The Beach 105th Street station (signed as Beach 105th Street–Seaside station) is a station on the IND Rockaway Line of the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...

, located at Beach 105th Street on the Rockaway Freeway in

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 ...

. It is served by the

Rockaway Park Shuttle The Rockaway Park Shuttle is a New York City Subway shuttle train that operates in Queens. It connects with the train at Broad Channel station and is the latest iteration of the Rockaway Shuttle services that have been running on the Rockaw ...

at all times and ten daily rush-hour only A trains. It is the least-used station out of all 424 stations in the New York City Subway system, serving 88,439 passengers in 2019, an average of fewer than 250 people per day.

History

This station previously had six different names. It was originally opened 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, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average week ...

in 1880 as Seaside Station station (also an earlier name for

Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...

) for the

Rockaway Beach Branch The Rockaway Beach Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, New York City, United States. The line left the Main Line at Whitepot Junction in Rego Park heading south via Ozone Park and across Jamaica ...

at 102nd Street. It also included a trolley stop of the Ocean Electric Railway, as well as an OER spur to the Neponsit-Rockaway Beach Branch. A second station at Beach 104th Street became its replacement in April 1888, only to be burned on September 20, 1892. The third station was built in 1892 and burned on August 29, 1893 during a storm, which ended up sparing the neighborhood around it. The fourth station was built in 1894 and renovated between April and May 1899. Like many of the stations on the Rockaway Beach and

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, the ...

es, it burned for a third time in 1941 and replaced with an elevated railroad station that opened in 1942. A 1950 fire at The Raunt destroyed the trestle across Jamaica Bay, forcing the LIRR to reroute Rockaway Beach service along the Far Rockaway Branch through the Hammels Wye for the next five years. This station was closed on October 3, 1955, purchased by the

New York City Transit Authority The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a New York state public-benefit corporations, public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York (state), New ...

, rebuilt and reopened as a subway station on June 28, 1956. In 1985, the station had only 262 paying daily riders on a typical weekday, not counting farebeaters, making it one of the least used stations in the system. As part of the 2010–2014 Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Capital Program, new crossovers will be built at this station in order to provide resiliency in the event of major flooding, like from

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 ...

. The crossovers would allow the station to be used as a terminal in the event that the terminal at Beach 116th Street was unavailable. In addition to the construction of the switches, a relay room will be built and new signals will be installed. Design work on the project started in August 2017, and finished in January 2019. Construction will start some time in the future.

Station layout

This elevated station has two tracks and two

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platfo ...

s on a concrete viaduct. Both platforms have beige windscreens and canopies with green support columns in the center and full height fences at both ends. South of this station, the IND Rockaway Line descends to ground level.

Exits

The station's only entrance/exit is an elevated station house beneath the tracks. It has a station agent booth,

turnstile A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a ...

bank, waiting area that allows a free transfer between directions, two staircases to each platform at the center, and two staircases going down to either side of Rockaway Freeway between Beach 105th and Beach 104th Streets. The two southern staircases are connected to the station house with a canopied overpass. The Rockaway Park-bound platform had an exit at the north end, which has been removed.

History

Station layout

Exits

References

External links