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
 

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



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

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.

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

 

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.

 

 

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

 

 

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.

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

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

 


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
 
Emery map  - Queens Village to Belmont Park Junction (Elmont)
 MP13-14 Archive: Dave Keller