The next step for a proposed light-rail transit line between Brooklyn and Queens along 14 miles of existing freight tracks will be preliminary design work, MTA officials said Tuesday.
The Interborough Express, a rail link between Bay Ridge and Jackson Heights, would have 19 stops and connect to 17 subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road. The MTA also said it is looking at potentially using an existing tunnel beneath a Queens cemetery instead of running street-level service in Middle Village.
“We’re taking an underutilized train line, [which] basically gets one freight train a day, and turning it into something which is transformative for so many New Yorkers,” said MTA CEO Janno Lieber in announcing the request for design proposals. “It makes no sense that the 5 million people who live in Brooklyn and Queens have to go to Manhattan on the subway to reach the other boroughs.”
The project had an estimated price tag of $5.5 billion when Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed it in her January 2023 State of the State speech, with $2.75 billion allocated for the IBX as part of the MTA’s next five-year spending program for systemwide capital upgrades.
The record $68.4 billion 2025-2029 capital program faces an uncertain funding future and a more than $16 billion gap in the transit agency’s budget caused by Hochul’s congestion pricing pause in June.
Officials said that money from the state budget and a federal Transportation Department grant will enable preliminary engineering and environmental review work to proceed on what would be the MTA’s first light-rail line.
Transit advocates praised the “good news” of the MTA’s potential use of a tunnel beneath All Faiths Cemetery, but also cautioned about a lack of full funding for the IBX and other projects.
“New Yorkers need reliable trains and accessible stations more than our leaders deserve flashy groundbreakings and shiny ribbon cuttings,” said Danny Pearlstein, policy director for Riders Alliance.
