The Long Beach Branch is an

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

rail line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

and service owned and operated by the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The branch begins at Valley Interlocking, just east of

Valley Stream station Valley Stream is a station serving the residents of Valley Stream, and is the first station (traveling eastbound) in Nassau County. The station is located at Franklin Avenue and Sunrise Highway, west of Rockaway Avenue, and is from Penn Station ...

, where it merges with the

Far Rockaway Branch The Far Rockaway 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, just east of Valley Stream station. From Valley Stream, th ...

to continue west as the

Atlantic Branch The Atlantic Branch is an railway electrification, electrified Track (rail transport), rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is the only LIRR line with revenue passenger serv ...

. East from there the Long Beach Branch parallels the

Montauk Branch The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles (185 km) from Long Island City on the west to Montauk on the east. How ...

Lynbrook station Lynbrook is a Long Island Rail Road commuter train station in Lynbrook, New York. The station is located at the intersection of Sunrise Highway and Peninsula Boulevard and is located on the railroad's Montauk Branch and Long Beach Branch lines a ...

, where it turns south toward Long Beach station. Trains operating on the Long Beach Branch continue west of Valley Stream via the

Jamaica station Jamaica station is a major train station of the Long Island Rail Road located in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. With weekday ridership exceeding 200,000 passengers, it is the largest transit hub on Long Island, the fourth-busiest rail station ...

, with most continuing on to or . In 2018, the branch recorded an annual ridership of 4,849,085 based on ticket sales, down 1% from 2017.

History

Origins

The Long Beach Branch began as the New York and Long Beach Railroad (NY&LB) Company, operating from Lynbrook to

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

in 1880. The railroad's original southern terminus was along the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. The LIRR, which had just recently been acquired by entrepreneur

Austin Corbin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, operated the NY&LB from its inception until 1904, when it was merged with the other lines of the LIRR. At Lynbrook, trains continued west to

Hunters Point, Queens Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

, operating on tracks built by the

South Side Railroad of Long Island The South Side Railroad of Long Island was a railroad company in the U.S. state of New York. Chartered in 1860 and first opened in 1867 as a competitor to the Long Island Rail Road, it was reorganized in 1874 as the Southern Railroad of Long Isla ...

(which had merged with the LIRR prior to the NY&LB service). In 1909, Long Beach station was moved north from the oceanfront to

Reynolds Channel Reynolds Channel is a strait in Nassau County, New York that separates Long Beach Barrier Island, which contains the City of Long Beach and the villages of Atlantic Beach, Lido Beach, and Point Lookout, from Long Island, Barnum Island, Harbor I ...

, where it remains today."The Long Island Rail Road: A Comprehensive History Volume #5 (New York, Woodhaven & Rockaway Railroad; New York & Rockaway Beach railway; New York & Long Beach Railroad; New York & Rockaway railroad; Brooklyn rapid transit operation to Rockaway; Over L.I.R.R.)", by

Vincent F. Seyfried Vincent Francis Seyfried (April 18, 1918-April 14, 2012, aged 93) was an American historian of Long Island. His work between 1950 and 2010 includes eleven books on trolley systems in Queens and Long Island, twelve books on areas of Queens, a seven- ...

A five-mile (8 km) extension to

Point Lookout, New York Point Lookout is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 1,219 at the time of the 2010 census. The town is mostly made up of residential homes, wit ...

owned by the Long Beach Marine Railway Company existed between 1881 and 1895. The LIRR bought the line in 1886 and continued to operate passenger service until 1895.Felix Reifschneider
History of the Long Island Railroad
1925, reprinted winter 2001 in ''The Third Rail''

Pennsylvania Railroad ownership

The LIRR had planned to extend the Atlantic Branch north into

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

to meet the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

(NYCRR) at what is now

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

, while at the same time, NYCRR competitor

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

was planning to build a tunnel to a new Manhattan terminal from New Jersey. Following negotiations, the

(PRR) acquired a majority stake of the LIRR in 1900, allowing the railroads to jointly build the

New York Tunnel Extension The New York Tunnel Extension (also New York Improvement and Tunnel Extension) is a combination of railroad tunnels and approaches from New Jersey and Long Island to Pennsylvania Station (New York City), Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan ...

and share a

terminal at

Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...

, which opened in 1910. Also in 1910, the Long Beach Branch was extended westward from to , further integrating it with the LIRR

and the PRR's new Manhattan terminal. 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 Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

of the main tracks from Valley Stream to Long Beach was finished in September 1910, with the freight sidings being electrified between 1928 and 1930. This upgrade coincided with the PRR's electrification and

grade separation In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tran ...

of multiple suburban lines. Color light signals were installed in January 1927; they were later replaced by PRR-style position light signals.

MTA takeover

On January 20, 1965, the State of New York announced its intentions to purchase the LIRR from the PRR. The LIRR was to be operated by the newly-formed Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority, today's current MTA. The MTA began operating new M1 electric coaches in 1968, which resulted in the upgrading of every station on the line to high-level platforms. The Long Beach Branch's familiar orange color scheme () was first implemented on May 20, 1974 as part of the MTA's Form 8 timetable.

Hurricane Sandy and infrastructure modernization

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

struck Long Island on October 29–30, 2012, and the Long Beach Branch was the most seriously affected of all the LIRR lines despite a full systemwide shutdown on October 29. 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. Bus service began between Lynbrook and on November 7. Partial rail 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. The total cost of post-Sandy restoration projects on the branch is expected to cost $68.6 million and be completed by September 2021. The projects also include the raising of the Oceanside, Oil City, and Long Beach substations off the ground and an emergency generator for the

Wreck Lead Bridge Wreck or The Wreck may refer to: Common uses * Wreck, a collision of an automobile, aircraft or other vehicle * Shipwreck, the remains of a ship after a crisis at sea Places * The Wreck (surf spot), a surf spot at Byron Bay, New South Wales, Aus ...

over

Positive train control Positive train control (PTC) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains a ...

, a federally-mandated technology to improve railroad safety, was implemented on the line on October 30, 2019.

Stations

References

External links

Long Beach Branch Stations (Unofficial LIRR History web site)Long Beach Branch (The LIRR Today)
{{Long Island Rail Road Long Island Rail Road branches Transportation in Nassau County, New York Railway lines opened in 1880