Tuesday, March 4, 2008

LGA to get AirTrain?

MTA: Plans May Include Train to LaGuardia

Freight rail lines could be converted into subway lines and a train could take passengers directly to LaGuardia Airport under a plan proposed by the head of the region's transit agency.

In a "State of the MTA" speech Monday, Metropolitan Transportation Authority executive director Elliot Sander proposed several long-range projects for the agency that runs New York City's subways, buses and suburban train lines.

Sander also said the MTA would explore creating a second AirTrain service to connect LaGuardia Airport to Long Island Rail Road service in Woodside, Queens. He said the MTA will add $30 million worth of promised new service [New York Times] this year, increasing service on 11 subway lines and extending several bus routes.

The rest of the plan is here: State of the MTA Address Unveils 40-Year Transportation Vision

23 comments:

We Light Up Queens said...

This would be epic. A way to get to LGA without paying a cabbie. I guess this is good if you are packing light.

Anonymous said...

LGA to Woodside would be great, though I wonder if there will still be a middle-class to use it, by the time this rail line is operational.

Anonymous said...

One aspect I look forward to
with regards to that NYC 40 year
transportation vision.....
is the day Mayor Midget
takes the train back to Boston and
arrives at "term limit terminal"!

I'd gladly volunteer to be a "red cap"
and put his luggage in the limo!

Oh, to be a fly on the wall
the day he descends the grand staircase
of city hall.

Anonymous said...

The report says:

Explore the Regional Plan Association’s circumferential subway line proposal, which would convert the lightly used Bay Ridge freight line into a subway service arcing from southern Brooklyn to Queens to the Bronx.

Use middle tracks on elevated subway lines, primarily in Brooklyn and the Bronx, to provide new express service.

Alleviate crowding on the Queens Boulevard line by using space on Main Line right-of-way for new tracks; utilize Rockaway Beach right-of-way to extend service from Main Line corridor to southern Queens and the Rockaway Peninsula."

That old gag.

Plans for all those objectives have been floated for years, only to be defeated repeatedly by a) residents along those proposed routes and b) $$$$$.

Already the Fulton Pleasuredome has been canceled and the 2nd Avenue subway delayed yet again, so, ah, good luck with those.

www.forgotten-ny.com

Anonymous said...

They are all great ideas but they will take a long time and a lot of money. That is no reason that we should not support the ideas and push for them constantly. Nobody ever beleived there would be the JFK airtrain either and it was built in a reasonable amount of time for a reasonable amount of money.
Forget forgotten ny!!!!

Anonymous said...

The JFK AirTrain was built without congestion pricing. These projects count on it. Cute.

Anonymous said...

Ok, I read the press release on the MTA website. Why didn't they put an overall thorough clean-up on the agenda? Most stations are a disgrace and an insult to passengers.

Anonymous said...

The proposals publicized by Sander have been on the drawing board since the 1920s. The Messiah will arrive before we see a Second Avenue subway.

Anonymous said...

Hey, how about all those lines out to northeastern Queens. Dont see anything there.

Extend the seven line out to nassau.

Funny no discussion about that, isnt it?

Anonymous said...

They should just extend the subway line that ends at ditmas blvd. to LaGuardia.

It would save a lot of money and you could travel through manhattan and go all the way to bay ridge without changing trains.

But the taxi lobby wouldn't like that, and they probably are represented by parkside.

georgetheatheist said...

I thought there already was an Air "Train" to LaG, the Air "Bus":
the #33 from Roosevelt Ave., the #48 from Main St., the #72 from Junction Blvd., and the #M60 across the Triborough Bridge.

Build a second Air Train at the cost of millions when the first one is not keeping its head above water?

Anonymous said...

The train that ends at ditmas blvd. is only 20 blocks from LaGuardia. It is a complete joke that that subway line does not extend to LaGuardia. The only plausible reason it doesn't is corruption, politicians in the pocket of the taxi lobby. The air trains they built to JFK and Newark are deliberately not convenient, you have to walk down endless corridors, up and down escalators, change trains, plus you have to pay extra for the favor. They take an extra $5.00 for the ride to JFK, after you've already paid a subway fare. They would emiminate the air train fare all together if they were serious about reducing congestion. The whole point is supposed to be to get people off the roads. That would be a form of congestion abatement that everyone could support. Everyone except the taxi lobby and their buddies in City Hall.

