IND Rockaway Line

The following services use part or all of the IND Rockaway Line: The north end of the Rockaway Line is a junction with the IND Fulton Street Line just east of Rockaway Boulevard. The line starts out as tracks F3 and F4 and descend from an elevated structure to the surface. Then the right-of-way widens to be four tracks wide. Trains in service going south then diverge from F3, and go onto F1. Trains coming from the Rockaways merge from track F2 onto track F4. South of this point, track F4 is out of service, and track F3 can only be used by work trains as it is de-energized. The line then continues as a four track line, and south of Howard Beach, the tracks merge into two tracks. The line then passes over Jamaica Bay just to the east of Cross Bay Boulevard, on its own private right-of-way. Then the line passes over the North Channel Swing Bridge. The crossing across Jamaica Bay between Howard Beach and Broad Channel is the longest distance between any two adjacent stations in the entire New York City Subway system. In 1997 to 1999, outer tracks were installed to the north of Broad Channel for between $5 million and $10 million. The track to the west of the original tracks, track F5, extends slightly less than two miles, or , and is used for testing of equipment. The track to the east of the original tracks, track F6, is used for reversing trains on the Rockaway Park shuttle, and is approximately as long as a standard full length train. This track allows the shuttle to turn around significantly faster than it had been able to do before, when it was forced to relay at Howard Beach–JFK Airport or Euclid Avenue. South of the Broad Channel station is a fixed span leading to the small Subway Island, followed by the Beach Channel Drawbridge, which does open regularly and can cause delays to service when it is open for marine traffic. South of the drawbridge is Hammels Wye, a three-legged junction with the respective Rockaway Park and Far Rockaway branches. The tracks from each branch connect to the tracks north of the wye with flying junctions. The Rockaway Park Branch turns to the west and the Far Rockaway Branch turns to the east. The third leg of the wye is a single track that connects the two branches together. This single track, track F6, is not currently used in revenue service. However, it was used as part of the Round Robin service that operated mostly during late nights between 1958 and 1988. It was also used for the temporary H service after Hurricane Sandy. The Rockaway Park Branch, tracks F3 and F4, goes west via an elevated structure over the Rockaway Freeway before terminating at Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street. Directly to the north of the station is a seven-track storage yard named Rockaway Park Yard. This yard stores the trains for the Rockaway Park Shuttle. To the south of the station is a single storage track. The Far Rockaway Branch, tracks F3A and F4A, goes east via an elevated structure over the Rockaway Freeway and terminates at a two-track terminal of Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue. == History ==

Original railroad use cars turns from the IND Rockaway Line towards the IND Fulton Street Line. Most of the Rockaway Line dates back to the 1880s when it was operated as the New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad; In 1892, the line first saw service by the Long Island Rail Road from its Atlantic Branch. In the late 1890s, the Brooklyn Elevated Railway (later the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company) received permission to operate elevated trains from Brooklyn on the line for beach access. The city soon began eyeing the line as popularity soared. Additionally, the Ocean Electric Railway used part of the line as a connection between the Far Rockaway and Rockaway Beach Branches. Plans for the New York City Subway to take over the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)'s Rockaway branches were put forth as early as 1932. The Long Island Rail Road's wooden trestle over Jamaica Bay often caught fire. A fire that started at 3:30 on a December night damaged 1,300 feet of the trestle. Service could not be resumed for several days because of a lack of available materials. Therefore, the railroad asked Green Bus Lines to provide service for passengers stranded at Broad Channel and The Raunt. Another took place at The Raunt on December 15, 1948, delaying trains between nine and nineteen minutes during the morning rush hour. of the trestle was destroyed during a July 4, 1949, fire, and morning rush hour service was delayed the following day. The worst fire, the one that sealed the fate of the line, took place on May 7, 1950. The fire