Original station

In the late 19th century, the LIRR had another Sunnyside Station, which was built by their subsidiary Newtown and Flushing Railroad, better known as the "White Line." This short-lived line was designed to compete with the Flushing and North Side Railroad in 1873. When the F&NS was consolidated into the LIRR, along with the Central Railroad of Long Island and South Side Railroad of Long Island, the White Line was dissolved, along with the original Sunnyside station.

Proposed station

Though no direct connection to other mass transit services are known, the nearest existing subway stations are at 33rd Street–Rawson Street on the IRT Flushing Line (7 train), Queensboro Plaza on the IRT Flushing Line and BMT Astoria Line (7, <7>​​, N and ​W trains), and Queens Plaza on the IND Queens Boulevard Line (E, ​M, and ​R trains).

Construction for the station was deemed to be impossible until East Side Access was completed, as the yard was being redeveloped at the time.^[3] The station is classified as a high priority under the Sunnyside Yard Master Plan.^[4]

The MTA later proposed in their 2025-2044 20-year needs assessment that Sunnyside station serve both the LIRR and the Metro-North Railroad, with the latter providing service to Penn Station after Penn Station Access is completed.^[5]