Beach 105th Street station

The Beach 105th Street station (signed as Beach 105th Street–Seaside station) is a station on the IND Rockaway Line of the New York City Subway, located at Beach 105th Street on the Rockaway Freeway in Queens. It is served by the Rockaway Park Shuttle at all times and ten daily rush-hour only A trains.

Beach 105 Street  ​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Broad Channel-bound platform
Station statistics
Address	Beach 105th Street & Rockaway Freeway Queens, New York
Borough	Queens
Locale	Rockaway Park
Coordinates	40.583217°N 73.827594°W / 40.583217; -73.827594
Division	B (IND, formerly LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch)[1]
Line	IND Rockaway Line
Services	A  (rush hours, peak direction) ​   S  (all times)
Transit	MTA Bus: Q22, Q53 SBS, QM16 NYC Ferry: Rockaway (at Rockaway Landing)
Structure	Elevated
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	1880; 144 years ago (1880) (LIRR station)
Rebuilt	June 28, 1956; 68 years ago (1956-06-28) (as a Subway station)
Opposite- direction transfer	Yes
Former/other names	Beach 105th Street–Seaside
Traffic
2023	62,878[2]  9.1%
Rank	422 out of 423[2]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street A  ​S  Terminus Rockaway Park Beach 98th Street A  ​S  toward Broad Channel
Former services Preceding station Long Island Rail Road Following station Playland toward Woodside Rockaway Beach Division Rockaway Park Terminus
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to Beach 98th Street to Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times Stops rush hours in the peak direction only

History

This station previously had six different names. It was originally opened by the Long Island Rail Road in 1880 as Seaside Station station (also an earlier name for Babylon) for the Rockaway Beach Branch at 102nd Street. It also included a trolley stop of the Ocean Electric Railway, as well as an OER spur to the Neponsit-Rockaway Beach Branch. A second station at Beach 104th Street became its replacement in April 1888, only to be burned on September 20, 1892.

The third station was built in 1892 and burned on August 29, 1893 during a storm, which ended up sparing the neighborhood around it.^[3] The fourth station was built in 1894 and renovated between April and May 1899. The station was rebuilt as an elevated station, which opened on April 10, 1942.^[4]

A 1950 fire at The Raunt destroyed the trestle across Jamaica Bay, forcing the LIRR to reroute Rockaway Beach service along the Far Rockaway Branch through the Hammels Wye for the next five years.^[5] The station was purchased by New York City on October 3, 1955, along with the rest of the Rockaway Beach Branch and Far Rockaway Branch west of Far Rockaway, after a fire on the line's crossing over Jamaica Bay in 1950.^[6] Now operated by the New York City Transit Authority, it reopened as a subway station along the IND Rockaway Line on June 28, 1956.^[6][7]

As part of the 2010–2014 Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Capital Program, new crossovers will be built at this station in order to provide resiliency in the event of major flooding, like from Hurricane Sandy. The crossovers would allow the station to be used as a terminal in the event that the terminal at Beach 116th Street was unavailable. In addition to the construction of the switches, a relay room will be built and new signals will be installed. Design work on the project started in August 2017, and finished in January 2019. Construction will start some time in the future.^[8]

Station layout

Platform level	Side platform
	Southbound	← toward Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street (Terminus) ← PM rush toward Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street (Terminus)
	Northbound	→ toward Broad Channel (Beach 98th Street) → → AM rush toward Inwood–207th Street (Beach 98th Street) →
	Side platform
Mezzanine		Fare control, station agent, MetroCard and OMNY vending machines
Ground	Street level	Entrances/exits

Eastern stairs

This elevated station has two tracks and two side platforms on a concrete viaduct.^[9] The station is served by the Rockaway Park Shuttle at all times and limited A trains during rush hours in the peak direction (toward Manhattan in the morning and toward the Rockaways in the afternoon).^[10][11] It is between Beach 98th Street to the east (railroad north) and Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street to the west (railroad south).^[12] Both platforms have beige windscreens and canopies with green support columns in the center and full height fences at both ends. South of this station, the IND Rockaway Line descends to ground level.

Exits

The station's only entrance/exit is an elevated station house beneath the tracks. It has a station agent booth, turnstile bank, waiting area that allows a free transfer between directions, two staircases to each platform at the center, and two staircases going down to either side of Rockaway Freeway between Beach 105th and Beach 104th Streets. The two southern staircases are connected to the station house with a canopied overpass.^[13] The Rockaway Park-bound platform had an exit at the north end, which has been removed.

Ridership

In 1985, the station had only 262 paying daily riders on a typical weekday, not counting farebeaters, making it one of the least used stations in the system.^[14] In 2019, it was the least-used station out of all 424 stations in the New York City Subway system, serving 88,439 passengers, an average of fewer than 250 people per day.^[15] As of 2022^[update], the Beach 105th Street station is the system's second-least-used station with 41,437 riders.^[16]

References

1. "Glossary". Second Avenue Subway Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) (PDF). Vol. 1. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. March 4, 2003. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
2. "Annual Subway Ridership (2018–2023)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
3. "Fire at Rockaway". The New Brunswick Daily Times. August 29, 1893. p. 1. Retrieved October 8, 2018 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
4. "Last Grade Crossing In Rockaways Ends" (PDF). The New York Times. April 11, 1942. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
5. "LIRR Station History". Archived from the original on May 26, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2008.
6. Freeman, Ira Henry (June 28, 1956). "Rockaway Trains to Operate Today". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
7. "First Train On Rockaway Line Runs This Afternoon". Wave of Long Island. Fultonhistory.com. June 28, 1956. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 13, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2016.

   • "First Train On Rockaway Line Runs This Afternoon". Wave of Long Island. Fultonhistory.com. June 28, 1956. p. 6. Archived from the original on October 13, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
   • "TA's New Line To Rockaways Begins Today: Fifty Piece Band To Play as Special Train Makes First Run". The Leader-Observer. Fultonhistory.com. June 28, 1956. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 13, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
   • "To Rockaways: Beach Trains In Operation". Greenpoint Weekly Star. Fultonhistory.com. June 29, 1956. p. 2. Archived from the original on October 13, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
8. "ET070311 Mitigation: Installation of New Crossovers at Beach 105th Street Station on the Rockaway Line". web.mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
9. "Tracks of the New York City Subway". Tracks of the New York City Subway. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
10. "S Subway Timetable, Rockaway Park Shuttle, Effective December 17, 2023". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
11. "A Subway Timetable, Effective December 17, 2023". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
12. "Subway Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. September 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
13. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: The Rockaways" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
14. Levine, Richard (November 5, 1986). "Column One: Transport". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
15. "Annual Subway Ridership (2018–2023)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
16. "Subway and bus ridership for 2021" (XLSX). MTA. Retrieved July 14, 2023.

External links

• nycsubway.org – IND Rockaway: Beach 105th Street/Seaside
• Station Reporter — Rockaway Park Shuttle
• Seaside Station (Arrt's Arrchives):
  • 1905 image
  • Former "SE" Cabin
• The Subway Nut — Beach 105th Street – Seaside Pictures Archived July 13, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
• Entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View