burned all night and destroyed of the trestle between The Raunt and Broad Channel stations, and the estimated cost to repair it was $1 million. As a result, the LIRR deemed the line useless, and instead of repairing it, the LIRR decided to abandon the line in favor of their "land route" to Far Rockaway via Valley Stream in Nassau County. Subway conversion When the railroad made it clear that it was not planning to rebuild the line, the city bought the line on June 11, 1952, for $8.5 million. The LIRR needed the money for its big safety program, which cost $6 million. The New York City Board of Transportation, operators of the subway system, started preparing contracts for the reconstruction of the line right after the sale went through. Trains operated slowly across Jamaica Bay in order to conserve power. The newer R10s were intended to operate over the line, but because they required more power than the R1–9 fleet, the R1–9 fleet operated on the line instead. The line was incorporated into the Independent Subway System (IND) and connected to the IND Fulton Street Line. On June 28, 1956, service on the line began between Euclid Avenue and Rockaway Park at 6:38 PM and between Euclid Avenue and Wavecrest at 6:48 PM. Once the slow order was removed, the travel time from Euclid Avenue to Rockaway Park decreased from 40 to 28 minutes, and the travel time from Euclid Avenue to Wavecrest decreased from 44 to 32 minutes. A new station at Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue opened on January 16, 1958, completing the Rockaway Line. The completion of the new terminal was delayed due to the slow delivery of steel. In 1986, the New York City Transit Authority launched a study to determine whether to close 79 stations on 11 routes, including the segment of the Rockaway Line south of Howard Beach, due to low ridership and high repair costs. Numerous figures, including New York City Council member Carol Greitzer, criticized the plans. A significant service improvement on the Rockaway Line took effect in 1993, when direct late-night service between Far Rockaway (but not Rockaway Park) and Brooklyn and Manhattan began; previously, only shuttle or Round Robin service was provided during these hours, with a transfer at Euclid Avenue (the Rockaway Park branch remains a shuttle at all times, with a transfer at Broad Channel, although additional direct rush hour service is provided by a limited number of A trains). The segment of the line between Howard Beach and the Rockaway Peninsula suffered serious damage during Hurricane Sandy and was out of service for several months. On May 30, 2013, full service was restored. In 2018, a two-phase program of flood mitigation work along the Hammels Wye required further service disruptions. The first phase, from April 9 to May 18, suspended rush-hour A trips to Rockaway Park. The second phase, from July 2 to September 3, diverted all Far Rockaway A trips to Rockaway Park. In both phases, the shuttle ran from Rockaway Park to Far Rockaway. During weekends between Memorial Day and Labor Day in 2016 and 2017, weekend service on the Rockaway Park Shuttle was extended from Broad Channel to Rockaway Boulevard to allow passengers on both Lefferts Boulevard and Far Rockaway-bound A trains to transfer to the shuttle and shuttle passengers to transfer to more frequent Manhattan-bound A service at Rockaway Boulevard. Since then, the seasonal extension has occurred on an annual basis. In 2022, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) hired Schiavone to conduct repairs to the line. The next year, the MTA announced plans to reconstruct much of the Rockaway Line on the Rockaway peninsula. The first phase would entail repairing the South Channel Bridge and Hammels Wye structure. The project entailed demolishing and completely reconstructing about of viaduct. As a result, service between Howard Beach and the peninsula was suspended for 17 weeks starting January 17, 2025, and the shuttle ran fare-free between Rockaway Park and Far Rockaway. During the closure, there was shuttle bus service between Howard Beach and the Rockaways and all trips from the LIRR's Far Rockaway station to City Terminal Zone stations (and their corresponding return trips) were discounted to $2.75. The project included the installation of barriers flanking the tracks on Broad Channel; a new "debris shield" along the line; and the replacement of the South Channel Bridge and of tracks. Regular service resumed on May 19, 2025. In 2024, as part of a program to upgrade the signaling of the New York City Subway, the MTA proposed installing communications-based train control (CBTC) on the Rockaway Line as part of its 2025–2029 Capital Program. ==Station listing==