Route Description and Current Train Service
The Main Line has two tracks from just east of Long Island City to Harold Interlocking (0.6 miles northwest of the Woodside station), where the four track Northeast Corridor from Penn Station in Manhattan joins the Main Line after passing through the East River Tunnels. East of Harold, the four-track Main Line runs adjacent to the two-track Port Washington Branch until, 0.7 miles (1.1 km) southeast of the Woodside station, the Port Washington Branch turns northeastward. The Main Line continues southeast with four tracks to Jay Interlocking where it meets the Atlantic Branch and Montauk Branch at the west end of Jamaica station. Eight platform tracks and two bypass tracks pass Jamaica station, along with a few yard tracks and two former freight tracks on the south side that can be used by trains bypassing Jamaica. At Hall Interlocking just east of the station there are eight through tracks: two usually westward tracks for Main Line and Montauk trains, two Atlantic Branch tracks that are about to duck under and turn southeast, two usually eastward Main Line/Montauk tracks, and the two former freight tracks on the south side of Hall tower.
Just east of there, Montauk Branch trains get their own two tracks in the center of the four Main Line tracks until the Montauk tracks fly over the other tracks and head southeast. At Queens Interlocking, just inside Nassau County between the Queens Village and Bellerose stations, the four-track Main Line splits into the two-track Main Line and the two-track Hempstead Branch; the four tracks continue parallel to Floral Park station where the Hempstead Branch curves away southward. The two-track Main Line continues east to Mineola where the two track Oyster Bay Branch begins and curves to the north. The line continues east from Mineola to Hicksville where the two track Port Jefferson Branch begins and curves to the north. To just east of Farmingdale station, the Main Line has two tracks, then is single track with passing sidings to Greenport except for a three-mile stretch of double track from west of Deer Park to east of Brentwood. The Main Line was electrified between Hicksville and Ronkonkoma in 1987, requiring construction of high platforms along that stretch. LIRR plans to eventually complete double track to Ronkonkoma.
The Main Line west of Jamaica to Harold Interlocking is the only line that can reach the East River Tunnels, so all trains bound for Penn Station use it. The portion between Harold and the Long Island City station is used by trains originating or terminating at Hunterspoint Avenue and LIC.
East of Jamaica station, the Main Line is used by all trains on the Hempstead Branch, the Oyster Bay Branch (diverging east of Mineola), the Port Jefferson Branch (diverging east of Hicksville), and the Ronkonkoma Branch (terminating at Ronkonkoma, the easterly limits of the line's electrification). Some Montauk Branch trains use the Main Line on their way to Babylon via the Central Branch, diverging east of Bethpage.
Only a few diesel shuttle trains, informally known as scoots, operate between Ronkonkoma and Greenport. Weekend service east of Ronkonkoma only operates between Memorial Day and Columbus Day.
Read more about this topic: Main Line (Long Island Rail Road)
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