WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES FEBRUARY 8, 2018 3
Light rail service is possible, but at a hefty price
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BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
The results of a yearlong study
to determine if passenger train
service could be restored to a
former commuter railroad line that
runs through Ridgewood, Glendale
and Maspeth have been released, but
the price tag could derail the plan.
The study conducted by AECOM and
sponsored by former Councilwoman
Elizabeth Crowley — who allocated
$500,000 from the city’s 2017 budget
to pay for it — determined that it would
be possible to upgrade the tracks of
the Long Island Rail Road’s Lower
Montauk Branch and operate a joint
passenger-freight service, but the cost
would be in the billions.
If the current freight service on the
tracks is maintained, the cost of what’s
dubbed the QNS Light Rail line would
be approximately $2.2 billion.
.Councilman Robert Holden, Crowley’s
successor, expressed his disapproval
of the study in a statement on
Monday, saying that the cost of the
study was not worth the investment.
“This study was a colossal waste of
money that could have otherwise been
used to benefi t my district,” Holden
said in the statement.
Adding commuter trains to the line
would require upgrading the existing
tracks, signals and communication to meet
current safety standards, as well as adding
10 new stations, a storage and maintenance
facility, grade crossing elimination at
three intersections and a 15-car fleet.
The Lower Montauk Branch is an 8.5
mile track from Jamaica to Long Island
City that cuts through the “transportation
desert” between the L and E/F
subway train lines. According to the
fi ndings, an estimated 21,000 riders on
each weekday and 13,000 on the weekends
would amount to approximately
5.8 million riders in a year.
At a fare of $2.75 per ride, the revenue
brought in from ridership would
be about $15 million annually. The
study also points out that annual operations
and maintenance costs would
be $55 million.
Another possible source of revenue
would be from the sale of bonds due
to the increase in property value
attributed to the proposed commuter
trains. The study estimates those
bonds could make up for approximately
$309 million, or about 14 percent of
the total capital costs of the project.
Community Board 5 supported the
decision to conduct the study when it
was fi rst proposed, and district manager
Gary Giordano said there was
a serious need to consider ways to
address the borough’s transportation
issues. Aft er seeing the results, however,
Giordano did not see how the
project could become a reality.
“The average ridership could
potentially take a lot of vehicles off
the road, so that’s the best thing I see
here,” Giordano said. “But the cost of
doing that looks like it would be much
too large.”
Still, Crowley is continuing to work
on solutions that would allow the Department
of Transportation to move
forward with the project. In a report
from architectural firm KPF, the
main source of added revenue not accounted
for in the AECOM study is an
estimated $480 million from the sale
of air rights associated with the MTA’s
existing right of way on the tracks.
The addition of that money would
bring the project closer to covering
the $1.1 billion cost of adding commuter
service only, and Crowley added,
“Why do we have to use it for freight?
It wasn’t built for freight service.”
Crowley said that her next steps in
continuing to advocate for this project
include getting this information to all
of the stakeholders that supported her
and reaching out to local advocates to
help communicate to the MTA that this
should be a priority.
Queens Borough President Melinda
Katz also supports the project.
Photo courtesy of KPF
