Alrighty, so this entry (apologies for being late – my mental health and work put this on the backburner a bit!) is one of many elevated stations on line #7. The first of many stations on the line with street names (or second – if you factor in the platforms for line E and M at Court Sq. is “Court Sq.-23rd St.”), and the first of many generic elevated stations along the line. Let’s get into this because this is going to probably get monotonous.
33rd-Rawson is on the edge of LI City (going by Google Maps boundaries here), and is on a concrete viaduct over Queens Blvd. Wait, is this what NYC-area foamers call the “Queens Blvd. Line”?
*does research*
Wait, it isn’t? Damn…
Anyways, the station really isn’t much to ring home about. You have two side platforms with wastebaskets, benches, countdown clocks (which means you will hear “THERE IS AN. UPTOWN. LOCAL. SEVEN TRAIN TO FLUSHING-MAIN ST. APPROACHING THE STATION PLEASE STAND AWAY FROM THE PLATFORM EDGE” about once every other minute. We’ll get to that in a minute. The mezzanine has MetroCard machines and turnstiles, however they’re configured in a way to not allow free crossovers. Boo, that sucks! Well, I lied. Apparently, there’s a part-time exit (presumably closed nights or offpeak) that DOES allow free crossovers. Not sure how anyone would think this though if they’re not from the area. Oh well! I must also remark, the skyline view of LI City is pretty sick from here, too!
Right, back about those headways. Those headways are actually real, and the trains run at FULL SPEED with those headways. I decided to railfan here a little bit and, I am genuinely not exaggerating, there were moments where trains were pretty much bunched up to the untrained eye, yet they were running full speed and were not holding. Like, DAMN! I’ll explain how it works. This might go over some peoples’ heads, and I probably won’t do the best job explaining, so I apologize in advance. So, here we go:
Line #7 (& Line L, and some sections of the other lines including the Queens Blvd. tunnel, and more recently line G) operate on a different signaling system that operates considerably different than the rest of the subway system, and is considerably different vs. mainline rail (e.g. Amtrak, Metro-North, NJ Transit, the LIRR) or other subway systems (e.g. SEPTA, the MBTA, the CTA). Most of these systems operate their signals with what are called “blocks”, or sections of track that are protected by signals. If you ever sat trackside, you might’ve seen a tri-color light or a gantry with red, yellow, and green. These operate pretty much like traffic lights, and once you enter the block section, they’re supposed to turn red. However, the signaling system on line #7 doesn’t use traditional blocks. Rather, the system, called CBTC, uses what essentially are an infinite amount of blocks and trains can keep as much or as little space as possible to operate safely and at full speed. Furthermore, this technology also allows for, essentially, fully automated subway lines. However, in the context of New York, odds are the unions wouldn’t let that fly because of job security reasons, so if nothing else the operators are there for emergencies and to operate the doors. It’s a bit hard to explain, so my recommendation is to just see it in action if you’re able to. It really is a sight to behold to see 2 11-car trains back to back without any restricted speeds.
If that was hard to understand, I don’t fault you. Here’s a video that can explain it better than I can.
The good: It’s a cool railfanning spot and, in my opinion, a good place to see CBTC in action! It also serves the Sunnyside and LI City areas of Queens pretty well! Queens Blvd. is pretty nice with what’s on it, even though it may as well be a stroad that happens to have a subway viaduct in the median.
The bad: Eh, not a lot to say outside the station specifically. Again, Queens Blvd. is a stroad. This station also isn’t accessible. Booooo…..
Nearby points of interest: The station itself is pretty cool for railfanning! There’ a YMCA, a gaming store, and a school nearby.
Transit connections:
Flushing Line (Line #7)
MTA bus (Q32, Q39, Q60)
Overall, it’s a pretty cool station for railfanning, but not much to remark beyond that. Sorry!
Rating: 6.5/10
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