Hunterspoint Avenue (LIRR station)

Hunterspoint Avenue
West end of station
Location	Hunterspoint Avenue & Skillman Avenue Long Island City, New York
Coordinates	40°44′32″N 73°56′50″W / 40.74222°N 73.94722°W / 40.74222; -73.94722Coordinates: 40°44′32″N 73°56′50″W / 40.74222°N 73.94722°W / 40.74222; -73.94722
Owned by	Long Island Rail Road
Line(s)	Main Line (City Terminal Zone)
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	New York City Subway:   at Hunters Point Avenue NYCT Bus: B62 MTA Bus: Q67
Other information
Fare zone	1
History
Opened	1860
Closed	1902
Rebuilt	1878, 1903, 1914
Electrified	June 16, 1910 750 V (DC) third rail
Traffic
Passengers (2006)	6,479
Services
Preceding station   LIRR   Following station Long Island City Terminus Main Line (City Terminal Zone) Jamaica toward Long Island

Hunterspoint Avenue is a station on the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road within the City Terminal Zone. It is at Hunters Point Avenue (49th Avenue) and Skillman Avenue in Long Island City, Queens. The station has an island platform between two tracks and is not wheelchair accessible.

The station is served only during weekday rush hours in the peak direction (to Hunterspoint Avenue from Long Island in the morning, from Hunterspoint Avenue to Long Island in the evening). Trains serving here usually run on the Oyster Bay, Montauk, or Port Jefferson Branches, with one Ronkonkoma-bound train also departing from Hunterspoint Avenue in the late afternoon. Some westbound trains continue to Long Island City, and some eastbound trains originate in Long Island City. All service (except for one PM rush Ronkonkoma-bound train and one AM rush train from Huntington) is provided by diesel trains that cannot use the East River Tunnels, but the tracks are electrified.

Hunterspoint Avenue station opened in August 1860, three years before the New York and Flushing Railroad built their own Hunter’s Point station. LIRR's Hunterspoint Avenue was renovated in April 1878, but burned in a fire in December 1902. The station was replaced on April 26, 1903, only to be rebuilt again nine years later. According to a New York Times article from May 1914, the third station was scheduled to open on July 1, 1914. Instead, the reopening date was delayed until October 18, 1914.

In June 1947, only two weekday trains were scheduled east from Hunterspoint Ave, one to Jamaica and one to Queens Village. Trains destined beyond electrified territory could leave Penn Station behind DD1 electric locomotives and change engines at Jamaica; thirteen weekday trains did so. That service ended in 1951, leading to Hunterspoint Avenue's present role.