Great Neck is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington Branch in Great Neck Plaza, New York. It is the westernmost station on the branch in Nassau County. The station is located at Middle Neck Road and Station Plaza at Great Neck Road, 0.25 miles (0.40 km) north of Northern Boulevard and 15.9 miles (25.6 km) from Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. From just east of the station, the line becomes single track to Port Washington.

History

Great Neck was originally the terminus of the New York and Flushing Railroad when it was built in 1866 by a subsidiary called the North Shore Railroad, and called Brookdale Station. The NY&F was acquired by the Flushing and North Side Railroad in 1869, and the name was changed to Great Neck in 1872. The F&NS was consolidated into the Flushing, North Shore and Central Railroad in 1874 through a merger with the Central Railroad of Long Island, only to be leased in 1876 by the LIRR.

Though Great Neck station served as a terminal station for much of the 19th century, it was never intended to stay this way. An attempt to extend the line east from the station toward Roslyn failed in 1882. Thirteen years later, wealthy Port Washington residents persuaded the LIRR to bring the terminus to their hometown. This required the construction of the Manhasset Viaduct over the marshes at the southern end of Manhasset Bay, which was authorized by an LIRR subsidiary called the Great Neck and Port Washington Railroad. On June 23, 1898, the first LIRR train passed through Great Neck to cross the Manhasset Viaduct, Long Island's highest railroad bridge, to extend the line through Manhasset, Plandome and Port Washington. In 1924, the station was closed; it was reopened at its current location on February 26, 1925. A grade crossing elimination project then brought the tracks below ground by June 8, 1934. Elevators are on both sides. The wall along the southeastern platform has an aluminum sculpture by artist David Saunders that was installed in 2001.

The station recently received enhancements and modernizations, including Wi-Fi, LCD display screens, wayfinding signage, new benches, new bike racks, and charging stations, among other things, as part of a greater, systemwide initiative to upgrade stations and infrastructure.

Station layout

The station has two high-level side platforms, each 10 cars long.

G	Ground level	Exit/entrance, crossover, parking, buses
P Platform level	Platform A, side platform
	Track 1	←      Port Washington Branch toward Penn Station or Grand Central Madison (Little Neck)
	Track 2	←      Port Washington Branch toward Port Washington (Manhasset) →
	Platform B, side platform

Pocket track

As a "readiness project" for the LIRR's East Side Access extension project to Grand Central Terminal, the MTA extended Track 2 an additional 1,200 feet (370 m) east, making it long enough to store two trainsets. This would allow the LIRR to increase the number of peak-hour trips between Great Neck and Penn Station/Grand Central. It also included replacement of the original Colonial Road Bridge, built in 1897, which passes over the area of the expanded pocket track, with a new bridge with wider lanes and built to reduce noise. Also included in the project are drainage improvements to the right of way to alleviate flooding on the tracks during storms. In 2010, several homeowners in the area opposed the project, arguing that construction would harm their quality of life. Representatives from the MTA stated that the expanded pocket track would not be used for overnight train storage or maintenance. The project was initially scheduled for completion in December 2015. Because of delays, the new bridge was installed in April 2016, and the construction of the pocket track was scheduled for completion in December 2018 at a total cost of $45.2 million. However, the completion date was again pushed back several times; as of November 2021, a tentative completion date of August 2022 was announced. Following another delay, construction of the extended pocket track would ultimately be completed in December 2022.

In popular culture

The Great Neck station was referenced in The Great Gatsby as "West Egg".

Gallery

• Great Neck LIRR station
• 
  Platform level at Great Neck.
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  A Port Washington-bound train at the station, as seen from a staircase to Platform B.
• 
  The station's parking lot, looking towards the station house.
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  One of the elevators, as seen from street level.
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  A plaque commemorating the grade crossing elimination in the Great Neck area.
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  Conductor's Watch & Key Chain by David Saunders