Anonymous said...

The "N" train was going to be extended to Laguardia from the Ditmars station during the Giuliani administration and get this.....we already had the money.
It was paid for, we just had to build it.
But the community that lives between Laguardia and the Ditmars station on the "N" train would not allow it. Talk anout putting the needs of the few ahead of the many.
Think about that next time you want your concerns voiced over the greater good.

Anonymous said...

They should have compromised, put it in the divider of the grand central parkway, the same way the jfk one goes up the van wyck.

That would have muted community opposition, no community is going to be in favor of a new EL over their heads.

Our government has this problem where they keep offering communities all or nothing propositions.

Anonymous said...

Indeed, the N train was supposed to be extended to LGA back in the 90s, but at that time Vallone, Sr. was the Council Speaker, and this was in his backyard. It would have been like building an electric windmill in view of Ted Kennedy's estate.

Hopefully, the plan can be restored to life, and benefit our city as a whole.

Anonymous said...

What was the plan in the 90's? Was it for an EL type structure or a subway? Did it travel along the Grand Central at all or was it straight down Ditmas? Just curious.

Anonymous said...

All the airports in the capitals of developed European nations are accessible by railroad or subway. (Sofia, Bucharest, Prague, etc. do not, but they are in Eastern Europe, so that's excused). Besides in France, you can take a TGV at Charles de Gaulle and travel to other parts of the country without a need for connecting flight.

Why doesn't the US government support train transportation: an ecological alternative to taxis, buses and aircraft? The Acela Express to Washington costs as much as an airplane ticket!

Why do all taxis have polluting 3 Liter engines and above?! In the city you don't need an engine bigger than 2 Liters!

JFK got its rail connection in 2003. Since then I use Airtrain to travel from Garden City to the airport. I wish I didn't have to call an overpriced and filthy Town Car at Woodside to get to LGA.

Anonymous said...

The extension of the "N" train was supposed to go down Ditmars as a concrete monorail. Similar to the JFK airtrain, not a clunky "el", the type that was built late 19th, early 20th century.
I agree it would be much nicer to have it travel down the "Grand Central Parkway" but how from an engineering stanpoint were they supposed to do that? The street is to narrow for an additional station, as is the Grand Central. If you would have it parallel to the "N" then it would have to turn onto the Grand Central - impossible.

Anonymous said...

I would think they could build a concrete more streamlined structure as an extension of the N rather than adjacent to it, veering east onto the Grand Central. You would have to give up the last current N station at Ditmas in that case, but having the direct airport access would be worth it, especially since the community seems not to be fond of the EL anyway. It seems to me the most important factor in airport trains is to have direct access, right into the terminals, most people have luggage and will choose a cab if the alternative is not really cheap (one regular metrocard swipe) and convenient (no train transfers).

Anonymous said...

Still again, the street is too narrow for any sort of additional station or track and the "veer" as you put it would mean tearing down a good 5 - 6 buildings to lead onto the Grand Central (i.e - eminent domain.) Not a good idea.
Apparently you dont know the area you are talking about too well.

Anonymous said...

No, we don't like eminent domain.

Anonymous said...

I must admit I don't know much about building railroads, I couldn't believe my eyes when the one went up over the Van Wyck, it does seem like such a good idea, building trains along highways like the GCP, avoiding disturbing homes and businesses on the streets below. If the road is too narrow, I guess that's the end of the discussion, although I never thought of the Van Wyck as having a very wide median.

Anonymous said...

It's not so much the Grand central that is too narrow as the approach to get to it.
The approach from a connecting "N" train station would require a large curving arch which the 19th century grid pattern blocks of Astoria leave little room for.

But you are definatly right, utilization of space over the parkways is always the best idea.