Rockaway Beach Branch

Rockaway Beach Branch
Woodhaven Junction
Overview
Status	Out of service (Rego Park-Liberty Avenue) In service as IND Rockaway Line (Liberty Avenue–Rockaway Peninsula)
Owner	City of New York
Locale	Queens, New York, United States
Termini	Rego Park (north) Rockaway Park and Far Rockaway, Rockaway Peninsula (south)
Stations	19
Service
Type	Passenger; freight (former) Rapid transit; disused (current)
System	Long Island Rail Road
Operator(s)	Long Island Rail Road
History
Opened	1880 (LIRR) 1956 (subway; south of Liberty Avenue and Rockaway Boulevard)
Closed	1950 (Liberty Avenue–Rockaway Peninsula) 1962 (Liberty Avenue–Rego Park)
Technical
Line length	4.8 miles (7.7 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed	~35–45 mph (56–72 km/h)
Route map Legend Main Line to Long Island City & Penn Station Grand Street I-495 Long Island Expressway Rego Park Main Line to Greenport Parkside Montauk Branch Jackie Robinson Parkway Brooklyn Hills Brooklyn Manor (​ Jamaica Line) Woodhaven Junction (Atlantic Branch) Ozone Park Fulton Street Line Aqueduct Racetrack Aqueduct–North Conduit Avenue Howard Beach–JFK Airport Hamilton Beach Howard Jamaica Bay Goose Creek The Raunt Broad Channel Jamaica Bay Rockaway Line Hammels Beach 90th Street Beach 98th Street Beach 105th Street Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street This diagram: view talk edit

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 Bay to Hammels in the Rockaways, turning west there to a terminal at Rockaway Park. Along the way it connected with the Montauk Branch near Glendale, the Atlantic Branch near Woodhaven, and the Far Rockaway Branch at Hammels.

After a 1950 fire, the Jamaica Bay bridge was closed and the line south of Ozone Park sold to the city, which rehabilitated the portion south of Liberty Avenue and connected it to the New York City Subway system as the IND Rockaway Line. The portion north of the subway connection was closed in 1962, and three proposals exist for the reuse of the line.