Excitement is building for the Interborough Express, the proposal for a massive new subway line built on existing train tracks, that will connect transit-starved parts of Brooklyn and Queens to the rest of the system—at precisely the moment New York needs to build transit-oriented, dense housing very, very, quickly.
Now, what if I told you that New York City actually had a few of these abandoned and underused rail lines, and one of those rail lines, the discarded Rockaway Beach Branch, already had a bunch of stations carved out, and would, like the Interborough Express, connect new neighborhoods in Queens to the subway, and provide a way for commuters in northern Queens to more easily enjoy the fruits of their borough in the Rockaways?
Yes, I'm talking (once again) about the QueensLink, the transit dream that will not die. And now, thanks to the cost-cutting savagery of Donald Trump and Republicans, it won't have to (yet).
Let me explain.