STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to resurrect an old rail line to provide a massive new transit connection between Brooklyn and Queens.
As long as Hochul thinking big, I’ve got a suggestion for the next rail line that she can bring back into use, right here on Staten Island.
During her State of the State address last week, Hochul said she wanted to revive an unused, 14-mile stretch of freight rail right-of-way and create an “Interborough Express” transit service that would connect Bay Ridge in Brooklyn to Jackson Heights in Queens.
There would be 17 stops along the new transit line, which could eventually connect to the Bronx as well.
The idea is to address transit deserts in those boroughs and to provide job access to underserved communities.
Hochul has ordered the MTA to begin an environmental study of the proposal to see whether heavy rail, light rail or bus rapid transit would be the best option for the old line. The MTA had already been looking at resurrecting the line, but the project had stalled.
Well, while they’re at it, Hochul should ask the authority to take a look at reviving the long-dormant North Shore Rail Line here on Staten Island.
The line ran from St. George to Port Ivory, and included stops in Mariners Harbor, Elm Park, Port Richmond, West Brighton and other North Shore neighborhoods.
The line was decommissioned in 1953, even though it was temporarily re-opened in 1957 so that a special rail car carrying Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, could use the line during their visit to New York.
Accompanied by New York Gov. William Averell Harriman, Queen Elizabeth II prepares to begin a motorcade parade along Bay Street toward the Staten Island Ferry terminal in St. George on Monday, October 21, 1957. The queen had ridden along the old North Shore rail line earlier in the day. (Advance file photo)
Bringing the line back into operation, whether with heavy rail, light rail or as a bus rapid transit route, would be an enormous boon to North Shore residents, including many in impoverished neighborhoods.
Many of them face long bus or car commutes down crowded, narrow Richmond Terrace to the Staten Island Ferry in order to make connections to mass transit to get to work.
Bringing the line back into operation has been a decades-long dream for borough lawmakers and advocates. Attempts to study the question in the past have fallen by the wayside.
But the effort could gain momentum with a push from Hochul.
Parts of Staten Island are just as barren of transit options as other parts of the city. We have no connection to the city subway system, even though that connection was promised to us more than a century ago as part of the deal to join the new City of New York.
Staten Island once had three rail lines serving its population: The North Shore line, the Staten Island Railway and the South Beach rail line.
That was back in the 1950s, when the Island had a fraction of the population it does today. But the SIR is the only line that remains of the three.
It makes zero sense that Staten Island actually lost mass transit options as our population exploded following the opening of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. This is a big reason why borough residents are so dependent on their cars. We simply don’t have much choice.
Hochul could change all that. Or at least begin to change it. Projects like this take not only huge amounts of money, but a lot of time.
Now’s the time to get the ball rolling.
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January 09, 2022 at 10:00PM
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Along with Brooklyn-Queens rail, Hochul should revive Staten Island’s old North Shore line (opinion) - SILive.com
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