The Forest Hills LIRR Station Won't Be Finished This Winter. Here's How to Ride It in the Meantime.

The contract to rebuild the Forest Hills Long Island Rail Road station set a substantial completion date of December 2026, which is next month. The station won't be done by then. The MTA's capital program report from November 2025 moved the Forest Hills forecast to the fourth quarter of 2027, and the project's independent engineer put it at December 2027.

That makes this holiday season the first of a second year of riding from Station Square while the station is half built. Anyone heading into Manhattan for a show, a dinner or a family visit in December is better off knowing the station's temporary rules.

What the December 2026 date was supposed to cover

Forest Hills is one of three stations in the MTA's LIRR ADA Station Improvements Package 2. The other two are Babylon and Hollis. The MTA awarded the 36-month design-build contract to Forte Construction Corporation in December 2023.

At Forest Hills, the MTA lists this work:

• Full replacement of both platforms, lengthened from six cars to ten
• Automatic snow-and-ice melting systems built into the new platforms
• New platform canopies
• Updated ADA egress ramps
• Rehabilitated station restrooms
• New lighting, public address speakers, visual paging displays and signage

The MTA's rider notice adds two details neighbors will recognize: a new ramp from Ascan Avenue to the westbound platform, and upgrades to the waiting room. It also says the ten-car platforms and snow-melt systems are meant to cut delays across the LIRR network.

Why the finish line moved, and how far along the work is

Most of the delay goes back to an eight-month stop-work order at Forest Hills and Hollis, which was lifted in February 2025. The November 2025 report says the independent engineer expects the project to run past its baseline because of that stoppage and the pace of construction since. Another page of the same report says the Hollis and Forest Hills forecasts were affected by the temporary pause in congestion pricing.

Here is how the progress figures compare:

Going from 28% to 50% between those two reports means construction picked up after the stop-work order ended. A cost index of .99 means the Forest Hills piece was tracking at or slightly under budget as of the second quarter of 2026. The completion forecast in the November 2025 report is the fourth quarter of 2027.

So the scaffolding, the shortened platforms and the weekend schedule changes will be around for a while yet.

The station's temporary rules

The MTA's notice, Service changes at Kew Gardens, Forest Hills, and Woodside through 2027, last updated April 25, 2025, sets out the rules for riders while construction continues.

1. Ride in the first four cars if you're getting off westbound at Forest Hills. Until the new platforms are finished, those are the only cars where westbound riders can exit here. On a ten-car train from Jamaica, someone sitting near the back has to move forward before the train reaches Forest Hills.
2. On many weekends, trains skip the station in one direction. From Friday night until early Monday, trains don't stop at Kew Gardens, Forest Hills or Woodside in the affected direction. The direction changes over the life of the project, and work doesn't happen every weekend. Port Washington Branch trains still stop at Woodside in both directions.
3. There's no work during Forest Hills Stadium events or the US Open. The notice says so directly, so concert weekends at the stadium keep regular LIRR stops.
4. On bypass weekends, your LIRR ticket gets you onto the subway. The subway accepts LIRR tickets at Forest Hills-71 Av on the E, F and R, at Kew Gardens-Union Tpke on the E and F, and at Woodside-61 St on the 7. When eastbound trains are skipping stops, it's also accepted at 34 St-Penn Station and Grand Central-42 St.

Two weekends this spring show how this plays out. During the March 20-23, 2026 weekend, eastbound trains skipped Forest Hills and Kew Gardens from 10 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Monday. According to the MTA Weekender for April 10-13, 2026, eastbound trains skipped both stations again, this time from 10 p.m. Saturday to 4 a.m. Monday, and ran nonstop from Manhattan to Jamaica. Riders could show their LIRR ticket to enter the subway at no extra cost at 34 St-Penn Station, Grand Central-42 St, Woodside-61 St, Forest Hills-71 Av and Kew Gardens-Union Tpke.

In practice, a skipped weekend means a trip home from Penn Station or Grand Central becomes an E train ride to 71st Avenue on the same ticket. It takes longer, but it doesn't cost more.

The MTA's notice says the weekend changes run through early 2027, and the capital report forecasts substantial completion in the fourth quarter of 2027. Bypass weekends are announced one at a time, so the dependable place to check before a weekend trip is the MTA's Planned Service Changes page.

The 2026 fares make a construction-year trip cheaper

New LIRR fares and ticket policies took effect on January 4, 2026, after the MTA Board approved them on September 30, 2025. For a Forest Hills rider, the most important change is that every one-way ticket within the city zones now costs the same as CityTicket. That's $7.25 at peak and $5.25 off-peak. Peak CityTicket, which used to be a promotion, is now a permanent fare.

Here is what applies to a trip from Station Square, according to the MTA's LIRR and Metro-North fares page:

These changes line up well with the construction. One-way tickets are now valid until 4 a.m. the day after purchase, so a ticket bought for a Saturday evening in Manhattan still works on a late trip home. On a bypass weekend, that same ticket also covers the E train back to 71st Avenue. The Family Fare also applies during the morning peak, and at $1 per child, a December outing for one adult and two kids costs $7.25 off-peak each way.

The onboard surcharge is the one charge to watch for. It rose by $2 to $8 and covers tickets bought from a conductor or activated on the train in the TrainTime app. The MTA says riders who repeatedly activate tickets onboard will be charged after a series of warnings. Activating your ticket on the platform before the train arrives avoids the charge.

The MTA introduced these railroad ticket policies as a pilot program subject to ongoing review, and its current fares page still lists them. Check the fares page before buying a monthly ticket or planning a family trip around a specific price.

Riding Forest Hills this winter

The LIRR's regular winter timetable runs from November 9, 2026, through February 28, 2027. Its City Terminal Zone tables include trains that stop at both Grand Central and Forest Hills. One weekday example is train 2702, which leaves Grand Central at 12:37 and reaches Forest Hills at 12:52. That fifteen-minute ride is the main reason the station matters to people here, and it keeps running through the construction.

A December trip from Station Square goes like this:

• Check the MTA's service alerts on Friday for a weekend bypass, and note which direction is affected.
• If you're coming home westbound, from Jamaica or farther east, move into the first four cars before Forest Hills.
• If your direction is being skipped, use the same ticket on the E, F or R at Forest Hills-71 Av, or on the E at Penn Station or the 7 at Grand Central for an eastbound return.
• Buy or activate your ticket before boarding, and add the $1 Family Fare for each child traveling with you.

The new ten-car platforms, the Ascan Avenue ramp and the snow-melt systems are still under construction, so until they open, these steps apply to most trips from Forest Hills.

Platform work like this also matters to anyone thinking about a home near Station Square. Rachel grew up in Forest Hills and has handled closings here for more than a decade. If you'd like to talk about how the LIRR rebuild fits your own buying or selling timeline, Rachel Borut is glad to help. Schedule a consultation.