City Terminal Zone

Westbound view of the line at Borden Avenue, looking toward Long Island City

City Terminal Zone
Amtrak & NJT via NEC to New Jersey Penn Station East River East River Tunnels Long Island City Hunterspoint Avenue Atlantic Terminal Amtrak NEC to Boston via Hell Gate Woodside Nostrand Avenue Port Washington Branch to Port Washington Forest Hills East New York Kew Gardens Jamaica Atlantic Branch Main Line Montauk Branch
All other LIRR branches diverge from these main routes.

The City Terminal Zone, also known as the City Zone Branch,^[1] is the name given to a collection of rail lines of the Long Island Rail Road in New York City. Specifically, it refers to all stations that lie in fare zone 1 (except for Mets–Willets Point on the Port Washington Branch), which is the set of stations west of Jamaica.

Routes

There are three routes that are considered part of the City Terminal Zone:

• ML (Main Line)
  • LIC (Long Island City) – Trains that serve Hunterspoint Avenue and Long Island City in Queens, typically skipping 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).
  • NYP (Penn Station) – Trains that travel to Penn Station in Manhattan via the East River Tunnels (Northeast Corridor).
• AT (Atlantic Terminal) – Trains that travel along the Atlantic Branch to Brooklyn.

Until November 2012, the City Terminal Zone also included the Lower Montauk Branch from Long Island City to Jamaica. This line served Penny Bridge, Haberman, Fresh Pond, Glendale, and Richmond Hill stations until March 1998.

In the near future, the City Terminal Zone will include a branch to Grand Central Terminal as a part of the East Side Access project. A new station in Sunnyside, Queens will be built once the remainder of the project is complete.

Stations

Zone	Routes			Miles (km) from NYP or AT	Station	Connections/notes
	AT	LIC	NYP
1				0.0 (0.0)	Pennsylvania Station	NYC Subway: ​ ​ at 34th Street–Penn Station (7th Avenue), ​ ​ at 34th Street–Penn Station (8th Avenue) NYCT Bus: M4, M7, M20, M34 SBS, M34A SBS, Q32 New Jersey Transit Amtrak PATH
				1.9 (3.1)	Long Island City	MTA Bus: Q103 NYC Ferry: East River Ferry
				2.5 (4.0)	Hunterspoint Avenue	NYC Subway:  ​ at Hunters Point Avenue, at 21st Street-Van Alst NYCT Bus: B62 MTA Bus: Q67
				4.9 (7.9)	Woodside	LIRR: Port Washington Branch NYC Subway:  ​ at 61st Street–Woodside NYCT Bus: Q32 MTA Bus: Q18, Q53 SBS, Q70 SBS
				8.5 (13.7)	Forest Hills	NYC Subway: ​ ​ ​ at Forest Hills–71st Avenue MTA Bus: Q32, Q60, Q64
				8.8 (14.2)	Kew Gardens	NYC Subway: ​ at Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike NYCT Bus: Q10, Q37 MTA Bus: QM18
				0.0 (0.0)	Atlantic Terminal	NYC Subway: ​ ​ ​​ ​ ​ ​​ ​​ at Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center, ​ at Lafayette Avenue, at Fulton Street NYCT Bus: B41, B45, B63, B65, B67
				1.6 (2.5)	Nostrand Avenue	NYC Subway: ​ at Nostrand Avenue NYCT Bus: B52, B44 SBS, B65
				3.4 (6.4)	East New York	NYC Subway: at Atlantic Avenue NYCT Bus: B12, B20, B25, B83, Q24, Q56
	+				Boland's Landing	+Employees only
3				10.8 (17.4) or 11.2 (18.0)	Jamaica	LIRR; Babylon, Belmont Park, Far Rockaway, Hempstead, Long Beach, Montauk, Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson, Ronkonkoma, and West Hempstead Branches NYC Subway: ​ ​ ​ at Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–JFK Airport NYCT Bus: Q20A, Q20B, Q24, Q30, Q31, Q43, Q44 SBS, Q54, Q56 MTA Bus: Q6, Q8, Q9, Q25, Q34, Q40, Q41, Q60, Q65 NICE Bus: n4 AirTrain JFK: Jamaica Station Route
Trains continue to 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)

References

External links

Route map:

• City Terminal Zone branch timetable