Why no Yankee Stadium station?

Dutchrailnut- two points- dont know if it makes any difference...

- Other major league stadiums have rail service... why can't New York? Believe me, taxpayers are sports fans too, they wouldn't mind "footing the bill" for this one. We pay for all sorts of stuff we dont know about anyway, at least this one would have some substance! The Mets are served by LIRR and No. 7 subway.

- Yankee Stadium is owned by New York City and leased to the Yankees. The "taxpayers" get screwed out of millions of dollars of rent from Steinbrenner every year.


shlustig- great info, thanks for sharing!

-otto-

Full Disclosure --

Even though I am a Mets fan, I am not against the idea of Yankee Station -- just against the idea of Metro-North paying for it. Metro-North has enough to do to keep the trains running without subsidizing the felon who owns the Yankees.

Otto the stop at Shea stadium was there long before MTA took over the LIRR.
as far as subway service Yankee stadium does have subway service.

Well yes, I know that the stop on the LIRR predates Shea Stadium... I was just pointing out that service exists to Shea (and the Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium nearby), but no comparable service for Yankee Stadium...

oh well. I'll just wait another 20 years!

-otto-

Or until the Mets win the world series two years in a row! :D

Let's go Yankees!

Or, more likely, until the Dodgers come back to Brooklyn.

Regarding the Yankee/Shea comparison, we should note that the Port Washington Branch is itself little more than a glorified subway, and cannot be reached via Jamaica, making it of little use to most Long Islanders wishing to see a Mets game. In that regard, Yankee Stadium has the better rail access, with the B, D, and 4 trains, than Shea, with only the 7 and isolated PW Branch.

That doesn't pre-empt any other reasoning for a MN Yankee Stadium station, but it does disarm any notion that Shea has it better.

The fact that PW line doesn't stop at Jamaica really doesn't matter. People can transfer at Woodside, which LIRR promotes.

Had the Central Railroad still be around, there'd be a much better route for the rest of LI. For those unaware, the central ran from what's now Shea Stadium to Babylon via what is now the Hempstead branch, garden city-mitchell field secondary, and the central branch. Other parts(Shea to Floral Park and Meadowbrook to B tower) are abandoned, but for the most part, clear.

> Hmmm...I was just thinking....could it be that MR. Dutchrailbut is a Red Sox Fan????

> and no Dutchrailnut is a Feyenoord fan. but what that is Ill leave for you to figure out

Hmm... I think we've had this discussion before

IMHO The Yakee Stadium situation mirrors Shea, Shea Stadium is on that isolated Port Washington Branch, as opposed to the "main thoroughfares" of that Railroad, i.e. between Jamacia and Penn, or along the most heavily used lines.

Ditto for MN, the Hudson line (I believe) is the least used of the 3 (not counting West-of-Hudson).

Therefore as far as I'm concerned, the question of whether or not a Yankee Stadium stop can be justified, can be answered by looking at the LIRRs Shea stop, and whether or not it is itself a success.

While we're on the subject of Shea stadium, I was looking over the (online) photo collection of Joe Testagrose, and it had pictures of M2s on a very unglamorous looking unpowered track in front of what he claimed was Shea stadium. This was before Metro North. In the background there was some small structure with a zig-zagging roof. I dont have the URL to hand, but is that possible?

-- actually I do have a location for said photo, it's at http://www.davesrailpix.com/condot/htm/condot004.htm

M-2's at Shea?? Hmmm

If it's 1972, Shea/Flushing/Corona may have been an acceptance location, as the M-2s were only just arriving at that time.

The location of the train station would be pretty inaccessible. Because metro north runs under and to the river side of the Deagan an over, or underpass would have to be made. Believe it or not there is also quite a bit of a walk to Yankee stadium to the Deagan, maybe quater or half a mile. During a game, if ridership was high it would mean quite a long wait. It would also be a bit too close to Mott Haven, where the linesHarlem and Hudson lines split, making it a little too close for comfort during rush hours, in my very unofficial opinion. I'm interested in the reaction I get in this.

Thedarkliberator is absolutely right about the operations being challenging during the rush hour, in my opinion, but I think a station southeast of the Deegan -- where the current pedestrian overpass to the River side of the RR is -- would be doable, with enough political will (i.e., money) ...

What I find intriguing about this idea is trying to figure out what the ridership would be for a Friday evening game, for example, if direct trains were offered.

I'm thinking maybe 5,000-10,000.

What do you all think??

The MBTA in Boston built a station near Fenway Park for the Boston Red Sox on their version of the Port Washington Branch(the Framingham/Worcester Line). It was originally a seasonal station, well utilized, and eventually became a full time station. Expect a similar station for Metro North.

It can work to Metro North's advantage, just have something nearby that would draw riders. Location of the station is key, with nothing around it's useless outside of a baseball station. With something nearby that would draw riders, maybe offering up the connections to the subway nearby, it would work. Just don't abandon the idea altogether because of it's main use.

And Sean W., that picture was definately taken near Shea Stadium. The sculpture in the background is a dead giveaway.

The METS have a station too be it is a good walk to the game from there(lirr)


Heak thhe mets have 2 station's

Just to clarify, LIRR PW line is one of the heaviest used lines of the LIRR.

As for Shea Stadium station. It is a huge hit. Everytime I take a train that is stopping at Shea, sometimes as much as 2/3rds the train gets off/on at Shea. Many of the riders are just PW line riders. Others at Shea are those going either to Manhattan or eastern LI via Jamaica.