Great Neck station

Great Neck
View from the overpass
Location Middle Neck Road & Station Plaza
Great Neck, New York
Coordinates 40°47′14″N 73°43′34″W / 40.787235°N 73.725986°W / 40.787235; -73.725986Coordinates: 40°47′14″N 73°43′34″W / 40.787235°N 73.725986°W / 40.787235; -73.725986
Owned by Long Island Rail Road
Line(s)
  Port Washington Branch
Platforms 2 side platforms
Tracks 2
Connections Nassau Inter-County Express: n20G, n20H, n21, n25, n26, n57, n58
Construction
Parking Yes (local permit required)
Bicycle facilities Yes
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Fare zone 4
History
Opened October 27, 1866 (NY&F)[1]
Closed 1883, 1924
Rebuilt 1883, 1893, 1925–1934, 1990s
Electrified October 21, 1913
750 V (DC) third rail
Previous names Brookdale (1869–1872)
Traffic
Passengers (2006) 11,024[2]
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station
toward Penn Station
Port Washington Branch
rush-hour express
toward Penn Station
Port Washington Branch
regular services
Port Washington Branch
rush-hour local
Terminus

Great Neck is a station in the village of Great Neck Plaza, on the Port Washington Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. It is the first station on the branch (heading from Manhattan) in Nassau County. The station is at Middle Neck Road and Station Plaza at Great Neck Road, 0.25 miles (0.40 km) north of Northern Boulevard, and is 15.9 miles (25.6 km) from Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. From this point on, the line becomes single track to Port Washington.

History

Great Neck was originally the terminus of the New York and Flushing Railroad when it was built in 1866 by a subsidiary called the North Shore Railroad, and called Brookdale Station. The NY&F was acquired by the Flushing and North Side Railroad in 1869, and the name was changed to Great Neck in 1872. The F&NS was consolidated into the Flushing, North Shore and Central Railroad in 1874 through a merger with the Central Railroad of Long Island, only to be leased in 1876 by the LIRR.

Though Great Neck station served as a terminal station for much of the 19th Century, it was never intended to stay this way. An attempt to extend the line east from the station toward Roslyn failed in 1882. Thirteen years later, wealthy Port Washington residents persuaded the LIRR to bring the terminus to their hometown. This required the construction of the Manhasset Viaduct over the marshes at the southern end of Manhasset Bay, which was authorized by an LIRR subsidiary called the Great Neck and Port Washington Railroad.[3] On June 23, 1898, the first LIRR train passed through Great Neck to cross the Manhasset Viaduct, Long Island's highest railroad bridge to extend the line through Manhasset, Plandome and Port Washington. In 1924, the station was closed and moved to its current location on February 26, 1925, as a grade crossing elimination project brought the tracks below ground by June 8, 1934. Elevators are on both sides. The wall along the southeastern platform has an aluminum sculpture by artist David Saunders that was installed in 2001.

This station was referenced in The Great Gatsby as "West Egg".[4]

Service

During non-rush hours, Port Washington Branch trains generally run every 30 minutes in both directions. During rush hours, when express service is provided, Great Neck is an express station. Local trains terminate here during rush hours. Terminating trains depart east on Track 2 and return via crossovers to Track 1. Trains run every two hours or so overnight, but there are more trains at New Hyde Park as an alternative during the overnight hours.

Station layout

The station has two high-level side platforms, each 10 cars long.

G Ground level Exit/entrance, crossover, parking, buses
P
Platform level
Platform A, doors will open on the right
Track 1 ← Port Washington Branch toward Penn Station (Little Neck or Woodside)
Track 2 Port Washington Branch toward Port Washington (Manhasset) →
Port Washington Branch Terminal Track →
Platform B, doors will open on the right

Pocket track

Track 2 extends approximately one-train length beyond the station before merging with Track 1. As part of the LIRR's East Side Access extension project to Grand Central Terminal, the MTA is extending Track 2 an additional 1,200 feet (370 m) east, making it long enough to store two trainsets.[5][6][7][8] This will allow the LIRR to increase the number of peak-hour trips between Great Neck and Penn Station/Grand Central. It also included replacement of the original Colonial Road Bridge, built in 1897, which passes over the area of the expanded pocket track, with a new bridge with wider lanes and built to reduce noise. Also included in the project are drainage improvements to the right of way to alleviate flooding on the tracks during storms. In 2010, several homeowners in the area opposed the project, arguing that construction would harm their quality of life. Representatives from the MTA stated that the expanded pocket track would not be used for overnight train storage or maintenance.[5] The project was initially scheduled for completion in December 2015.[9] Because of delays, the new bridge was installed in April 2016; construction of the pocket track is scheduled for completion in December 2018, at a total cost of $45.2 million.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Vincent F. Seyfried, The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History, Part Two: The Flushing, North Shore & Central Railroad, © 1963
  2. ↑ Average weekday, 2006 LIRR Origin and Destination Study
  3. ↑ Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. NY-81, "Long Island Railroad, Manhasset Bridge, Manhasset Shore Road Vicinity, Flower Hill, Nassau County, NY", 1 photo, 1 data page, 1 photo caption page
  4. ↑ Lyons, Patrick J. (April 10, 2005). "A Fleeting Era's Timeless Chronicle". New York Times. Retrieved January 26, 2010.
  5. 1 2 Wendy Karpel Kreitzman (November 19, 2010). "MTA Announces Second Pocket Track Proposed for LIRR in Great Neck". Great Neck Record. Archived from the original on December 9, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  6. ↑ "MTA LIRR Proposed Colonial Road Improvement Project". MTA Long Island Rail Road. March 23, 2011. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
  7. ↑ "MTA LIRR - Colonial Road Improvement Project". web.mta.info. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  8. ↑ Sam Zambuto; Salvatore Arena (March 28, 2011). "LIRR Opens Info Center at Great Neck Station for Proposed Colonial Road Improvement Project". MTA Long Island Rail Road. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
  9. ↑ "MTA Capital Program Oversight Meeting" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. January 2013. p. 8. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  10. ↑ "MTA Long Island Rail Road Committee Meeting" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. November 2017. p. 35. Retrieved May 24, 2018.

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