MTA Seeks Blueprints for Interborough Express Spanning Brooklyn and Queens

Preliminary design work is next step for a new light rail line championed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

By Jose Martinez

This article originally appeared in The City.

NEW YORK - The next step for a proposed light-rail transit line between Brooklyn and Queens along 14 miles of existing freight tracks will be preliminary design work, MTA officials said Tuesday.

The Interborough Express, a rail link between Bay Ridge and Jackson Heights, would have 19 stops and connect to 17 subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road. The MTA also said it is looking at potentially using an existing tunnel beneath a Queens cemetery instead of running street-level service in Middle Village.

“We’re taking an underutilized train line, [which] basically gets one freight train a day, and turning it into something which is transformative for so many New Yorkers,” said MTA CEO Janno Lieber in announcing the request for design proposals. “It makes no sense that the 5 million people who live in Brooklyn and Queens have to go to Manhattan on the subway to reach the other boroughs.”

Officials made the IBX announcement near what they hope will eventually be the Queens terminal of a line that is projected to serve 100,000 riders.

The preliminary engineering phase is expected to last two years while the federal environmental review phase that started in 2023 continues, potentially setting the stage for future construction contracts to be awarded.

“First, it will get us all the way through the federal environmental review that’s necessary to advance the project,” said Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA Construction & Development. “Second, it will give us what we need to compete for federal funding that’s critical to getting the project built.

“And third, it gets us to the next step — the next step is having a builder get started on building IBX.” 

The project had an estimated price tag of $5.5 billion when Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed it in her January 2023 State of the State speech, with $2.75 billion allocated for the IBX as part of the MTA’s next five-year spending program for systemwide capital upgrades. 

The record $68.4 billion 2025-2029 capital program faces an uncertain funding future and a more than $16 billion gap in the transit agency’s budget caused by Hochul’s congestion pricing pause in June.

Officials said that money from the state budget and a federal Transportation Department grant will enable preliminary engineering and environmental review work to proceed on what would be the MTA’s first light-rail line. 

The proposed route of the Interborough Express.

Officials touted potential gains from the IBX that could include a 40-minute end-to-end trip between Queens and Brooklyn and cutting commute times between the two boroughs.

“It’s really also deeply important to just giving people back time they don’t have to waste going out of their way,” Lieber said. “That’s something Governor Hochul always talks about — let’s give people back time in their lives, and this project is about to do that.”

MTA data shows that Queens last year had two of the 10 busiest subway stations — Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave/74 St. and Flushing-Main Street — continuing a shift that began during the pandemic of the borough grabbing a larger share of ridership.

“Queens is certainly ready for the IBX,” said Donovan Richards, the Queens borough president. “Not only do we want it, but we need it.”

Transit advocates praised the “good news” of the MTA’s potential use of a tunnel beneath All Faiths Cemetery, but also cautioned about a lack of full funding for the IBX and other projects.

“New Yorkers need reliable trains and accessible stations more than our leaders deserve flashy groundbreakings and shiny ribbon cuttings,” said Danny Pearlstein, policy director for Riders Alliance.

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