Enclose Jamaica station? LIRR riders envision a revamp amid $50M redesign effort.

For many Long Island Rail Road riders, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recently proposed $50 million "reimagining" of Jamaica station should focus less on what commuters want to see in a new and improved facility, and more on what they want to feel: warmth.

"It's too cold out here," Brentwood commuter Mindy Perez, 19, said as she waited for her train shivering under the red coils of an overhead heater that intermittently clicked on and off. "Where I’m standing right now, I feel like it would be nice to close off that part, and still have doors to access whatever track you’re going to."

With plenty of winter left, several LIRR riders recently interviewed at Jamaica said at the top of their wish lists for a redesigned station were measures to shield them from the elements. Some even hoped for the 113-year-old outdoor train hub to be, at least partially, enclosed.

In announcing earlier this month the plan to spend $50 million to redesign Jamaica, which is used by 240,000 riders each day, Hochul’s office offered few details. Asked whether the project might include enclosing the station or otherwise protecting riders from the weather, Hochul spokesman Sean Butler, in a statement Tuesday said, "the final scope of the project will be determined" during the design process.

"The design phase of this project will reimagine Jamaica Station into a fully-integrated transit hub for over 200,000 daily LIRR, subway, and AirTrain riders, with easier transfers, better access, enhanced way-finding, and an improved customer experience," Butler said.

Also standing under a heater, Pacino Toyo, 28, of Jamaica, Queens, agreed that efforts should be made to make comfortable temperatures "more available to the people."

"Especially in a city like New York, where it’s very cold ... I’m telling you, people would appreciate it," said Toyo, who would also like to see new escalators to bring riders down to the track level, in addition to the ones that already bring them up.

Changing use of Jamaica

Unlike other New York City railroad hubs, Jamaica station had to be built outdoors because it served steam locomotives that emitted toxic fumes, said LIRR historian David Morrison, who authored a 2011 book about Jamaica station. With the advent of electric trains in the early 1900s, commuters first had to "change at Jamaica," Morrison said.

Still, for decades most regular riders only experienced the weather at the station when the train doors opened or they darted across a platform to a connecting train.

That changed three years ago with the opening of Grand Central Madison, and the LIRR’s elimination of timed transfers at Jamaica. With a second Manhattan terminal to serve, extended waits at Jamaica became more common, including in the cold winter months and the sweltering summer months. And many transfers — especially those to and from Brooklyn — now require going up to the mezzanine level, across several tracks, and back down again.

"I think the reasoning in the past was it’s just a quick pass-through. You’re not going to be spending any time there," said LIRR Commuter Council chair Gerard Bringmann, who agreed that money could be spent at Jamaica to "maybe enclose it a little better."

"I know a lot of times, if you’re going to be sitting waiting for like a half-hour, 40 minutes waiting for a train, you try and wander over to the AirTrain section, because it’s warmer," Bringmann said, referencing the Port Authority-operated enclosed building connecting to the LIRR station.

Morrison, referencing massive indoor structures like stadiums, said, "I don’t see why it couldn’t be covered." He questioned, however, whether the state would be willing to take on the expense. "I don’t know whether the cost would be worth it."

Although MTA officials deferred to Hochul’s office for specifics about the redesign plans, LIRR President Rob Free noted that the railroad has already been trying to improve the customer experience at Jamaica, including by improving train punctuality at the station, through which 10 of the railroad’s 11 branches are routed.

Although the LIRR has, for years, reported systemwide on-time performance of more than 90%, through 2024 fewer than 60% of rush hour trains were arriving on schedule at Jamaica, according to the railroad. Free said those numbers have since improved to about 64% in the morning peak, and 68% during the p.m. peak.

"I always say we live and die by Jamaica," Free said. "We have to make sure Jamaica is running optimally."

Visiting New York from his native Colombia, Ray Charrupi credited "really generous" LIRR personnel — and ChatGPT — with helping him navigate Jamaica’s confusing layout and unclear signage.

"That’s why it’s possible for people like me, with terrible English, to get the train that we need," Charrupi, 45, said. "Otherwise, probably, it was going to be tough for me."