As In The Rockaways. On Thursday, June 15, 2023, a pair of passing Metropolitan Transportation Authority - MTA NYCT Subway A trains meet at what is named (believe it or not) Subway Island in Broad Channel, Queens, New York in Jamaica Bay with the Beach/South Channel Drawbridge the background. New Technology Train R-179 3278 (Bombardier, 2016-2019) and a train of R-46s (Pullman-Satndard, 1974-1975) represent the majority of the roster of equipment for A trains. From 1877-1955, the Long Island Rail Road and its predecessor companies constructed this line and operated it as part of its network, in some years in cooperation with the Brooklyn Rapid Transit/Brooklyn Manhattan Transit Company. Sold to the City of New York, it became the IND Rockaway Line on June 26, 1956 and operates as part of the subway system.