![long island railroad timetable long island railroad timetable](http://web.mta.info/supplemental/lirr/images/april-23-departure-changes.png)
Efforts were made to build branches to the small Long Island communities. The only remaining business was to serve Long Island itself, something the railroad was not built to do. The LIRR's reason for existence was gone. However, in 1849 the New York and New Haven Railroad opened through the "impassable" country of southern Connecticut, and a direct overland route from New York to Boston now existed. The Island-long route was completed in 1844 and at first was highly successful. Schedule for the first day of revenue operation, July 29, 1844.
![long island railroad timetable long island railroad timetable](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/lEUAAOSwbgVf2SOX/s-l400.jpg)
This route was chosen as the most direct way to travel to New York. The LIRR thus built its original tracks running straight down the middle of the island, which was largely uninhabited at the time, rather than serving the existing Long Island communities. The reason for this rather complicated plan was the impossibility, at the time, of building a railroad through southern Connecticut. They would then ride on the LIRR to Fulton Street in Brooklyn, and finally cross by ferry to New York. Trains would run from Boston to Stonington, Connecticut, where the passengers would cross by ferry to Long Island. The original plan was not as a local service to serve Long Island, but rather a quicker route from Boston to New York. The Long Island Rail Road itself was founded in 1834, leasing the track laid down by the B&J and building its own. The LIRR's history stretches back to 1832 and the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad, which built a ten mile (16 km) stretch of track between Brooklyn and Jamaica.