which would have traveled across the Narrows and connected to the New York City Subway's BMT Fourth Avenue Line in Brooklyn. In 1923 an excavation shaft for the Narrows tunnel was constructed at the south end of the terminal near Shore Road, though construction was halted in 1925. In 1930, civic leaders proposed a $2.5 million ferry terminal to replace the existing complex, with an underground train terminal below a 26-story office development. However, this plan was never carried out. On June 25, 1946, a large fire destroyed both the wooden ferry and rail terminals, killing three people. Full service was restored in July of that year. A new facility was built by the city, opening on June 8, 1951, which led the tunneling shaft to be filled in. The new facility cost $21 million. The former freight yard was replaced by a New York City Department of Transportation Municipal Parking Lot when the new terminal opened, and is now the site of Richmond County Bank Ballpark. The station served as the northern (eastern) terminus for the Staten Island Railway North Shore Branch to Arlington and Port Ivory until its closure in 1953. The line used tracks 11 and 12 on the north end of the terminal, which are currently unused. Plans for a renovation of the ferry terminal were announced in March 1997, and it received renovations in the 2000s as part of a $300 million renovation of several ferry terminals in the area, including the St. George and Whitehall Terminals. St. George's direct rail-boat connection is one of a few remaining in the United States. Ferry terminal St. George Terminal is the southern terminal of the Staten Island Ferry; it runs only to Whitehall Terminal, on the southern tip of Manhattan near Battery Park. The Staten Island Ferry runs a 24-hour service between the terminals. Ferries usually run at 15-to-20-minute intervals during rush hours and every 30 minutes at other times. In January 2019, NYC Ferry announced that it would start operating its St. George route in 2020. The route was originally supposed to run from the St. George Terminal to Battery Park City Ferry Terminal and West Midtown Ferry Terminal in Manhattan. However, due to concerns that the massive Staten Island Ferry boats and the small NYC Ferry craft might not be able to share a dock, the New York City Economic Development Corporation announced in January