Howard Beach – JFK Airport (IND Rockaway Line)

Howard Beach – JFK Airport is a station on the IND Rockaway Line of the New York City Subway. Located at Coleman Square at 159th Avenue and 103rd Street in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, it is served by the A train at all times.

This station has two side platforms and four tracks; however, the northbound express track is broken just to the south. Southbound platformHoward Beach Station originally opened in April 1913, as a Long Island Rail Road station, which replaced the former 1905-built Ramblersville (LIRR station). In 1923, the station was replaced with sheltered sheds on both sides of the tracks. On June 27, 1955 the station along with the rest of the Rockaway Beach Branch was taken out of service and acquired by the New York City Transit Authority. On June 28, 1956, it was reopened as the subway station it is today as the previous station was razed.

Besides the A train, the JFK Express, which provided a link to John F. Kennedy International Airport served this station from 1978 to 1990, which included a free shuttle bus to the airport. When the JFK Express was cancelled by MTA, only the shuttle bus to the airport existed, until a spur of the AirTrain JFK debuted in 2003.

[edit] AirTrain Platform
The AirTrain platform opened in 2003.[4] It has 2 tracks and 1 island platform. It is on the upper level. The next stop to the south/east is Lefferts Boulevard. Because it is owned by the Port Authority, it is outside of fare control for the subway and inside its own fare control.