Courtesy of Rep. Meng
The Elmhurst LIRR station served borough communities for nearly 60 years until it was shut down and demolished in 1985 due to low ridership.
By Forum Staff
Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) on Tuesday announced that she has renewed her effort to reopen the Long Island Rail Road station in Elmhurst.
In a new letter to LIRR Interim President Catherine Rinaldi, which was also signed by local city and state elected officials, the Congresswoman urged the MTA to consider reopening and rebuilding the shuttered station.
The facility first began providing railroad service in 1927. It served the Elmhurst and surrounding communities for nearly 60 years until it was shut down and demolished in 1985 due to low ridership. However, the population of Elmhurst has grown significantly since the station was closed and reopening it would provide a faster commute to Manhattan for local residents, while also lessening the burden put on the subway and buses.
In 2013, the MTA/Long Island Rail Road commissioned a survey on the potential reopening the station. The survey found that the station would generate roughly 1,700 peak period morning passengers and would average nearly 3,800 trips per day.
“The subway lines that stop in Elmhurst typically take between 30-40 minutes to reach Manhattan while the LIRR could arrive at Penn Station in just 15 minutes,” Meng wrote. “Cutting the morning commute in half for thousands of residents provides an invaluable quality of life improvement for Elmhurst residents while also alleviating crowds on subways and buses. The station would also make Elmhurst more accessible to other New Yorkers, bringing new customers to the hundreds of small businesses in the area.”
The congresswoman said on Tuesday, “Queens has steadily outpaced New York City’s population growth for decades and one of the ways we must adapt to accommodate such growth is providing residents with additional modes of accessible public transportation. The Elmhurst stop on the LIRR has been closed for too long, and there is a reason the effort to get it reopened is reinvigorated so often; it would provide those in Elmhurst and nearby neighborhoods with a closer, faster, and a more direct commute to help them go about their daily lives. It would also serve as a huge economic boon for the Elmhurst community. I am proud to renew the effort to reopen the Elmhurst stop on the Port Washington line, and to be supported by many of my government colleagues in the area.”
“As the population in Queens continues to grow, it is extremely important that we provide these people with accessible modes of public transportation,” said State Sen. Joe Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach). “I join my colleagues in government in calling on the MTA to consider reopening the Elmhurst LIRR station, which would service thousands of residents each day, and provide them with fast and reliable transit options to and from Manhattan and other areas of Queens.”
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. added, “At a time where New Yorkers are being asked to restore their trust in mass transit, we should place much more emphasis on providing equitable transportation access for all communities. We can take a big step in that direction by reopening the Elmhurst LIRR station. I greatly thank Congresswoman Meng for drawing the MTA’s attention to the need to reopen this station and to continue to address persistent inequities in public transportation.”
