Belmont Park | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
General information | |||||||||||
Location | Belmont Park Queens, New York | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 40°42′49″N73°43′42″W / 40.713655°N 73.728299°W | ||||||||||
Owned by | Long Island Rail Road State of New York | ||||||||||
Line(s) | Belmont Park Branch | ||||||||||
Distance | 0.1 mi (0.16 km) from Queens Village [1] | ||||||||||
Platforms | 2 low-level and 2 high-level island platforms | ||||||||||
Tracks | 8 | ||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||
Parking | No | ||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||
Fare zone | 4 | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | May 4, 1905 | ||||||||||
Rebuilt | 1957, 2015 | ||||||||||
Electrified | October 2, 1905 | ||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||
|
Belmont Park Branch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Belmont Park is a seasonal-use Long Island Rail Road station on the grounds of the Belmont Park racetrack in the New York City borough of Queens. The station is a terminus of a spur line that lies south of and between the Queens Village and Bellerose stations on the Main Line/Hempstead Branch. Consistent with the names of other lines and branches of the LIRR, the spur line is called the Belmont Park Branch.
Train service to the Belmont Park station is operated only for special events such as the Belmont Stakes. Starting in November 2021, the venue has also been served full-time by the Elmont station, located directly to the north and along the Main Line/Hempstead Branch.
Unlike the rest of the property on Belmont Park, the Belmont Park station is part of a small sliver of Belmont property (including some parking) that is located in Queens. The racing complex is located in Nassau County.
The station has two high-level island platforms (B and D) level with train doors and two low-level at-grade island platforms (A and C). Platforms A and C can only be used when temporary wooden stairwells are installed, as LIRR coaches do not have steps fixed to them. Tracks 1 and 2 are also not electrified.
M | Mezzanine | Exit/entrance, crossover between platforms, walkway to Belmont Park |
P Platform level | Track 1 | ← No regular service |
Platform A, low-level island platform | ||
Track 2 | ← No regular service | |
Track 3 | ← Belmont Park Branch special event service toward Penn Station or Grand Central Madison (Jamaica) | |
Platform B, high-level island platform | ||
Track 4 | ← Belmont Park Branch special event service toward Penn Station or Grand Central Madison (Jamaica) | |
Track 5 | ← No regular service | |
Platform C, low-level island platform | ||
Track 6 | ← No regular service | |
Track 7 | ← Belmont Park Branch special event service toward Penn Station or Grand Central Madison (Jamaica) | |
Platform D, high-level island platform | ||
Track 8 | ← Belmont Park Branch special event service toward Penn Station or Grand Central Madison (Jamaica) | |
S | Street level | Accessible entrance/exit for Platforms B and D |
On the day of the Belmont Stakes, a total of 15 trains depart from Pennsylvania Station and six trains depart from Grand Central Madison, providing service to Belmont Park between 9:30 am and 5 pm. Returning trains to Manhattan begin departing Belmont Park at 4 pm and service is increased to departures at a frequency of every 15 minutes immediately following the Belmont Stakes race until the park closes. Trains serving Belmont Park operate express to and from Jamaica, where connections are available to City Terminal Zone trains as well as service to other LIRR stations. [2] [3]
For the 2023 Belmont Stakes, the Long Island Rail Road carried a total of 22,902 riders to and from Belmont Park station, which amounted to approximately 25 percent of the total track attendance. [4] Trains did not stop at the Elmont station between 8 am and 10 pm on Belmont Stakes day. [5]
The New York & Atlantic Railway serves the park twice a week, delivering boxcars loaded with feed for the park's horses, usually BNSF cars. [6] The LIRR also stores its own gondolas, hoppers and flatcars used in work train service at the Belmont Park station.
