LIRR Kew Gardens and Forest Hills Link Restoration In Talks

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — Long Island Rail Road said the agency is reviewing the possibility of restoring service between Kew Gardens and Forest Hills, according to Central Queens lawmakers.

Service between Kew and Forest Hills is currently non-existent, and the MTA-owned agency said it is looking into options for restoring this link.

“As of March 14th, the agency had also been reviewing additional requests from legislators, including to restore service between Kew Gardens and Forest Hills, as well as late night service from Penn Station to Queens,” said Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi.

The service was disrupted after LIRR re-routed service in Feburary between Queens and Penn Station to the newly opened Grand Central Station terminal.

But the changes caused a series of headaches for Central Queens residents, who were adding time to their commute to the city by taking alternate routes.

Hevesi, Council Member Lynn Schulman, Representative Grace Meng, and Senator Leroy Comrie also requested that LIRR restore late-night service from Penn to Forest Hills. Initial changes left no service between 12:13 a.m. and 3:09 a.m.

Although lawmakers have not received official word from LIRR that late-night trains were added, schedules on the agency website show trains running from Penn to Forest Hills at 1:34 a.m., and 2:38 a.m.