Half a million trips a day could be made on a piece of abandoned railroad track in Queens if the MTA decides to ever reactivate it, according to a new study form Queens College released Monday.
The report's analysis of the 3.5-mile stretch of rail, known as the Rockaway Beach Branch, said residents would make trips between the Rockaways and southern Queens neighborhoods and transit hubs to the north and west part of the borough and midtown and upper Manhattan.
Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder, a supporter of reactivating the rail, said the study bolsters transit advocates' arguments against a rival proposal for turning it into a park.
"Rail would bring more people on that line in three days than any other idea would in a year," Goldfeder said. "It shows that there's a need for increased transit access. It would give a historic connection to northern and southern Queens that we currently don't have."
The community is also split on the options before them, according to the study's survey of 363 residents and 44 businesses. With a 5.2% margin of error, 33.9% respondents preferred reactivating the rail line and 28.1% backed the QueensWay park.
And the rest of the respondents don't know or don't care since neither of these projects will ever come to pass.
12 comments:
Where in the study does it estimate how many trips would be made per day? It didn't delve much into what could be done with the ROW. It didn't give schedules showing proposed frequency or travel times. It didn't propose station locations. It made no engineering study of ROW, and so was able to offer no cost estimate.
Mostly it was just a survey that got less than a ten percent response rate, one that was riddled with errors, it's as if the queens 'experts' conducting it didn't take the time to look through mta schedules and maps to see current services.
Too expensive ....whatever the the initial estimate,quadruple it and double the time they say it will take to complete.
That report was a joke. But the basis of it-- the proposal to ruin one neighborhood for the dubious benefit of another-- how does that make sense?
taxes have to be raised to get this started,you know who they are
https://www.google.com/search?q=new+towers+nyc&client=firefox-a&hs=aUE&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=YVZjVIHUE4qzyASoq4LADg&ved=0CDMQsAQ
There is already service for south Queens into Manhattan. The A, C, J, and Z must take tens of thousands of commuters a day. I doubt many people will have a need to take a new subway line to north Queens unless they are going to the mall .
There was a very good reason the LIRR discontinued service in 1962.
Anonymous #2 is the winner.
Never happen the city's going to be bankrupt soon. Any drips and drabs of money available will be spent in Manhattan.
It should be returned to use for mass transit-- as it was originally intended and used until 1962. Unfortunately like the High Line in Manhattan, it will be made into a park. The opportunity to alleviate car gridlock gone forever.
QC study wasn't serious. They think there will be 500k riders over the abandoned stretch? All of queens saw 782k average weekday subway boardings in 2013 for reference. 50k is probably a better estimate. Before the Queensway is permitted a legitimate ridership study should be performed. One that talks about a twenty minute trip to Manhattan isn't serious. LIRR has no capacity for another 500 riders on this line, even with ESA. Figure 50 trains per hour max on the main line. Existing+rerouted trains from Atlantic is probably 40 on this stretch passed rego park excluding PW. LI is getting at least a couple new trains too. QB express are full, no way you could reroute one to JFK or Rockaway. Most likely this would be the M. It's not full, but can't handle 500 k riders. 50k probably. How about an actual study instead of a useless survey?
Where would the train stations be built? If they use the same ones used by the LIRR it won't work. There would not be enough population nearby to support it.
Have you ever ridden the A or C line from Queens into Manhattan? It takes FOREVER. I think there'd be a ton of commuters riding this line in South Queens if it ever reopened.
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