider region. Info: MTA |
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Elmont Station - Bing map 2021 |
LIRR Service Options - UBS Arena map Source: MTA |
Elmont Station 11/18/2021 Photo: Marc A. Hermann-MTA |
The new Elmont station, on the
LIRR’s Main Line, has been under construction for about two years. The
eastbound platform is scheduled to be placed in service in time for the
Islanders’ first home game of the season on November 22nd at the new UBS
Arena, immediately south of, and on the grounds of, the Belmont Park
racetrack. In addition to surveying the new station, I hoped to document
the installation of the bridge girders over the Cross Island Parkway which
will support more sections of the new platforms for Elmont station.
10/24/2021 Info/Photos/Archive: Jeff Erlitz unless noted
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View west of the new Elmont station
where, apparently, the platforms are slightly staggered. The crane in the
distance was lifting a bridge girder for the westbound platform into
position. The track equipment was surfacing and lining Track 3 after crews
had removed the east end of switch 113, one of the super high-speed (80 mph
max) crossovers. That crossover was within the limits of the new westbound
platform and was replaced with a “standard” 60 mph max crossover between
signal bridges 3 and 4, just to the east. |
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M7 7189
(Bombardier Transportation, 11/2003) leads train #6721 from Hempstead to
Atlantic Terminal through Elmont station. Interestingly, this station is
completely within the limits of Queens Interlocking. View E at
11:40:16. Consist: 7189-7190+7421-7422+7037-7038+7115-7116
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The Cross Island Parkway was
completely closed to vehicular traffic for a good part of the past weekend
to enable this work to proceed. The girder over the southbound lanes was
already in place as they positioned this girder over the northbound lanes.
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While getting photos of the
girder work on the south side of the right of way, along comes a “regular”
train from Atlantic Terminal to Hempstead, #6716, with M9 9090 on the
point. Unlike the north side, which had no cables to content with, the
south side does, as you can see. The girders were put on movable platforms
and guided into position. Consist:
9090-9089+9012-9011+9088-9087+9010-9009
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From this view looking northeast up
the northbound lanes of the Cross Island Parkway, you get a good view of the
“dollies” used to position the platform girders. |
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View northwest of the main entrance on
the south side. Mechanical boiler, storage, electric service and elevator
machine rooms are to the left. |
Elmont Station ticket machines 11/20/2021
Photo/Archive: Sean Munson |
Elmont Station M7 train 12/27/2021
Photo/Archive: Michael Kam |
Elmont Station M9 train 12/27/2021
Photo/Archive: Michael Kam |
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The Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) installed a pedestrian overpass at the new Elmont-UBS
Station this past weekend, which will connect the eastbound and westbound
platforms and help Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) customers cross safely from
one side of the platform to the other. The pedestrian bridge was
designed to be wider than a normal LIRR overpass in order to accommodate
large crowds. MTA C&D crews had to “thread the needle” in between trains on
the still in service Hempstead Branch, by lifting and anchoring the
completed 85-ton pedestrian bridge in less than two hours.
Elmont-UBS Station, the first new LIRR
station built in almost 50 years, began service to coincide with the New
York Islanders first home game in November 2021 at the brand-new UBS Arena.
Elmont Station pedestrian overpass
install 3/20/2022 Info/Photo: MTA
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Elmont M7 eastbound approx. MP13.7 11/01/2022
Photo/Archive: Timothy Hosey |
Elmont M9 eastbound approx. MP13.7 11/01/2022
Photo/Archive: Timothy Hosey |
Elmont #401 eastbound (approx. MP13.7) 11/01/2022
Photo/Archive: Timothy Hosey |
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Emery map - Queens Village to Belmont Park Junction (Elmont)
MP13-14 Archive: Dave Keller |
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