of the new century, allowing expansion and modernization. Electric operation began in 1905. After the Second World War, the railroad industry's downturn and dwindling profits caused the PRR to stop subsidizing the LIRR, and the LIRR went into receivership in 1949. The State of New York, realizing how important the railroad was to Long Island's future, began to subsidize the railroad in the 1950s and 1960s. In June 1965, the state finalized an agreement to buy the LIRR from the PRR for $65 million. The LIRR was placed under the control of a new Metropolitan Commuter Transit Authority. The MCTA was rebranded the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1968 when it incorporated several other New York City-area transit agencies. With MTA subsidies the LIRR modernized further, continuing to be the busiest commuter railroad in the United States. The LIRR is one of the few railroads that has survived as an intact company from its original charter to the present. Major stations The LIRR operates out of four western terminals in New York City. Major terminals include: Pennsylvania Station, in Midtown Manhattan, is the busiest of the western terminals, serving almost 500 daily trains. It is reached via the Amtrak-owned East River Tunnels (the only LIRR-used trackage not owned by the LIRR) from the Main Line at Harold Interlocking in Long Island City. The New York City Subway's 34th Street–Penn Station (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line) () and 34th Street–Penn Station (IND Eighth Avenue Line) () stations are adjacent to the terminal. It also connects LIRR with Amtrak and NJ Transit trains. Atlantic Terminal, formerly known as Flatbush Avenue, in Downtown Brooklyn serves most other trains. It is next to the New York City Subway's Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station complex (), providing easy access to Lower Manhattan. With the opening of East Side Access, service between Atlantic Terminal and Jamaica is expected to become a shuttle. Rush-hour trains run to one of two stations in Long Island City, Queens: or on the East River. From Hunterspoint Avenue, the Hunters Point Avenue subway station () can be reached. The Long Island City station is near the Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue subway station, also served by the , and the Long Island City station also connects to the NYC Ferry's East River Ferry to Midtown or Lower Manhattan. Service to , a new station under Grand Central Terminal built as part of the East Side Access