Over the years, we’ve published a few catty articles on this site that attacked some poorly thought out new transit ideas running through Queens. So let’s be clear: we need to build all of it.
New Queens Transit Routes
The need for new transit in Queens is huge. Historically, the borough has been deprived and defrauded of this need, resulting in a near mandatory car culture that is extremely bad for the global environment and street safety. Queens is the fastest growing section of any city in the US right now, and will continue to grow in population at a rapid rate for the foreseeable future. We need more transit. This is a crisis unfolding right in front of us.
In the past we have trashed the Triboro RX idea, and mocked Liz Crowley’s plans for the Lower Montauk route. Both plans are poorly laid out, and it should surprise no one that when you pitch a project not based in reality, few will get on board. I still stand behind these detailed critiques, but want to make clear: Triboro RX should be built (just not as a subway). The Lower Montauk should have passenger service once again. Even the N/W should go to LaGuardia. In addition, let me renew the entire series of articles I wrote on reopening the Rockaway Beach Branch tracks.
So let’s get into the particulars of new routes that have been talked about, and propose some new ones.
This should exist as a ‘heavy rail’ transit route, utilizing LIRR/Metro North style commuter rail cars. The idea of having this operate as a subway route remains just as expensive as it did five years ago. That said, there’s no reason this route couldn’t host passenger trains during daylight hours.
There are, however, a whole lot of constraints against this project. The same arguments that were true in 2014 remain true today: this will never be a subway route. It is an incredibly important freight rail route for which our economy is depends. The movement of freight by rail also keeps thousands of trucks off our roads.
What would be needed: Stations, a second track, trains, and for the public to understand that it would not run at night, or run a very limited schedule at night due to freight movement at those hours. To this end, rail freight will require a significant investment in replacement tracks – perhaps in East New York or Maspeth, to accommodate freight cars that would have to be temporarily stored elsewhere. Yard tracks in fresh pond would have to be replicated elsewhere. The new ‘second track’ storage CSX is constructing through Woodside and Middle Village would need to be replicated elsewhere. Perhaps the rail freight interchange that currently occurs at Fresh Pond would need to be moved to the Bronx, with the MTA buying CSX’s tracks between the two and having New York & Atlantic (the current freight operator on Long Island) utilize these tracks. Perhaps the CSX yard in the Bronx (Oak Point) could be expanded, and a new wye connect at Fresh Pond constructed.
Who would turn out against this project: The old NIMBYs of Middle Village and Glendale. There are many who live near the tracks in this area who literally hate trains, period. They would be 100% against non-electrified trains, and perhaps even electrified trains or any additional passenger service, viewing it as a force of gentrification. They have often complained about noise from freight trains, despite the fact that the railroad has existed since long before their homes were built.
When Giuliani tried this plan in the 1990s, Astoria residents were having none of it-and with good reason. The Astoria elevated line has traditionally suffered from poor service. There was no sales pitch on conversation with area residents to promote the benefits of the plan. People at Ditmars only saw a plan for a loud elevated extension and a decade of construction. No one promoted the benefits to the community. When no one even tries to win hearts and minds, you get a backlash.
Extending the N/W to LaGuardia would be good for all of Astoria. It may prove extremely helpful for those who work at LaGuardia, and if a three or even four track terminal were constructed, it would allow more overall trains to operate on the Astoria elevated. The extension could be built on a concrete base (similar to the viaduct through Sunnyside) which would produce less noise. A new station in east Astoria would increase property values and reduce a huge burden on the often overcapacity Q69 bus.
Jim.henderson [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]
Who would turn out against the project: Far fewer people than those who opposed in the 1990s, and even fewer if it’s clear that the new elevated will not add noise, and will increase service. The demographics of Astoria have completely shifted since the 1990s. A new generation has taken to the neighborhood. This new generation doesn’t want to rely on cars nearly as much as previous residents. To give you an idea how far the neighborhood has turned, many of these new residents were instrumental in volunteering for and voting up Ocasio-Cortez and voted out Joe Crowley.
To mitigate any backlash, a large effort would need to be made, documenting how the new viaduct would not add significant noise, and how a three or even four track terminal could result in more service along the entire route. If the community feels it’s gaining something awesome, they’ll stand behind it.
