WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES NOVEMBER 14, 2019 15
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
that nearly ran through Forest Park
reported. The high-speed line would
have emerged from a tunnel located
about 20 feet away from the building,
potentially exposing residents
to greater noise and vibrations from
regular train activity.
Though the project made sense at
the time, the city soon found itself
mired in the greatest economic
crisis of its history. By 1976, with an
economic downturn in place — and
staunch opposition from Queens residents
who objected to the Forest Park
tunnel — it no longer made sense to
move ahead with the plan.
That year, the Port Authority of
New York and New Jersey, which
operates JFK, scrapped its support
for the high-speed rail link, and the
plan was offi cially dead.
‘THE TRAIN TO THE PLANE’
Two years later, in 1978, the MTA
came up with an alternate plan for
getting commuters to and from JFK
using existing subway lines.
The JFK Express was advertised
as “The Train to The Plane,” and ran
from 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan
through Brooklyn and Queens
to Howard Beach, making just eight
stops along the way.
Once at Howard Beach, JFK Express
passengers boarded an express bus
to the terminals. Passengers paid a
slightly higher fare for the special
train service.
Similar to other subway lines
which used a colorful logo, the JFK
Express logo was a turquoise circle
with a white jet plane in front of it.
The MTA also ran a very catchy jingle
for “The Train to The Plane” in TV
advertisements.
It was not the high-speed link that
Beame and others envisioned, and
aft er 12 years of limited success, in
1990, the JFK Express was grounded
for good.
A few years later, the Port Authority
built the AirTrain, a monorail linking
the JFK terminals to both the Howard
Beach station on the A line and the
Bridle paths and nature trails crisscross the area of Forest Park where the city sought to build a large tunnel for
a high-speed rail link to John F. Kennedy Airport during the 1970s. File photo/QNS
Jamaica Long Island Rail Road station.
STILL LYING IN WAIT
Meanwhile, the Rockaway Beach
Branch remains abandoned — and the
subject of many ideas on what to do with
it.
Over the last half-century, the 3.2-
mile line between Rego Park and Ozone
Park has become naturally reforested
with all kinds of plant life. For more
than a decade, activists have sought to
transform the former rail line into a
public park akin to Manhattan’s High
Line Park — created on a dormant,
elevated rail spur that’s become one of
the most popular green spaces in the
borough.
The Trust for Public Land secured
state funding for the creation of what’s
called the “QueensWay.”
Conversely, transit activists in south
Queens also conducted a study for
A rendering released by the Trust for Public Land in 2017 for the proposed
QueensWay, which would transform much of the Rockaway Beach line into
a new public park. Rendering courtesy of the Trust for Public Land
potentially reactivating the Rockaway
Beach branch for rail service to cut the
commute times for thousands of local
residents heading to Manhattan each
day on the A or J/Z lines.
As the future of the Rockaway Beach
line remains uncertain, nature continues
to dictate its present. A number of
adventurous urban explorers have
walked the line and documented its
current state. In many spots, you can
still see the original railbeds, with trees
and plants shooting up around the ties
and steel beams.
Next week, we’ll examine another rail
project that never came to be: a proposed
subway line on the LIRR’s Montauk
Branch from Sunnyside to Jamaica.
* * *
If you have any remembrances or old
photographs of “Our Neighborhood:
The Way It Was” that you would like to
share with our readers, please write to
the Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood Times, 38-
15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361, or send
an email to editorial@ridgewoodtimes.
com. Any print photographs mailed to
us will be carefully returned to you upon
request.
The JFK Express, commonly referred to as “The Train to the Plane,” shuttled
passengers between Manhattan and JFK Airport via the subway system
between 1978 and 1990. Photo via Metro Wiki
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
