Queens To Brooklyn Train Could Link With LaGuardia Airport: MTA

QUEENS, NY — Two transit plans in northwest Queens could converge, transit officials said this week.

The MTA's proposed subway line between south Brooklyn and Queens, dubbed the Interborough Express, and a Port Authority-managed public transit route to LaGuardia Airport (in lieu of Andrew Cuomo's derided Air Train) could link up in Jackson Heights, MTA brass said.

"It has not been lost on either of the two projects that there may be some synergy in connecting the two," MTA construction official Mike Schiffer told attendees at a New York City Transit Rider Council meeting Thursday. The New York Post was the first to report this story.

As proposed, the Interborough Express would stretch from Bay Ridge to northwest Queens along 14 miles of defunct Long Island Rail Road freight lines.

State officials, meanwhile, are exploring 14 transit options linking LaGuardia Airport to the city's public transit system, many of which cut through northwest Queens.

Both transit agencies are in the process of gathering public input on their projects before moving forward with a proposal, which Schiffer said could ultimately be connected.

"I know that a couple of their options are considering a connection that Jackson Heights and we’re anticipating this service would go to somewhere in that vicinity as well," Schiffer said of the Port Authority, speaking on behalf of the MTA

"They’re of course looking at other options in Astoria. And we’re looking up in that vicinity as well."

The MTA's Interborough Express Feasibility Study and Alternatives Analysis includes plans to connect Central Brooklyn to Western Queens.

Extending the two projects, and linking LaGuardia Airport with more of the city's public transit system, makes good on long-called-for demands from public transit advocates (and some New Yorkers, who've been asking if the trains could be linked before they were even financed).

When the Interborough Express was officially proposed by Governor Hochul in January, advocates started urging her to take the train further into Queens and the Bronx along existing Amtrak lines — an idea reminiscent of the train's original proposal in 1996.

"Our neighborhoods are practically bursting at the seams," said State Senator Jessica Ramos of Queens adding that "by delivering the longer Triboro, rather than the biborough Interborough Express, [Hochul] can show New Yorkers in three boroughs what an effective government can deliver." Ramos' district includes neighborhoods that the train will service.

As for the LaGuardia AirTrain, Cuomo's route from Willets Point remains on the table, but there's been an onslaught of opposition to the proposal from politicians, advocates and transit experts who call it both logistically and financially misguided.

One of the options on the table for that transit route is a subway extension running through Astoria, which has gotten mostly favorable feedback from local leaders.

Related Coverage:

• Subway To LaGuardia, Through Astoria? State Wants Your Input
• Queens To Brooklyn Train Proposal Back On Track, Hochul Promises
• Port Authority Hits The Brakes On LaGuardia AirTrain Plan