Babylon (LIRR station)

Babylon is a station of the Long Island Rail Road in the village of Babylon, New York at Railroad Avenue west of Deer Park Avenue. It lies along the Montauk Branch, and is the eastern terminus of the Babylon Branch service. To the west is the junction (Belmont Junction) with the Central Branch, which heads northwest to join the Main Line at Beth Interlocking southeast of the Bethpage station. The Babylon station is elevated with two island platforms and is wheelchair accessible through elevator access. The electrified portion of the Montauk Branch ends east of the station. Babylon is 38.9 miles from Penn Station (in Manhattan, New York City), and travel time varies between 50 minutes and 1 hour 13 minutes, depending on the amount of stops a train makes.

{| class="toc" id="toc"

Contents
[hide]*1 History
 * 2 Platform and track configuration
 * 3 Bus connections
 * 4 References
 * 5 External links
 * }

[edit] History
Babylon Station originally opened as a South Side Railroad of Long Island depot on October 28, 1867 as "Seaside Station" until it was renamed "Babylon Station" in 1869. The Central Railroad of Long Island had once planned an extension to the Great South Bay and Fire Island which was never built, and a horse car and later trolley line was provided by the Babylon Rail Road Company as a substitute. The second depot opened on July 2, 1881, and was razed in 1964 as part of the grade elimination project that was taking place along the entire Babylon Branch during the post-war era. The new third station opened the same year. East of the station, a train washing canopy existed in West Islip until 2005.[2] [3]

As budgeted in the 2008-2013 Capital Plan, station rehabilitation over the next five years will include the demolition of the existing platform and design and construction of a new platform as well as replacement of platform waiting rooms, escalators, and elevators. The project is projected to cost 39 million USD and will replace infrastructure that has existed since the station was last razed in 1964.[4]

[edit] Platform and track configuration
This station has two 12-car-long high-level island platforms serving trains in both directions. The Montauk Branch has three tracks at this location. The north platform is adjacent to Tracks 1 and 2. The south platform is adjacent to Tracks 2 and 3.

[edit] Bus connections
The station is also an intermodal transportation hub with connections to several bus lines.

Suffolk County Transit MTA Long Island Bus Trailways Transportation System: NOTE: The S29 is the only bus that, while it serves it, does not terminate at the Babylon train station
 * S20: to Westfield Sunrise.
 * S23: to Walt Whitman Mall.
 * S25: to Northwest Babylon.
 * S27: to Hauppauge.
 * S29: to Walt Whitman Mall.
 * S40: to Patchogue.
 * S42: to Central Islip.
 * S47: to Robert Moses State Park (summer service only).
 * N19: to Freeport.
 * N72: to Hempstead (Monday-Saturday).
 * Adirondack Trailways
 * Pine Hills Trailways