YES AND…
…You’ll notice I mentioned this could be really appealing to those who work at LaGuardia. Would it appeal to travelers who need airport access? Sure, but it would be a slow ride, and anyone with a big bag will get some angry stares from local commuters at rush hour. That’s why we need:
This could run via the tunnels to Penn Station (or Grand Central once ESA opens). It could run up the Amtrak route through Woodside, before banging a slight right at Bowery Bay junction (where Amtrak & CSX meet) on a new elevated connecting to LaGuardia.
LaGuardia to Penn via Amtrak
Sure there’s a lot of logistics to work out. But running a half hourly service here would be huge. It would remove tens of thousands of taxi trips off our streets and highways. It would be a one stop ride for anyone who wants to get from Manhattan to LaGuardia within a half hour.
If Vienna can have a service similar to this, which operates over a much great distance, why can’t NYC?
Photo By ÖBB399 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Vienna CAT train runs between downtown and their airport, in 16 minutes. The service is guaranteed to arrive on time. If the train fails to make it’s schedule and you miss your flight, they actually reimburse you for the flight. The confidence they have in this system is frankly shocking when you consider the hour long horrors of trying to get to an NYC airport, knowing that if you don’t leave three – four hours before your flight, you might not make it.
The N/W extension is do-able, but it should be paired with something far more user friendly, and faster to boot. Tourists and business travelers who currently pay $45-$65 dollars to get to the airport via taxi can easily afford a $20 train trip. The A and E trains don’t get many passengers going to JFK. Even the Q70 bus connection from 74/Roosevelt to LGA doesn’t attract a huge crowd, especially not when commuters need to catch a flight and know they cannot rely on slow, unpredictable subway options.
A brand new heavy rail option, with a one seat, one stop ride from LaGuardia to Grand Central or Penn Station, would be an extremely attractive premium service that would get thousands of taxis off our streets.
In recent years, a former city councilperson, Liz Crowley, started pushing for rail service on the Lower Montauk tracks. Unfortunately, her motivations were rooted in NIMBY anti-freight rail nonsense, and real estate developer’s wet dreams. The plans were froth with basic bad ideas, like locating a station where there was no street access, and maps with track connections that do not exist.
Despite her poorly advised plans, there is zero reason the Lower Montauk could not host daytime passenger trains, very similar to those that would run on the Triboro RX. These could connect to the Rockaway Beach Branch. We could create a whole new commuter rail service through Queens. We could connect JFK airport to the largest growing neighborhood in the country. We could have a comprehensive new belt line connecting The Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. If we really want to get bold, tunnel all the way over to Staten Island.
Who would be opposed?
Just the same Middle Village/Maspeth/Glendale style NIMBYs who hate commuter rail, gentrification, and anyone under 35.
DMU train that could run on the Triboro RX, Lower Montauk and Rockaway Beach tracks, without costly third rail implementation. (Photo by: Milepost98 [CC BY-SA 4.0])
The Amazon Cuomo AirTrain to nowhere.
So how about that current Cuomo plan for an AirTrain from LaGuarida to Willets Point? Sure, fine. Build it, but it won’t attract nearly as many riders as a one seat ride to Manhattan. It’ll be attractive to wealthy people living along the Port Washington LIRR branch tho, right? Maybe it would be better to extend it all the way down to Jamaica and connect it with the JFK air train. This would provide access for many airport workers who live in eastern queens.
LGA Airtrain Rendering
Yes. Currently the Queens blvd and 7 trains are struggling with capacity. this will only continue to get worse as Queens adds population and new businesses.
What we need is at least one new entire new subway through Queens. We’ve known that we need this since at least the 1960’s, yet our electeds have continuous failed to keep the project on the table and/or get it done.
Queens desperately needs new subway routes
This could take a few forms:
Completing the E train, which was supposed to run far past the current Archer avenue stub. This is imperative, as the current E terminal does not allow for the rapid turning of trains, negatively affecting capacity on the E.
Second ave extension to LaGuardia and out into Flushing.
The current plan for the second avenue subway features the route curving to the west and adding a station at 125th street and Lexington avenue. What I purpose is a branch to the east – running under the river, underground, to LaGuardia and beyond. A tunnel here could be an even better solution than extending the N/W to LGA. While it would be more expensive, extending the tunnel all the way into flushing and up Northern Blvd would take an enormous amount of pressure off the & and F trains. Queens desperately needs another route into Manhattan (separate from the 7 and Queens Blvd). This alignment could meet that need.