When Belmont Park opened on May 4, 1905, about 19,000 passengers—nearly half of all racetrack attendees—took the railroad to the racetrack on opening day. [7] [8] The first electric trains to Belmont Park ran on October 2, 1905, the opening day of the fall meet. [9] The original station was located south of Hempstead Turnpike; the present terminal north of Hempstead Turnpike was opened in 1957. [10] [11]
When the spring 2009 meet began on April 29, 2009, the MTA halted daily service to Belmont Park station due to insufficient funding in the MTA's budget. [12] The New York Racing Association provided shuttle bus service from the Queens Village station to Belmont Park; the n6, Q2 and Q110 also offered alternate service. [12] [13] On May 28, 2009, Belmont Park service resumed per the MTA board's approval as the New York State legislature passed a funding plan for the MTA. [14] [15] This was the only service reduction enacted as part of the MTA's 2009 "doomsday" budget. [14]
However, regular service to Belmont Park was suspended again in 2010 due to MTA budget cuts and trains only operated on June 4 and 5 during the weekend of the Belmont Stakes. On other racing days, the New York Racing Association provided shuttle bus service between the racetrack and the Queens Village station. [16] [17] On April 26, 2011 the NYRA announced that it would subsidize the cost of providing LIRR service to the racetrack for the entire spring/summer meet. [18]
In 2014, the Belmont Park line became the subject of controversy when the LIRR found itself struggling to transport the larger-than-expected number of visitors to the Belmont Stakes. [19] Due to this overcrowding the NYRA funded a fast-tracked improvement program to partially upgrade the station in time for the 2015 Belmont Stakes. [20] Two of the four low-level platforms—which were the only ones in the LIRR system since the 1990s, when all other LIRR stations had full-height platforms installed—were replaced with newly built high-level platforms in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The other two platforms still have fixed steps attached to them, as all four platforms used to have. The renovated station opened on June 4, 2015, before the Belmont Stakes. As part of the new station changes, the LIRR was also planning to use the eastern wye track from the Hempstead Branch to speed up service leaving the station. [21]
In July 2019, the Belmont Park Arena (ultimately UBS Arena) redevelopment plan was adopted by the Empire State Development board. The plan included a new Elmont station on the LIRR Main Line, to the north of Belmont Park station. [22] The eastbound platform at Elmont initially opened on November 16, 2021, [23] [24] while the westbound platform opened on October 6, 2022. [25]
On February 24, 2023, the LIRR eliminated shuttle services for special events at UBS Arena. This coincided with Elmont operating full time as part of the redevelopment of train schedules for East Side Access. [26] [27]
Prior to the full time opening of the Elmont station, on racing days the Long Island Rail Road operated two trains to and from Belmont Park. One train originated and terminated at Pennsylvania Station with a stop at Woodside. [28] The average daily ridership for the station was 100. [29]
The Long Island Rail Road, often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. The railroad currently operates a public commuter rail service, with its freight operations contracted to the New York and Atlantic Railway. With an average weekday ridership of 354,800 passengers in 2016, it is the busiest commuter railroad in North America. It is also one of the world's few commuter systems that runs 24/7 year-round. It is publicly owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which refers to it as MTA Long Island Rail Road. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 75,186,900, or about 253,800 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023.
Elmont is an unincorporated hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in northwestern Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, United States, along its border with the borough of Queens in New York City. The population was 35,265 as of the 2020 census.
Belmont Park is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Elmont, New York, just east of New York City limits best known for hosting the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the American Triple Crown. It was opened on May 4, 1905, and is one of the best well known racetracks in the United States.
Locust Manor is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Branch in the Locust Manor neighborhood of Queens, New York City. The station is located at Farmers Boulevard and Bedell Street and is 14.0 miles (22.5 km) from Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan.
Port Washington is the terminus of the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington Branch in Port Washington, New York. The station is located on Main Street, between Haven Avenue and South Bayles Avenue, just west of Port Washington Boulevard, and is 19.9 miles (32 km) from Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan. A pedestrian bridge exists between the platforms, and is in line with Franklin Avenue, ending at Haven Avenue.
