Sunnyside is a proposed

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

station to be served 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 ...

and the

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...

. Located in the Sunnyside neighborhood of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

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 station would be located within the

City Terminal Zone The City Terminal Zone, also known as the City Zone Branch, is a collection of rail lines of the Long Island Rail Road within New York City. Specifically, it includes all stations in fare zone 1 (except for Mets–Willets Point on the Port Wash ...

. The proposed location of the station is at

Queens Boulevard Queens Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Queens connecting Midtown Manhattan, via the Queensboro Bridge, to Jamaica. It is long and forms part of New York State Route 25. Queens Boulevard runs northwest to so ...

and Skillman Avenue.

History

Original station

In the late 19th century, the LIRR had another Sunnyside Station, which was built by their subsidiary Newtown and Flushing Railroad, better known as the "White Line." This short-lived line was designed to compete with the

Flushing and North Side Railroad The Flushing and North Side Railroad was a former railroad on Long Island built by Conrad Poppenhusen as a replacement for the former New York and Flushing Railroad. The railroad was established in 1868, was merged with the Central Railroad of Long ...

in 1873. When the F&NS was consolidated into the LIRR, along with the

Central Railroad of Long Island Central Railroad of Long Island was built on Long Island, New York (state), New York, by Alexander Turney Stewart, who was also the founder of Garden City, New York, Garden City. The railroad was established in 1871, then merged with the Flushing ...

and

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 ...

, the White Line was dissolved, along with the original Sunnyside station.

Proposed station

Though no direct connection to other mass transit services are known, the nearest existing subway stations are at 33rd Street–Rawson Street on the

IRT Flushing Line The IRT Flushing Line is a rapid transit route of the New York City Subway system, named for its eastern terminal in Flushing, Queens. It is operated as part of the A Division. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), a private operator, ...

(),

Queensboro Plaza The Queensboro Plaza station (originally named Queensboro Bridge Plaza station or simply Bridge Plaza station) is an elevated New York City Subway station at Queens Plaza (originally called Queensboro Bridge Plaza or simply Bridge Plaza) in t ...

on the

and

BMT Astoria Line The BMT Astoria Line (formerly the IRT Astoria Line) is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, serving the Queens neighborhood of Astoria. It runs south from Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria to 39th Avenue in Long Is ...

(), and Queens Plaza on the

IND Queens Boulevard Line The IND Queens Boulevard Line, sometimes abbreviated as QBL, is a line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City, United States. The line, which is underground throughout its entire route, contains 23 s ...

(). Construction for the station was deemed to be impossible until

East Side Access East Side Access (ESA) is a public works project in New York City that extended the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) from its Main Line in Queens into a new station under Grand Central Terminal on Manhattan's East Side. A project of the Metropol ...

was completed, as the yard was being redeveloped at the time. The station is classified as a high priority under the

Sunnyside Yard Sunnyside Yard is a large coach yard, a railroad yard for passenger cars, in Sunnyside, Queens in New York City. Description The yard is owned by Amtrak and is also used by New Jersey Transit. The shared tracks of the Long Island Rail Road (LIR ...

Master Plan. The MTA later proposed in their 2025-2044 20-year needs assessment that Sunnyside station serve both the LIRR and the Metro-North Railroad, with the latter providing service to Penn Station after

Penn Station Access Penn Station Access is a public works project underway by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. The goal of the project is to allow Metro-North Railroad commuter trains to access Penn Station on Manhattan's West Side, usi ...

is completed.

Proposed station layout

This station will have three high-level platforms, with one island platform and two side platforms.

References

{{LIRR stations navbox Railway stations in Queens, New York Proposed Long Island Rail Road stations Long Island Rail Road stations in New York City Metro-North Railroad stations in New York City Sunnyside, Queens