F extension past 179th street. 179th was never meant to be the final terminal of this route. Queens extends all the way out to 260th street – 4 miles past the current end of the line. Today, bus service and the LIRR take up the slack. By extending the F, we could reduce reliance on buses and reassign those buses and drivers to other routes.
We need new revenue and a complete overhaul of construction costs and spending at the MTA. New revenue can come from congestion pricing. It can come from literally any source that doesn’t create a huge new tax burden on New Yorkers. We need the MTA to start utilizing computer based train control to it’s actual potential, by removing a train operator or conductor from the L and 7 lines. Paris is completely automating some of their subway routes right now – running trains with no personnel on board. Right now. At Rush hour. There’s no reason the MTA can’t at least shift to an OPTO model, and re-train displaced personnel to any one of the thousands of other tasks we need handled to bring the subways up to snuff. We need new route construction cost controls – even if it means employing non-US contractors. And we need to build faster.
The goal should be to get people out of their cars, and the only way to do that is better transit. No one from Bayside or Douglaston is going to bike to work in Manhattan every day. No one is going to ride a citibike to JFK with their luggage. We need rail transit solutions. We needed them yesterday. (Thanks Boomers, for literally dropping the ball and leaving us in this mess).
Queens is the fastest growing borough in NYC, containing the fastest growing neighborhood (LIC) in the enter country (and perhaps the world). While we lag behind Brooklyn in population by 300000, Queens has way more real estate, and will surpass Brooklyn eventually. Despite this huge population growth, Queens is second to last in subway access to Work Island (Manhattan). The only other borough with worse transit is Staten Island.
It simply is not sustainable for this situation to continue. If Queens is to remain livable, we need to invest in it’s growth. The time to do so is right now, and as quickly as we can. If we miss this opportunity, Queens will grow into a traffic choked, inaccessible and loathsome borough that will eventually repulse the very people we’re trying to attract. Much like a house plant that has grown large, we need to give Queens a bigger pot, with better infrastructure that will support this growth.
Update: Amazon is officially moving to Queens, bringing 25,000 new jobs. The timeline for Queens population growth has just been given a boost of rocket fuel. The need for entire new transit routes through Queens is 100% clear.
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I would definitely be in favor of a subway line operating along the Rockaway Beach ROW, but a new line would have to be built because I can’t see it tying in with the QBL especially with the way trains are operating now. In addition, even with CBTC in place I doubt that it would allow an addition of a new line. Build a bypass route after 21st Street (F) and then connect it to the RBB ROW.
Many good ideas in your article. Unfortunately “no brainers “ such as the Rockaway reactivation are unimportant to virtually all of our leaders. If Cuomo or DiBlasio were able to name the Rockaway line after some favorite politician or family member we’d have a chance. Absent that, forget it.
Just thinking out loud…
In the 90’s the business owners of Ditmars and of 31st street hated the idea of an EL on Ditmars or an extension down 31st that went down 20th ave. Said it was bad for business.
What if a line or airport monorail was built parallel to GCP linking Astoria Blvd train station to LGA ?
It’s tough for East Elmhurst residents around Astoria blvd to get to the 7. The closer you get to Shea the easier the walk is, but getting to 82nd street station from Astoria blvd via feet is a long walk. I can see the hills in JH being hard to build an EL, so a tunnel line would be better here.
An Astoria Blvd line even if starting at Marine Air Terminal headed toward Shea and into College point and into whitestone somehow connecting to the 7 is another brainstorm.
Most of us staunch anti-gentrification people want these lines to be built. It’s the gentrifiers that don’t want subway and rail lines built, but would rather other forms of mass transport.
It is time to finally extend Lefferts Blvd to where it was originally intended to end, close to Nassau county.
Also, time to finally connect SIRT to the rest of the subway system.
Hi, what do you think about a 7 train to Northeastern Queens?
Dooooo it. Either that or cheaper prices on the LIRR Port Wash…
Alright, thanks! I am starting a petition to try to get a feasibility study on a 7 train to Northeastern Queens that will funded through Biden’s infrastructure bill. It will be appreciated if you can sign onto the petition. http://chng.it/Mnk6VzNW8V