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The West Hempstead Branch is an electrified rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in the U.S. state of New York. The branch separates from the Montauk Branch just east of Valley Stream, and runs northeast to West Hempstead. The line has one track between Westwood station and Hempstead Gardens and two from there to the end of the line in West Hempstead, the southbound or east track being a siding. Since Valley Stream only has platforms on the Atlantic Branch, which parallels the Montauk Branch to the south, most West Hempstead Branch trains that serve Valley Stream are shuttles that terminate there.〔(MTA Long Island Rail Road system map )〕〔(LIRR West Hempstead Branch timetable )〕 As the smallest LIRR commuter branch, West Hempstead was one of the last in the system to modernize. It was the last of the electrified LIRR branches to receive high level platforms, in the early 1970s, and the last of the electrified branches to be fitted with Automatic Train Control (known as Automatic Speed Control by the LIRR), which it received in October 2009 during a system overhaul and upgrade at (Valley Interlocking ).〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.thelirrtoday.com/2013/11/interlocking-walkthrough-wm.html )〕 Nevertheless, the branch is one of the LIRR lines most vulnerable to closure, and has been threatened with abandonment in recent years. In September 2010 until November 2014, the line had no weekend service due to budgetary constraints, (except for St. Albans, which has always had passenger services since Babylon Branch trains stop there on weekends). ==History== The West Hempstead Branch was the indirect successor to the old South Side Railroad's Southern Hempstead Branch, which ran a similar route north from Valley Stream to Hempstead, before being torn up in the 1880s. Built in 1893 by the New York Bay Extension Railroad Company and merged with the LIRR in 1902, the West Hempstead Branch originally extended beyond its current terminus and through Hempstead. It connected with the current day Hempstead Branch at Country Life Press.〔(West Hempstead Branch Stations (Unofficial LIRR History web site) )〕 From the Country Life Press station, the line had several routings it could take. It could loop west and continue down the Hempstead Branch to Jamaica. Through an elaborate wye system, trains could also loop east and continue down the Central Branch to Babylon (the split between the Hempstead and Central Branches occur just west of Country Life Press). Trains could also head north on the wye and continue all the way north to Mineola and connect with either the Main Line and Oyster Bay Branches. On October 19, 1926, the entire line was electrified. The connection to the Oyster Bay Branch was severed in 1928, while the portions of the line between Mineola and Country Life Press and between Country Life Press and West Hempstead were taken out of revenue passenger service in the late 1930s due to the costly grade crossing elimination improvements imposed upon the LIRR by the Interstate Commerce Commission, as well as the New York Public Service Commission. Freight trains and non-revenue rerouting trains continued down these portions until the late 1960s when they were finally torn up. The rights-of-way, however, remain intact.〔(Mineola to West Hempstead (Unofficial LIRR History Website; Abandoned ROW's) )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「West Hempstead Branch」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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