By GREGORY ZELLER //
It’s been a long time since the New York Islanders played a home game – and a lot longer since the Long Island Rail Road opened a new train station.
Both droughts end Saturday, when the Islanders – after an historic 13-game road trip to open their 2021/22 National Hockey League season – play their first-ever game at shiny UBS Arena, and the LIRR’s new Elmont Station officially opens just outside.
At least, partially.
Marking the first new LIRR station in five decades, the Elmont Station will open its gates in a limited capacity Saturday. Only the eastbound platform of the new station is ready; the Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to activate the eastbound Hempstead Branch stop during events like Saturday’s NHL tilt between the Islanders and the visiting Calgary Flames, giving travelers coming from Queens and points west the option of taking the train to the game.
Jon Ledecky: Train of thought.
To get back, train travelers to Islanders games and the scheduled Nov. 28 Harry Styles concert – the first musical performance slated at the new venue – are invited to hop a westbound train at the adjacent Belmont Park station, or take a shuttlebus to the Queens Village Station and catch a westerly train there.
Construction on the Elmont Station’s westbound platform is scheduled to continue through next summer, when the LIRR is expected to increase capacity at the new station.
Located between Queens Village and Bellrose on the Hempstead Branch, Elmont Station will ultimately feature two elevated, covered platforms, each 12 car lengths long, with Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant elevators, a pedestrian overpass, USB charging stations, state-of-the-art digital signage, snow-melting technology built into walkway cement and more.
Although full-time, year-round service won’t begin at the station until well into 2022, even the partial opening of the first new LIRR stop since the 1960s will reduce regional automotive traffic and “increase the number of event attendees who use public transportation,” according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office.
Ice time: Much-anticipated UBS Arena finally opens its doors Saturday.
“The start of service for the first new LIRR station in 50 years is the type of project that my administration will continue to pursue as we strive to make Long Island more accessible and give Long Islanders the quality public transportation they deserve,” Hochul said Tuesday.
Islanders Co-owner Jon Ledecky called the new station “an essential transportation option for hockey and music fans attending events at UBS Arena,” the $1.5 billion multipurpose venue constructed as the centerpiece jewel of an overhauled Belmont Park complex.
“We encourage our guests to take the train whenever possible,” Ledecky said in a statement. “It’s the fastest and most sustainable way to get to our new, state-of-the-art venue.”
