Photo Courtesy of Google
Tracks of the defunct Lower Montauk Branch of the LIRR at 73rd Street and Edsall Avenue in Glendale.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Former City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley recently renewed her effort to drum up support for the “QNS Rail” plan to reactivate the Lower Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road for NYC Transit fares from Jamaica to Long Island City.
Crowley hosted an event Friday “to begin assembling a non-profit to stump for the project,” according to the New York Daily News. And on Tuesday she appeared on “Mornings on 1” on Spectrum News NY1 to talk about the plan.
“This proposal can pay for itself, ease congestion and take cars off the street!” she said.
In 2017, Crowley sponsored a study to examine the feasibility of returning passenger service to the Lower Montauk Branch: a two-track, 8.5-mile, non-electrified rail line running through Queens from Jamaica to the east, terminating in Long Island City in the west. Opened in the mid-19th century, the branch once served as one of the main rail lines through Queens, providing passenger service to Maspeth, Ridgewood, Middle Village, Glendale, and Richmond Hill.
According to the report, the frequency of the passenger service on the branch rapidly declined after World War II, and as a result ridership plummeted. Service to stations between Jamaica and Long Island City ceased in 1998, passenger service was discontinued altogether in 2012, and the line has subsequently been leased out to the New York and Atlantic Railway, which provides rail freight service to Long Island and to industrial customers along the branch in Queens.
Engineering firm AECOM, USA, Inc. performed the analysis. The City Department of Transportation published the study’s findings in January 2018, which indicated that there is a potential ridership base and workable operating plan for passenger service on the defunct Lower Montauk Branch.
“Significant capital investments to support both passenger and freight service in the same rail corridor would be required. This joint service would support the existing residential, commercial, and industrial landscape of the corridor while allowing for change in use and density in response to the expansion of transit accessibility and mobility,” engineers wrote in the report.
AECOM also noted the need for transportation options in some communities through which the LMB runs.
“While the existing subway network serves Long Island City, Jamaica and Richmond Hill, many of the residential, commercial, and industrial areas within the 9-square-mile study area along the branch currently lack rail transit service,” the firm wrote. “Connecting those areas to the rest of the transit network would improve accessibility, support economic development, and potentially reduce pressure on existing rail transit lines in Queens.”
Approximately 21,000 riders per weekday and 5.8 million riders annually would use the service, assuming a $2.75 fare, a free transfer to MTA Bus or Subway, and relatively frequent service throughout the day. Fare revenues are estimated at $15 million annually, while annual operations and maintenance costs are estimated at $55 million.
The QNS Rail price tag is estimated to be more than $2 billion. Crowley noted that Queens Community Boards 2,5,6,9 and 12 have all passed resolutions in support of reactivating the rail line for local passengers.
