Saturday, October 6, 2012

Proposal for a Metro North station in Queens

From the Daily News:

A college student from Queens has launched a petition urging the MTA to open a Metro-North station in Queens. 

Quinnipiac University sophomore Ali Fadil, 18, of Whitestone, began collecting signatures about two weeks ago after he learned the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was looking at running trains on Metro-North’s New Haven line through western Queens. 

“If you’re running through Queens, why not have a stop in Queens?” said Fadil, who commutes from Queens to Connecticut for school. “There is a decent amount of demand from Queens to the Bronx and from Queens to Westchester and Connecticut,” said Fadil, who has collected more than a hundred signature so far on the petition, www.gopetition.com/petitions/petition-to-get-a-metro-north-new-haven-line-station-in.html

The MTA is exploring opening up four new Bronx stations along its New Haven line and offering service to and from Penn Station. MTA officials said there are no plans to open a station in Queens — a borough that doesn’t have any Metro-North stops. 

An Astoria station was considered years ago but was deemed too expensive to build on an elevated platform for a relatively low number of riders, officials said. However, the agency is conducting a feasibility study on running Metro-North trains on Amtrak lines, which go over the Hell Gate Bridge in Astoria. 

The study “does not contemplate any new stations in Queens,” MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said.

Sorry, the MTA is too busy building stations to nowhere in Manhattan.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like how these people come out of the woodwork and take it upon themselves to decide what our community most needs are ...

more bus routes, more train stations ...

anything to make the area more accessible to the transit network and .... (roll the drums please)

more development!

Mister, there are a hell of a lot more important things than this that the community wants and needs

- no one asked you, no one wants you to ....

just go home and come back when you are ready to ask the locals what we want.

kapish?

Anonymous said...

You got your 15 minutes of fame.....Next!

FluShing Rezident said...

Wow - what malicious comments. The kid should be lauded for taking an interest in the community. Queens does need more public transpo.

It would be great to not have to go into Manhattan to get somewhere else.

r185 said...

I completely agree with FluShing Rezident. This is a great idea; I commend the kid for caring about his community and trying to push a community asset that will make public transportation more accessible for Queens resident.

Great job and I wish you the best of luck!

Joe Moretti said...

Amazing, he is just trying to improve the community by getting some better transportation and so many people just come crashing down on him. What have you negative spoken people done to help or improve your community. I am guessing nothing except writing negative comments hiding behind an anonymous name and helping to add to society's problem. Good for him for speaking out and taking some action. It is very easy and lazy to sit on the sidelines spouting negative comments as opposed to putting yourself on the line taking matters in your own hands and tackling a problem.

Anonymous said...

Good idea Ali...
but if it's SOLELY for the convenience of YOUR commute....you should have gone to Queens College.

Anonymous said...

"Kids" (especially college age)
always have a wealth of great ideas.
I did too at age 18.

Unfortunately the same "kids" are often bankrupt
when it comes to $$$$$$$ or an understanding
of what it costs to turn an idea into reality.

That's why they go to their moms and dads
when they need some money to go out on a date.

Anonymous said...

Give this kid some credit. He's trying to solve a transportation problem in his community. That's more than your paid city (shitty) planners are doing. Eastern Queens residents struggle to find transportation and this kid is trying to come up with a solution. No one (city council, local politicians) does anything for Queens. Let's at least give this kid's idea a listen.

Anonymous said...

Eh, Ali....
ever hear of college dormitories?

Anonymous said...

What's the kid majoring in?
That might explain a lot.

Anonymous said...

We heard him.

If you don't like the transportation in eastern Queens... then why did you move there in the first place...you placid complainer?

Anonymous said...

Uh...just maybe...
the lack of easy access to northeast Queens
has kept it from becoming ghetto-ized.

Maybe there was
a lot of "city planning" after all...
a la capeeesh?

Anonymous said...

Stupid dopes! The original plan for the subway system included a bronx-queens link. When the depression hit that was the end of that idea.

We all know that the 7 train would terminate in Bayside (or even little neck) if there weren't racists making sure it wouldn't happen.

I'd bet if this guy's name was O'Reilly or Schmidt you wouldn't take the same negative approach to him.

but justice is sweet- as Joe Moretti says, you can fire these dumb 'plaints from the cowardly safety of your bathroom, while time marches on without you

Anonymous said...

when was the last time you had an oral colonoscopy,
Last poster?

cause you are ONE BIG double A hole!

Anonymous said...

Anon No. 13: Which plan? It wasn't in the Rapid Transit Commissioners Plan, the Dual Cointracts or any plan put out by the Board of Transportation or the Transit Authority.

If you see the agencies and plans that I've mentioned, you'll see that I know what I'm talking about.

Anonymous said...

Come one folks, you all know that the mayor has sworn to increase population density along transpiration corridors.

This young man is not interested in improving the failing service along lines already established - and whose ridership has skyrocketed as homes are torn down for crap, basements are pressed into service, and extended families live in space designed for far fewer.

Most proposals like this are not to alleviate those problems, but to ask for new service in areas that are touted for big development ... and are rather far from existing service.

