Hempstead (LIRR station)

Hempstead
Hempstead Transit Center
Location	West Columbia Street Hempstead, New York
Coordinates	40°42′47″N 73°37′31″W / 40.713102°N 73.625307°W / 40.713102; -73.625307Coordinates: 40°42′47″N 73°37′31″W / 40.713102°N 73.625307°W / 40.713102; -73.625307
Owned by	Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Line(s)	Hempstead Branch
Platforms	2 island platforms
Tracks	8
Connections	Nassau Inter-County Express: See below Trailways of New York: New Paltz-Kingston service Greyhound Lines Short Line Bus: 495
Construction
Parking	Yes
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	4
History
Opened	1872 (rail), 1993 (bus)
Rebuilt	1881, 1913, 1943 (moved), 1963, 2002
Electrified	May 26, 1908 750 V (DC) third rail
Traffic
Passengers (2006)	3,614
Services
Ticket Vending Machines Preceding station   LIRR   Following station Country Life Press toward New York terminals Hempstead Branch Terminus

The Rosa Parks Hempstead Transit Center is the Nassau Inter-County Express system's indoor customer facility between Jackson and West Columbia Streets in Hempstead, New York. It is also the terminus for the Hempstead Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. Serving 19 routes, the transit center is the major transfer point for customers using a second Nassau Inter-County Express route or the LIRR. It offers a waiting area, transit information, MetroCard vending machines, a newsstand and restrooms. As of 2015, the LIRR schedules 28 departures and 28 arrivals here on weekdays.

Hempstead Station was originally built as a Central Railroad of Long Island depot sometime between October and December 1872, on the corner of Main Street and Fulton Avenue. When the Long Island Rail Road acquired the CRRLI in 1878, this Hempstead Station and terminus came with it, replacing the former 1839-built Hempstead Station, which ran along the original Hempstead Branch.

The station was remodeled in July 1881, and razed in 1913. A second brick station was built in February 1913, which was designed to have trains terminate behind the building rather than alongside of it. This was due to an accident from January 1912 involving a milk train that rear-ended a stationary passenger car, sending it across Fulton Avenue and crashing into a building across the street and resulting in two deaths. Between December 30, 1941 and 1943, service was suspended when the tracks were cut back and the station was moved to Columbia Street. A temporary station was installed 1,265 feet west of its former location until work on this project was finished. Upon the completion of this move and track work, the second station was opened again. However it was gutted in a fire on December 31, 1962 and remodeled in April 1963. This station was razed in 1998 and replaced with a much more elaborate third depot which was built between 1999 and 2002.

In 1993, construction on the Hempstead Transit Center was completed and it was opened to the public. In conjunction with the new railroad station, its construction was part of a plan by Mayor James A. Garner to redevelop Hempstead and help bring it back to prominence as "Long Island's hub". The original Hempstead bus terminal was located across Jackson Street on the corner of Jackson and Main streets. That area is now occupied by the Greyhound bus stop and various businesses. The new transit center can accommodate many more buses than the original terminal and allows almost half of the Nassau Inter-County Express (formerly MTA Long Island Bus) system's routes to run through Hempstead. Although Hempstead has never reached its former level of prominence, the new terminal and railroad station, along with the establishment of many new businesses, have helped to reestablish Hempstead as the hub of Long Island.