Long Island Railroad

Long Island Rail Road

LIRR map
The Long Island Rail Road provides electric and diesel rail service east-west throughout Long Island, New York.
Reporting mark	LI
Locale	Long Island, New York
Dates of operation	1834–present (PRR-operated from 1928 to 1949)
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Headquarters	Jamaica Railroad Station Jamaica, NY 11435
Website	mta.info/lirr

The Long Island Rail Road (reporting mark LI), legally known as the Long Island Rail Road Company and often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in southeastern New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average weekday ridership of 337,800 passengers in 2014, it is the busiest commuter railroad in North America. It is also one of the world's few commuter systems that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year-round. It is publicly owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who refer to it as MTA Long Island Rail Road.

The LIRR logo combines the circular MTA logo with the text Long Island Rail Road, and appears on the sides of trains. The LIRR is one of two commuter rail systems the MTA owns, the other being Metro-North Railroad. Established in 1834 and having operated continuously since then, it is the second oldest US railroad still operating under its original name and charter.

There are 124 stations, and more than 700 miles (1,100 km) of track, on its two lines to the two forks of the island and eight major branches, with the passenger railroad system totaling 319 miles (513 km) of route.

The Long Island Rail Road Company was chartered in 1834 to provide a daily service between New York and Boston via a ferry connection between its Greenport, New York, terminal on Long Island's North Fork and Stonington, Connecticut. This service was superseded in 1849 by the land route through Connecticut that became part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The LIRR refocused its attentions towards serving Long Island, in competition with other railroads on the island. In the 1870s railroad president Conrad Poppenhusen and his successor Austin Corbin acquired all the railroads and consolidated them into the LIRR.