The City Terminal Zone is the set of Long Island Rail Road lines within New York City west of Jamaica station, except the Port Washington Branch.
The Babylon Branch is a rail service operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The term refers to the trains serving Montauk Branch stations from Valley Stream east to Babylon; in other words, the Babylon Branch is a rail service rather than an actual track. The electrification of the Montauk Branch ends east of the Babylon station, so the Babylon Branch is mostly served by electric trains.
The West Hempstead Branch is an electrified rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). It runs between Valley Stream and West Hempstead, in Nassau County, New York, United States.
The Hempstead Branch is an electrified rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch begins at the Main Line at Queens Interlocking, just east of Queens Village station. It parallels the Main Line past Bellerose to Floral Park, where it splits southward and continues east via the village of Garden City to Hempstead Crossing. There it turns south to the final two stations, Country Life Press and Hempstead.
Floral Park is a Long Island Rail Road train station in Floral Park, New York, at Tulip and Atlantic Avenues, on the Main Line and Hempstead Branch just west of their split. Most service is provided by trains on the Hempstead Branch and the Port Jefferson Branch.
The Central Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in the U.S. state of New York, extending from 40.734°N 73.470°W just east of Bethpage station to 40.696°N 73.341°W just west of Babylon station. It was built in 1873 as part of the Babylon Extension of the Central Railroad of Long Island (CRRLI), which was owned by Alexander Turney Stewart. The branch was mostly unused following the 1876 merger of the CRRLI and the LIRR, but in 1925 it was rebuilt and reconfigured to connect Bethpage and Babylon stations.
The Main Line is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It begins as a two-track line at Long Island City station in Long Island City, Queens, and runs along the middle of Long Island about 95 miles (153 km) to Greenport station in Greenport, Suffolk County. At Harold Interlocking approximately one mile east of Long Island City, the tracks from the East River Tunnels and 63rd Street Tunnel into Manhattan intersect with the Main Line, which most trains use rather than using the Long Island City station.
The Long Island Rail Road is a railroad owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in the U.S. state of New York. It is the oldest United States railroad still operating under its original name and charter. It consolidated several other companies in the late 19th century. The Pennsylvania Railroad owned the Long Island Rail Road for the majority of the 20th century and sold it to the State in 1966.
Queens Village is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line, located between 218th Street and Springfield Boulevard, in the Queens Village neighborhood of Queens, New York City. It has two side platforms along the four-track line, and is served primarily by Hempstead Branch trains. Just east of the station is Queens Interlocking, a universal interlocking that splits the four-track line into two parallel two-track lines—the Main Line and Hempstead Branch—and controls the junction with the spur to Belmont Park. The station is elevated and the tracks leading in and out are on raised ground and only above the road at intersections.
Hollis is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line at the intersection of 193rd Street and Woodhull Avenue in the Hollis neighborhood of Queens, New York City. With a few exceptions, only trains on the Hempstead Branch stop here.
Lakeview is a station along the West Hempstead Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located on the southeast corner of Eagle Avenue & Woodfield Road in West Hempstead, New York – one of three stations located in the community. Hempstead Lake State Park is nearby. The former Southern Hempstead Branch crossed the line north of this station.
The Rosa Parks Hempstead Transit Center is an intermodal center and transportation hub in Hempstead, New York. It contains the Nassau Inter-County Express bus system's indoor customer facility between Jackson and West Columbia Streets – as well as the terminus for the Hempstead Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, located right across West Columbia Street from the bus terminal.
Bellaire was a station stop along the Hempstead Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The station was located between 211th Street and 212th Street between 99th Avenue and Jamaica Avenue in Bellaire, Queens.
Elmont-UBS Arena is a Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) station in Elmont and Bellerose Terrace, New York, just east of the Nassau County border with the New York City borough of Queens. It serves the LIRR Main Line and was built as part of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which included the construction of the UBS Arena for the NHL's New York Islanders hockey team. The station opened for eastbound service in November 2021 and westbound service in October 2022.