Staten Island Railway Marking 150 Years

[M II A II R II K]

Staten Island Railway Marking 150 Years


June 02, 2010

By Maura Yates



Read More: http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/railway_marking_150_years.html

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- One of the few constants throughout decades of massive change in the borough celebrated a milestone this spring, as the Staten Island Railway marked 150 years of service. The official date of the anniversary was April 23, but New York City Transit is commemorating the event this summer with MetroCard deals offered at several Island cultural institutions and other venues through June and July.

For details, visit http://www.mta.info/metrocard/promos/StatenIsland/index.html.

A poster from the seven-and-a-half-mile-long rail line's opening day in 1860 boasted three daily trains between "Vanderbilt Landing," now Clifton, and Eltingville. Four trains ran on Sundays. The stops back then were "Toad Hill," New Dorp, "Harrison's Club House" and Gifford's Lane. The rail line was extended later that year, first to Annadale and then to Tottenville. Over the years, it grew to include the Atlantic and Nassau stations, named for what once were bustling industrial hubs.

Atlantic was named after the former Atlantic Terra Cotta Works, a main supplier of much of the tiles and ornaments adorning the walls of the original IRT subway stations. Nassau was named after the former Nassau Smelting and Refining Co., later renamed AT&T Nassau Metals. On July 1, 1971, New York City acquired the line from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority commenced operation for the city under a lease agreement. The name was changed to the Staten Island Railway in 1994.

Things have changed since 1924 when this photo of Seguine Avenue station for the then-Staten Island Rapid Transit was taken.

[NYC2ATX]

Great to see S.I. getting a mention on this site. Thanks M II A II R II K! For those of you who may be wondering a little more about recent changes in the system:

-Last January, the Tompkinsville station became the second station to collect fares again since the late '90s when the ticket puching personnel of the classic system were decommissioned. St. George, the station connecting to the Staten Island Ferry has collected fares for those both entering and leaving the system, and many riders would get off at Tompkinsville and walk to the ferry to avoid paying the fare. In January 2010, a new stationhouse with turnstiles was opened at Tompkinsville. It is expected that eventually all stations will be equipped with smartcard technology and collect fares throughout the system once again.

-A new park-and-ride at Prince's Bay was opened towards the end of 2009, accomodating up to over 30 vehicles. Among other stations with dedicated park-and-rides are Great Kills, Eltingville, Annadale and Huguenot stations, all of which are major boarding points for South Shore commuters.

-Currently on the drawing boards is a new Arthur Kill Road station, which will be constructed by 2014 to replace the aging and run-down Atlantic and Nassau stations. These two stations were originally constructed to serve employees of the Atlantic Terra Cotta and Nassau Smelting companies, and were therefore never brought up to the current condition and design of the systems other stations. The new Arthur Kill Road station is expected to have a park-and-ride for over 100 cars and be ADA-accessible. (Currently, only Tottenville, Great Kills, Dongan Hills, and St. George stations are ADA-compliant.)

-The system originally contained three lines, the still-active Main Line, a North Shore line containing approx. 12 stations, and a South Beach spur containing 6 stations. Both the second and third were decommissioned in the 1950s, and while the South Beach right-of-way has long since been sold to developers and built upon, the North Shore right-of-way still exists. Currently there is a strong initiative to someday reactivate the North Shore line with either heavy-rail or light-rail service, and to construct a light-rail line along the newly developed West Shore, which would create a "transit triangle" of sorts that is hoped to alleviate massive traffic and congestion problems currently plaguing Staten Island.

For more information:

http://www.mta.info/nyct/sir/index.html

http://www.nycsubway.org/lines/sirt.html

http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.a9c29165837b6e525a75cdb601c789a0/

And if you believe in Wikipedia's credibility:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staten_Island_Railway