The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority broke ground Oct. 18 for the first new MTA Staten Island Railway station since the MTA took over the rail line in 1971. The new Arthur Kill Station will replace the existing Atlantic and Nassau stations.

Construction is expected to take 27 months, with the station opening in late 2015. At that time, the other two stations will be demolished.

The $15.3 million Arthur Kill Station will feature accessible ramps, two concrete side platforms with canopies, windscreens, and benches, and surveillance cameras and customer assistance intercoms at platform off-hour waiting areas. The station will be able to accommodate a four-car train. In addition, a 150-car parking lot will be built across the street.

“We know that this project will bring welcome relief to our riders,” said MTA Staten Island Railway Vice President/Chief Officer Stepfone Montgomery. “And eventually, we hope it will draw new customers from the South Shore to the railway.”

Neither the Atlantic nor the Nassau station was included in previous station modernization projects because earlier plans called for the new station to be built between, not to replace, the existing stations.

The Arthur Kill Station is located at the southern end of the Staten Island Railway line. The northern terminus, St. George Ferry Terminal, connects to the Staten Island Ferry to Manhattan.