page_title: Montauk Branch
section_title: Lower Montauk
hierarchical_section_title: Montauk Branch / Route description / Lower Montauk
caption_attribution_description: English: Defunct Richmond Hill station of the Montauk Branch LIRR in 2019
context_page_description: The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles from Long Island City on the west to Montauk on the east. However, in LIRR maps and schedules for public use the term Montauk Branch refers to the line east of Babylon; the line west of there is covered by Babylon Branch schedules, and many Montauk Brach trains operate via the Main Line due to increased track capacities.
context_section_description: The westernmost portion of the Montauk Branch in Queens, known as the "Lower Montauk", runs between Long Island City and Jamaica stations, mostly at street level with grade crossings. This portion had nine stations, four of which were closed by 1940. The remaining five stations (Richmond Hill, Glendale, Fresh Pond, Haberman, and Penny Bridge) were closed on March 13, 1998, due to low ridership and incompatibility with then-new C3 bi-level coach cars that can only use high platforms (only Richmond Hill had an actual platform, the other four stations' platforms were just pavement strips beside the tracks). After these stations closed, the LIRR continued to use the Lower Montauk to operate express trains between Jamaica and Long Island City; there were only two such trains at the time of the 1998 station closures, one westbound in the morning, and one eastbound in the evening. These two trains were re-routed north to Hunterspoint Avenue in 2012, effectively ceasing passenger train service on the Lower Montauk. Soon after, full control of the Lower Montauk was transferred to the New York and Atlantic Railway for freight operations. 
  The New York City Department of Transportation has periodically floated proposals to repurpose the Lower Montauk Branch for rapid transit operations. In 1984, the Department studied an option to connect the branch to the New York City Subway through a proposed connection to the IND 63rd Street Line in Long Island City. This proposal was unpopular in the communities surrounding the branch. In 2017, the Department studied a plan to operate light rail service on the Lower Montauk Branch. 
  After Penn Station opened in 1910 the Lower Montauk became the freight route, and when the present Jamaica station opened in 1913 the two Lower Montauk tracks continued past the south side of the station, south of Hall tower and the south Union Hall Street platform and on to Holban Yard. Those two tracks now carry trains to/from the Hillside Facility that has replaced Holban Yard; they can also carry nonstop Main Line trains past Jamaica station. East from Jamaica the Montauk Branch runs between the Main Line tracks (with two usually westward Main Line tracks north of it and two eastward tracks south of it) until it rises to cross above the other tracks at 40.70585°N 73.7845°W and turns southeast to swing parallel to the Atlantic Branch at 40.667°N 73.747°W. The Montauk Branch east of Jamaica is 0.7 mile longer than the Atlantic.
caption: Lower Montauk Branch (defunct Richmond Hill station) in 2019
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