I have never gotten a real handle on the Long Island Rail Road Brooklyn branch, which runs from Jamaica west to Flatbush Avenue. I’m surprised the LIRR has retained it, because it’s largely paralleled by subways, whether they be the A and C on Fulton Street and Liberty Avenue or the J train on Fulton Street and Jamaica Avenue. It’s part of the original LIRR founded in the 1830s, and once ran beneath Atlantic Avenue to the waterfront; tours were once held there by the late Bob Diamond, who had hoped to run a light rail operation in it, but the FDNY shut those down. Due to various gradations, the Brooklyn Branch runs in a tunnel with the exception being an elevated section between Nostrand and Ralph Avenues. However, there were other elevated sections that have since disappeared or placed in tunnels. Originally, the RR ran down the middle of Atlantic Avenue, and crossing gates stopped traffic on cross streets to allow trains to pass. The tunnel and elavated sections were built around 1940.
I have never caught a train at the East New York station, but I have wandered in a few times, the last occasion in October 2024 when I attended an Open House NY event at the NY Sign Museum/Noble Signs. Here, the RR comes out of the tunnel, briefly, and runs at grade, or the same level of the street. It’s accessed by staircases on Atlantic Avenue on both sides, Jamaica or Flatbush Avenue bound. However, the station remains in perpetual shade and station lamps need to be lit 24/7.
East New York attained its present configuration around 1940. A quirk of its construction during this period is the use of IND Subway-style black squares and white lettering, the same employed for directional signs in IND Subway stations constructed in the 1930s. I was taken a bit aback when I first saw the lettering applied here.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop. As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site.
10/12/25
7 comments
Until Grand Central-Madison opened in 2023. the LIRR Atlantic Branch served through trains between various electric branches and the Atlantic Terminal in Downtown Brooklyn. That’s why it has been retained to this day despite the presence of parallel subway routes. Its primary rush hour function was to serve LIRR commuters to/from Lower Manhattan, taking some pressure off Penn Station trains. There was even a proposal in 1963 to convert it to a high-speed subway between Jamaica and Lower Manhattan, but nothing happened with that idea.
Prior to 2023, the general service pattern in the off peak period was two trains per hour, respectively from the Hempstead and Far Rockaway branches, to provide service with timed connections at Jamaica for other branches. In the rush hours, additional trains to/from Babylon, Long Beach, West Hempstead, Huntington, and Ronkonkoma provided through service as well.
Since Grand Central service commenced, most service is provided by shuttle trains between Jamaica tracks 11/12 and Atlantic Terminal. With one or two exceptions, the off-peak frequency is about every 20 minutes. In rush hours, the frequency increases and includes some through trains to/from branches east of Jamaica.
Of course, the Port Washington Branch has never served the Atlantic Branch, and diesel train riders have always had to change at Jamaica as well if travelling to/from Brooklyn.
Thanks for this! In the mid 60’s I worked summers at the East New York Savings Bank at Atlantic and Pennsylvania Aves. Took train in thru Mineola to East New York station and walked over. Hadn’t seen this view in over 50 years!
I’ve passed through the station a few times on the way to Jamaica to get to other trains. If you live in Brooklyn, particularly near a 2 or 3 subway station, it’s much, much less of a hassle than going to either Penn or GCM if you need the LIRR.
I assume the sign”To Jamaica and The Rockaways” is left over from when Atlantic Branch trains also turned south at Ozone Park.
East New York station is well known to all NY lawyers (and anyone else) who learned tort law, as it is the situs of the landmark case of Palsgraf v. LIRR, a 1920’s case that deals with duty of care and foreseeability of harm
The railroad used by the LIRR between Jamaica and Flatbush Avenue is not actually owned by the LIRR, but is instead owned by the City of New York. It had previously been owned by the Brooklyn and Queens Transit Corporation, which in turn leased it to the LIRR (the most recent amendment to the lease having been made on May 28, 2940, covering a term from May 31, 1940, through May 31, 2000). The railroad was acquired by the City of New York in 1940 as part of the city’s Subway Unification Plan and acquisition of BMT assets. When the lease terminated as of May 31, 2000, the LIRR ceased making its quarterly lease payments to the city, in the amount of $48,750 per quarter. The LIRR has been a holdover, and the city has continued to bill the LIRR for lease payments, but my understanding is that the LIRR has not paid the arrears, an amount that would now be nearly $5 million.
The IND style of tiling also appears at the abandoned Woodhaven station, located inside the tunnel, near the old turnouts that once led to the elevated Rockaway Beach line. Woodhaven was opened in 1942 and abandoned in 1976. Didn’t have a long life.