Governor Cuomo unveils improvement plans for two Long Island rail stations

Rendering, Jamaica Station

Albany, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo recently unveiled major capital investments to improve two key stations on the Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) 40-mile spine between Jamaica and Ronkonkoma. Work has begun on a $121 million initiative to rebuild, reimagine and modernize the Hicksville station, one of the busiest stations on Long Island. In addition, the LIRR has awarded a $64.9 million contract to create a new platform and tracks at the Jamaica station, the LIRR’s central hub and main transfer point.

“Revamping these two heavily trafficked transportation hubs will provide better, faster and more reliable train service for Long Island Rail Road riders,” governor Cuomo said. “Time and time again, transportation investment has a ripple effect of progress and economic growth on the surrounding community. These projects are part of this administration’s aggressive and comprehensive plan to revamp the state’s infrastructure and are two more reasons why New York is built to lead.”

Rendering, Hicksville Station

The new platform and tracks at Jamaica station will allow the LIRR to more easily re-route trains, take tracks out of service and support supplemental train service to and from Atlantic Terminal for customers attending games and events at the Barclays Center. The new platform will also feature glass-enclosed, heated waiting areas, as well as Wi-Fi and USB charging stations allowing customers to stay connected and charge their phones while they wait for the train. In addition, New York-based artist James Little will create brightly colored art glass installations on the station’s westerly bridge, and also on the stairs leading from the new station platform to the AirTrain mezzanine. 

MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas Prendergast said, “More tracks and platforms mean fewer delays. This award for Phase I of the project, which is funded by the Capital Plan, is great news. It will help speed up what LIRR customers have come to call ‘the Jamaica Crawl,’ introduce new services such as Wi-Fi and USB charging stations, and build on our ongoing commitment to renew, enhance and expand every aspect of the MTA.”

The project is one element of the Jamaica Capacity Improvements Project which will modernize Jamaica Station infrastructure, which was built in 1913. The work will streamline track configurations, which have remained largely unchanged since the station was built, and speed service. The project began in 2010 and is being carried out in two phases with a projected investment of $442 million by the end of 2019. Funding for Phase I of the project comes from a combination of the MTA’s 2010-2014 capital plan and the 2015-2019 plan. 

The new platform at Jamaica, slated to open in 2019, is one in a series of the LIRR system-wide capacity improvement projects, which also include an uninterrupted second track between Farmingdale and Ronkonkoma, and a third track on the Main Line from Floral Park to Hicksville, as well as the East Side access project to bring LIRR trains into Grand Central Terminal. Once East Side access is complete, the new platform at Jamaica station will dramatically enhance service between Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn and Jamaica Station. 

16 miles east of Jamaica, work has begun on another project – a $121 million modernization of the Long Island Rail Road’s aging Hicksville station, and the preparation of an adjacent site where the railroad will build a new connection to an existing siding west of the station.

The upgrades to the 55 year old Hicksville station include Wi-Fi and USB charging stations throughout the station; an enhanced interior waiting room; new platforms with glass-enclosed, heated waiting rooms; improved lighting; a translucent canopy roof; improved stairways, escalators, plaza elevators, a video security system, audio and digital communications systems and better signage. The renovated station will also include new laminated art glass installations by New York-based artist Roy Nicholson, who designed the mosaic tile art work in the station ticket office in 2001. With construction beginning this month, the station work is expected to be completed by the spring of 2018.

At the direction of Governor Cuomo, the construction timeframe was reduced to 22 months, 13 months sooner than originally planned. The Hicksville project is one of a number of LIRR projects covered by an innovative 2013 Project Labor Agreement between the LIRR and the Buildings and Construction Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk that has helped reduce construction costs by 10%. The project is supported by the MTA Capital Program.

Kevin Law, president and CEO of the Long Island Association said, “The modernization and expansion of the Long Island Rail Road is critical to the economic growth of our region and thus we commend Governor Cuomo’s historic investments in infrastructure projects like the Third Track and Double Track, as well as the reconstruction of a brand new LIRR station at one of our busiest hubs in Hicksville.”

The efforts to improve Jamaica and Hicksville Stations are among a number of projects designed to improve LIRR service on the busy, central spine of the railroad, a 40-mile corridor from Ronkonkoma, through Hicksville, to Jamaica. These projects include infrastructure renewal, the purchase of new trains, the expansion of the train storage yard in Ronkonkoma, the addition of pocket tracks along the Port Washington and Babylon Branches, the addition of a second track in Suffolk County and a proposed project to add a third track in Nassau County.