Put the QueensLink in the MTA 2025-2029 Transit Capital Budget

There has been an abandoned portion of the LIRR between Rego Park and Ozone Park for over 60 years. This creates a transistor desert for Queens, as it can take the A train up to two hours to get to Midtown Manhattan from Rockaway Park. When the LIRR went from Penn Station to the Rockaways, the trip took only 35 minutes and the Rockaways boomed.

However, multiple fires damaged the bridge going over Jamaica Bay. So LIRR abandoned the route. Robert Moses had the city by the route and only connected the Southern portion to the A train. This left the portion which went from the LIRR mainline to Ozone Park to rust. Worse, the bell mouths to connect the Rockaway Beach LIRR to the Queens Blvd line were built in the 1930s. Either the M or R train could be connected to the A train and could run to Beach 116th Street. A connection like this would get Rockaway Park residents to Midtown in ;5 minutes and create a direct North Queens/South Queens connection.

The city has already budgeted money to build a park along the right of way. The MTA is working with them to ensure there is both the restored train and rail along the right of way. Activists and city council members are also heavily pushing to include Rockaway Beach LIRR reactivation in the 2025-2029. With a Senate majority leader who is a New Yorker and a President who likes trains, timing has never been better. Please write your city council members and urge them to continue supporting theQueenslink.