Bethpage (LIRR station)

Bethpage Station is a station along the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road. It is located at Stewart Avenue and Jackson Avenue, in Bethpage, New York, and serves both the Ronkonkoma Branch, and the Central Branch.

Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tracks were completed on the present line in 1841. At first trains did not stop here, Bethpage appearing only as a notation ("late Bethpage") associated with the Farmingdale station to the east. By 1854, the LIRR stopped at a local station called Jerusalem Station. A local post office opened January 29, 1857 with the name Jerusalem Station. LIRR schedules also referred to the station as simply Jerusalem. In 1867, the residents changed the name of the local post office to Central Park, and both that and Jerusalem appear on LIRR schedules until 1936. The station and the post office were renamed Bethpage on October 1, 1936. In 1959, the station was burned down and replaced. Service was electrified in 1987.

Two nearby stations also had Bethpage in their name: In 1872, the Central Railroad of Long Island had a regularly-scheduled stop also named Central Park near Stewart Avenue and Motor Lane in Plainedge, approximately 0.75 miles south of the present station.
 * Bethpage Junction was a connection to the east of the present station where the LIRR crossed with the Central Railroad of Long Island, which was built in 1873. A station was built to enable passengers to transfer. This is the location where the present Central Branch splits from the Main Line at Beth Interlocking one mile southeast of the station on the Branch's way to Babylon Station and the Montauk Branch. The LIRR built the B-Tower at Beth Interlocking in 1925 to replace hand-operated switching between the tracks.
 * Bethpage was also the name of the northern terminus of the former Bethpage Branch from Bethpage Junction to the former Bethpage Brickworks in the community now called Old Bethpage, but which was called Bethpage until 1936.

Platform and track configuration
This station has two high-level side platforms each 12 cars long. The north platform, adjacent to Track 1, is generally used by westbound or New York City-bound trains. The south platform, adjacent to Track 2, is generally used by eastbound trains.

The Main Line has two tracks at this location.

MTA Long Island Bus Connections

 * N81: Westfield Sunrise-Broadway Mall.