Trains to and from New York La Guardia Airport (LGA)

LaGuardia Airport can be distinguished from other airports in the United States and the world by its unique IATA code of LGA, and is an airport serving New York City. It is located approximately four miles from the borough of Manhattan, and in northern parts of the borough of Queens. It is in the state of New Jersey, and is part of the largest airport system in the US (and second largest in the world). Together, the three airports of New York (JFK International, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia) handle over one hundred million passengers every year. Although subway trains in New York are a popular way to travel, there is no LaGuardia Airport train station available. However, buses are frequently available to the nearby subway stations.

The airport of LaGuardia has four passenger terminals, and is served by the airline companies of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, US Airways, WestJet, Air Canada, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and others. Passengers can reach the airport from a large number of cities in the United States, and upon arriving, will find a number of options for ground transportation into the city of New York. There are taxis available at each terminal, and public buses serve all terminals as well. Private bus companies also offer several local and long-distance routes for passengers. Although there is no train station on the airport grounds, passengers can easily reach the city’s subway services, and the Long Island Rail Road by the MTA public buses. The terminals of the airport are linked by walkways and by the bus routes A and B.

The M60 New York City bus serves all airport terminals, and takes passengers to Manhattan, 106th and Broadway, for connections to the E, F, G, R, V and 7 trains on the New York City subway lines. It also takes passengers to Queens and to the Bronx, to 125th Street for subway connections. The Q33 and Q47 buses of the airport make a connection in Queens with the F, G and R subway trains. Another bus that is particularly popular is the NYC Airporter, with connections to Grand Central Station and Penn Station. Tickets for the NYC Airporter cost $12.75 each, or $19.00 for an adult round trip ticket. Further details regarding the airport buses and their connections to the subway is available at http://www.mta.info and http://www.NYCAirporter.com.

New York City Subway

The subway system of New York City is one of the oldest and largest in the world. It is rated as the seventh busiest by annual ridership, falling behind only transit systems such as those in Tokyo, Moscow, Beijing, Seoul and Shanghai, but is the third longest system in the world, with only the London Underground and Shanghai Metro covering a greater distance. The New York City Subway consists of approximately 842 miles of track. The system handles over 1.64 billion rides every year. On weekends there is an average of 3 million rides on Saturdays and 2.4 million rides on Sundays, and on weekdays, there are about 5.3 million rides per day. The subway of New York has a total of 468 subway stations that are currently being used. The stations are found in convenient locations throughout four boroughs of the city, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. There is a fifth borough as well, Staten Island, but the railway there is not officially part of the subway system. It does not connect to any of the other trains.

The New York City subway consists of twenty-four train services, many of which pass through Manhattan. They are colour-coded for ease of use, have names and are also numbered or lettered. Certain trains stop at all stations en-route their journey, but some are classified as express services, skipping stations along the way. The trains that are part of the A-Division include the Broadway-Seventh Avenue Local (1), the Seventh Avenue Express (2), the Lexington Avenue Express (4), the Flushing Local/Express (7) and the 42nd Street Shuttle (S). In the B-Division the trains include the Eighth Avenue Express (A), the Sixth Avenue Express (B), the Eighth Avenue Local (C), the Sixth Avenue Local (F), the Crosstown Local (G), the Nassau Street Local (J), the Broadway Local (N), the Broadway Express (Q), the Franklin Avenue Shuttle (S), the Rockaway Park Shuttle (S) and the Nassau Street Express (Z).

A MetroCard is most commonly used by passengers on the subway system. The MetroCard fare system was also enhanced in 2007 to allow free transfers between trains and buses within two hours. Unlimited-ride MetroCards are available, allowing travellers to use the trains more freely for either a seven day period or a thirty day period.

The Long Island Rail Road

The Long Island Rail Road is also referred to as the LIRR, and it stretches from Manhattan to the easternmost tip of Suffolk County, New York. Along its route there are 124 stations, and it travels on a track of over 700 miles in length. It has been in existence since 1834, and is today the second busiest commuter railroad in North America. On average, 303,000 rides are provided on a daily basis. It operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and provides regular services during off-peak hours, over weekends and on public holidays. The major stations of the LIRR include Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan, the Atlantic Terminal in Downtown Brooklyn and the Jamaica Station in Jamaica, Queens.

The Acela Express

The Acela Express runs along the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C. and Boston, passing Baltimore in Philadelphia and New York. It is one of Amtrak’s high-speed railway services, travelling at speeds that can reach up to 150mph, or 240km/h. The Acela Express sees approximately 3.2 million passengers every year.

Although LaGuardia does not have its own subway station, passengers find the bus services to be very convenient, and once in the city, there are plenty of options for train travel.