Type Commuter rail Status Operational Stations 5 | System Long Island Rail Road Termini Jamaica
Long Beach | |
 | ||
Locale Nassau County, New York, USA | ||
The Long Beach 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 Valley Interlocking, at Valley Stream station, where the Atlantic Branch tracks from the west are redesignated Long Beach Branch and the Far Rockaway Branch curves south. East from there the Long Beach Branch parallels the Montauk Branch to Lynbrook, where it turns south toward Long Beach.
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History
The Long Beach Branch began as the New York and Long Beach Railroad Company from Lynbrook to Long Beach in 1880. The original southern terminus was along the Atlantic Ocean. LIRR leased and operated the NY&LB RR from 1880 to 1904, at which time the NY&LB RR merged with the LIRR. Five years later, the station was moved from the ocean front to Reynolds Channel, where it remains today.
A five-mile (8 km) extension to Point Lookout, New York owned by the Long Beach Marine Railway Company existed between 1881 and 1895. When the LIRR bought the line in 1886, they continued to operate passenger trains along the line until 1890.
The branch was extended westward from Lynbrook to Valley Stream in 1910 as part of its integration into the Atlantic Branch. The line was double-tracked from Valley Stream to Lynbrook in late 1910, then from East Rockaway to Wreck Lead (“WL”) on January 15, 1927. Electrification of the main tracks from Valley Stream to Long Beach was finished in September 1910. Electrification came to freight sidings between 1928 and 1930. Color light signals were installed in January, 1927; they were later replaced by PRR-style position light signals.
Hurricane Sandy service disruptions
Hurricane Sandy struck Long Island on October 29-30, 2012, and the Long Beach Branch was the most seriously affected of all the LIRR lines. Third rail power was lost, as three of the four substations on the line were knocked out. The line between Island Park and Long Beach was strewn with debris, and switch motors at Long Beach station, along with other signal and communications components on the line, were rendered inoperative due to immersion in salt water. Partial service was restored on November 14, when a diesel-operated shuttle between Lynbrook and Long Beach began operating on a modified weekday schedule, with shuttle buses being utilized on weekends and Thanksgiving in place of train service. Full electric service, initially not expected to return until January 2013, was restored much earlier than anticipated, on November 25, 2012.
Service
On weekdays, many Long Beach Branch trains serve Penn Station, with limited service to/from Atlantic Terminal, and run express between Valley Stream and Jamaica. On weekends and on some trains during weekday peak periods, trains also stop at Locust Manor, Laurelton and Rosedale on the Atlantic Branch. On weekends all trains serve Penn except for some post-midnight trains to/from Atlantic Terminal and one to Jamaica.