Brooklyn To Queens Train Proposal Back On Track, Hochul Promises

BROOKLYN, NY — Gov. Kathy Hochul said she wants to get a long sought subway line between south Brooklyn and Queens "rolling down the track."

At her first State of the State address in Albany on Wednesday, Hochul directed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to begin an environmental review of her "Interborough Express" proposal — a transit line that would stretch from Bay Ridge to Jackson Heights along 14 miles of defunct Long Island Rail Road freight lines.

In Brooklyn, the line would run through Sunset Park, Borough Park, Kensington, Midwood, Flatbush, Flatlands, New Lots, Brownsville, East New York and Bushwick.

"The Interborough Express would be a transformational addition to Brooklyn and Queens, cutting down on travel time and helping neighborhoods and communities become cleaner, greener and more equitable," Hochul said on Wednesday, noting that her infrastructure investments will help better connect neighborhoods of color where infrastructure has promoted inequity.

The Interborough Express, for instance, will serve around 1 million daily riders, according to the MTA, many of whom live in transit-starved neighborhoods like East Flatbush, Brownsville, and Maspeth.

First proposed in 1996 as a 16-mile long subway spanning between Brooklyn and the Bronx, the project — then dubbed the Triboro — has been long-awaited.

In 2020, the MTA considered a modified version of the line between Brooklyn and Queens but funding became a major obstacle. Federal money could help solve that problem, MTA brass said recently.

As proposed, the 40-minute end-to-end train line would connect up to 17 subway stations and other Long Island Rail Road stops.

Brooklyn groups were quick to praise the revival of the transit line.

“The plan is a critically important opportunity that will create efficient and safe transit modes to connect neighborhoods and business districts that for far too long have been isolated by transportation deserts, while at the same time making New Yorkers less reliant on congestion causing cars, equally benefitting our economy and environment," Brooklyn and Queens' chambers of commerce said in a joint statement.