Belmont Park | |||||||||||
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.jpg) Belmont Park station after the addition of two high-level platforms | |||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||
| Location | Belmont Park Queens,New York | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 40°42′49″N73°43′42″W / 40.713655°N 73.728299°W /40.713655; -73.728299 | ||||||||||
| Owned by | Long Island Rail Road State of New York | ||||||||||
| Line | Belmont Park Branch | ||||||||||
| Distance | 0.1 mi (0.16 km) fromQueens Village[1] | ||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 low-level and 2 high-levelisland platforms | ||||||||||
| Tracks | 8 | ||||||||||
| Connections |  NYCT Bus:Q2,Q82Nassau Inter-County Express:n1,n6 | ||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||
| Parking | No | ||||||||||
| Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||
| Fare zone | 4 | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| Opened | May 4, 1905 | ||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1957, 2015 | ||||||||||
| Electrified | October 2, 1905 | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
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Belmont Park Branch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Belmont Park is a seasonal-useLong Island Rail Road station on the grounds of theBelmont Park racetrack in theNew York City borough ofQueens. The station is a terminus of aspur line that lies south of and between theQueens Village andElmont–UBS Arena stations on theMain Line/Hempstead Branch. Consistent with the names of other lines and branches of the LIRR, the spur line is called theBelmont Park Branch.
Train service to the Belmont Park station is operated only for special events such as theBelmont Stakes. Starting in November 2021, the venue has also been served full-time by theElmont–UBS Arena station, located directly to the north and along the Main Line/Hempstead Branch.
Unlike the rest of the property on Belmont Park, the Belmont Park station is part of a small sliver of Belmont property (including some parking) that is located in Queens. The racing complex is located inNassau County.
The station has two high-levelisland platforms (B and D) level with train doors and two low-level at-grade island platforms (A and C). Platforms A and C can only be used when temporary wooden stairwells are installed, as LIRR coaches do not have steps fixed to them. Tracks 1 and 2 are also notelectrified.
| M | Mezzanine | Exit/entrance, crossover between platforms, walkway to Belmont Park |
| P Platform level | Track1 | ←No regular service |
| Platform A, low-levelisland platform | ||
| Track2 | ←No regular service | |
| Track3 | ← Belmont Park Branch special event service towardPenn Station orGrand Central Madison(Jamaica) | |
Platform B, high-levelisland platform | ||
| Track4 | ← Belmont Park Branch special event service towardPenn Station orGrand Central Madison(Jamaica) | |
| Track5 | ←No regular service | |
| Platform C, low-levelisland platform | ||
| Track6 | ←No regular service | |
| Track7 | ← Belmont Park Branch special event service towardPenn Station orGrand Central Madison(Jamaica) | |
| Platform D, high-levelisland platform | ||
| Track8 | ← Belmont Park Branch special event service towardPenn Station orGrand Central Madison(Jamaica) | |
| S | Street level | Accessible entrance/exit for Platforms B and D |
On the day of theBelmont Stakes, a total of 15 trains depart fromPennsylvania Station and six trains depart fromGrand Central Madison, providing service to Belmont Park between 9:30 am and 5 pm. Returning trains to Manhattan begin departing Belmont Park at 4 pm and service is increased to departures at a frequency of every 15 minutes immediately following the Belmont Stakes race until the park closes. Trains serving Belmont Park operate express to and fromJamaica, where connections are available toCity Terminal Zone trains as well as service to other LIRR stations.[2][3]
For the2023 Belmont Stakes, the Long Island Rail Road carried a total of 22,902 riders to and from Belmont Park station, which amounted to approximately 25 percent of the total track attendance.[4] Trains did not stop at the Elmont station between 8 am and 10 pm on Belmont Stakes day.[5]
TheNew York & Atlantic Railway serves the park twice a week, delivering boxcars loaded with feed for the park's horses, usuallyBNSF cars.[6] The LIRR also stores its own gondolas, hoppers and flatcars used in work train service at the Belmont Park station.
When Belmont Park opened on May 4, 1905, about 19,000 passengers—nearly half of all racetrack attendees—took the railroad to the racetrack on opening day.[7][8] The first electric trains to Belmont Park ran on October 2, 1905, the opening day of the fall meet.[9] The original station was located south ofHempstead Turnpike; the present terminal north of Hempstead Turnpike was opened in 1957.[10][11]
When the spring 2009 meet began on April 29, 2009, theMTA halted daily service to Belmont Park station due to insufficient funding in the MTA's budget.[12] TheNew York Racing Association provided shuttle bus service from theQueens Village station to Belmont Park; then6,Q2 andQ110 also offered alternate service.[12][13] On May 28, 2009, Belmont Park service resumed per the MTA board's approval as the New York State legislature passed a funding plan for the MTA.[14][15] This was the only service reduction enacted as part of the MTA's 2009 "doomsday" budget.[14]
However, regular service to Belmont Park was suspended again in 2010 due to MTA budget cuts and trains only operated on June 4 and 5 during the weekend of the Belmont Stakes. On other racing days, the New York Racing Association provided shuttle bus service between the racetrack and the Queens Village station.[16][17] On April 26, 2011 the NYRA announced that it would subsidize the cost of providing LIRR service to the racetrack for the entire spring/summer meet.[18]
In 2014, the Belmont Park line became the subject of controversy when the LIRR found itself struggling to transport the larger-than-expected number of visitors to the Belmont Stakes.[19] Due to this overcrowding the NYRA funded a fast-tracked improvement program to partially upgrade the station in time for the 2015 Belmont Stakes.[20] Two of the four low-level platforms—which were the only ones in the LIRR system since the 1990s, when all other LIRR stations hadfull-height platforms installed—were replaced with newly built high-level platforms in compliance with theAmericans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The other two platforms still have fixed steps attached to them, as all four platforms used to have. The renovated station opened on June 4, 2015, before the Belmont Stakes. As part of the new station changes, the LIRR was also planning to use the eastern wye track from the Hempstead Branch to speed up service leaving the station.[21]
In July 2019, the Belmont Park Arena (ultimatelyUBS Arena) redevelopment plan was adopted by the Empire State Development board. The plan included a newElmont station on the LIRR Main Line, to the north of Belmont Park station.[22] The eastbound platform at Elmont initially opened on November 16, 2021,[23][24] while the westbound platform opened on October 6, 2022.[25]
On February 24, 2023, the LIRR eliminated shuttle services for special events at UBS Arena. This coincided with Elmont operating full time as part of the redevelopment of train schedules forEast Side Access.[26][27]
Prior to the full time opening of the Elmont station, on racing days the Long Island Rail Road operated two trains to and from Belmont Park. One train originated and terminated at Pennsylvania Station with a stop atWoodside.[28] The average daily ridership for the station was 100.[29]
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