A Grand Central East has been whispered for Queens Plaza since the 1910s. Renderings were done of towers that resemble the Empire State Building.

You snooks in the rest of the boro go apeshit if they talk about adding the fright lines to the subway network.

You want better transportation?

Push for Manhattan Express service through the quiet tree lined streets of eastern Queens.

Beg for more LIRR rail stations in your back yard.

Count the seconds before your neighbors lynch you.

Queens Logic said...

... just go home and come back when you are ready to ask the locals what we want.


what a novel - and dangerous - idea!

Anonymous said...

I commend this Guy for taking a stand to help improve a community. All you 40 year old HATERS commenting this, seriously. Grow up. If you want to see change step up and do something like Ali is doing. And this activism is far from selfish, Northern Queens does lack a lot of transportation options. Props to you Mr. Fadil.

Anonymous said...

Don't you people read? He wants a stop in WESTERN Queens.

We the undersigned, call on Metro-North Railroad and the Connecticut Department of Transportation to add a station in Western Queens on its New Haven Line service which would operate along the Amtrak right of way to Penn Station.

As there are four proposed stations in the Bronx along the Amtrak right of way that are currently proposed.

"A Western Queens stop would improve transportation for Queens residents who seek the Bronx, Westchester, and Connecticut by public transportation and would make commutes easier to Manhattan for Western Queens residents and would also encourage Western Queens as a destination for out of town visitors."

Anonymous said...

"A Western Queens stop would improve transportation for Queens residents who seek the Bronx, Westchester, and Connecticut by public transportation and would make commutes easier to Manhattan for Western Queens residents and would also encourage Western Queens as a destination for out of town visitors."

TYPICAL PRO-DEVELOPER DOUBLESPEAK. A WESTERN QUEENS STOP WOULD ADD TO PRESSURE FOR MORE DEVELOPMENT.

PERIOD.

THE NEEDS OF THE PUBLIC NO LONGER ARE A FACTOR IN WHAT THE CITY WANTS TO DO -

THEY ARE INTERESTED IN SELF SERVING PHOTO OPS

THEY ARE INTERESTED IN SELF SERVING TWEEDING PROGRAMS

THEY ARE INTERESTED IN PAYING OFF CAMPAIGN DONATIONS BY GIVING YOUR BACKYARD OVER TO DEVELOPERS

PERIOD.

Anonymous said...

Hey folks - if someone is running noisy trains through your back yard to serve others elsewhere, why not benefit from the train itself regardless of demand locally? After all the trains make noise, will eventually push garbage through, kill children playing on the tracks and decrease the value of your property in some instances. So damn it ass-holes the MTA build a platform maybe in LIC that if anything could spur growth for folks from Conn. creating businesses here in Queens. If not, at least residents can board this popular line in Queens instead of going into Manhattan or the Bronx to do so!

Anonymous said...

Notice that the Elmhurst LIRR stop has been closed
for years. Keep the ghetto folks off of the LIRR trains.

The real reason is there was not enough ridership there.

Anonymous said...

Anon No. 13:

No true about the No. 7 line.

People in Northeast Queens fought quite hard for that to happen, and a deal was worked out to build a connection between the IRT (a privately operated line at that point) and the LIRR (ditto). The two companies backed out of the deal, the city couldn't force them to do anything and that plan fell apart. There were other plans through the 1940s to expand eastward, but the city never had the money to do anything.

Anonymous said...

If a station in Astoria is too high above he ground, it can be built instead in Woodside, where the trestle crosses Northern Boulevard.

There's a local subway sytation there too for a connection to the M and R trains.

Anonymous said...

Anon No. 24:

Pretty high off of the ground by Northern Boulevard as well.

Anonymous said...

An expensive proposal but give it a shot...you never know.

Anonymous said...

Yeah give it a shot and ream the taxpayers!

That stop would benefit just a few,
so TAX THE HELL out of that nabe to pay for it!

Anonymous said...

I sincerely think that NYC
has more important problems to deal with
besides pampering a community of
disgruntled commuters.

Hey guys & gals...you chose to live where transportation isn't tailored exactly to your liking.

I hate to be blunt but you ain't getting the message
so here it is louder and clearer...FU....move!

Anonymous said...

If a station in Astoria is too high above he ground, it can be built instead in Woodside, where the trestle crosses Northern Boulevard.

There's a local subway sytation there too for a connection to the M and R trains.
88888888888888
stop it kid, just stop it. one after another we get these kids that come up with these ideas - and the pols who did everything they can to avoid any real problems trumpet these hair brained schemes.

you want to help or be just another pain in the ass development tout?

then do something about about the overcrowding on EXISTING systems FROM development.

Anonymous said...

Anon No. 26:

With what money?

Anonymous said...

Last poster - isn't that what Maloney did when she bragged to Dutch Kills all the millions she is spending on their neighborhood ..... for tunnels that delivered Long Islanders to Grand Central .... with Dutch Kills taxes?

Anonymous said...

Excellent! The commuter rails are too Manhatten-centric