QueensWay, QueensLink offer competing visions to transform abandoned railroad tracks
A years-long battle is intensifying over the future of an old rail line in Queens that was abandoned after a fire over 50 years ago.
Closed since the 1960s, the tracks once served as the Long Island Rail Road's Rockaway Beach Branch.
Rival groups are pushing two opposing visions for what the tracks should become.
Elevated park proposal
The promise of a new park has some Forest Hills business owners buzzing.
"I'm really excited for the foot traffic that it's going to potentially bring to Metropolitan Avenue," Aigner Chocolates owner Rachel Kellner said.
QueensWay is a plan to transform the stretch of abandoned railway into a 3.5-mile elevated park offering recreation space, bikeway connections, and climate resiliency.
"This is the concrete jungle here," Kellner said. "Can you ever have too much green space?"
The park would run north-south, overlapping with multiple school zones from Rego Park to Ozone Park. But as QueensWay gains momentum, opponents are rallying around a different future for the corridor.
Extended M train proposal
The grassroots transit proposal QueensLink would restore rail service to the tracks by extending the M train from Queens Center Mall to the Rockaways through Forest Park.
"New York is New York because of the subway system," QueensLink volunteer Josh Brewer said.
By reactivating existing rail infrastructure, QueensLink says it would take 4.7 million cars off the road each year.
"Having four new stations on the M line would really alleviate that congestion," Brewer said.
Meanwhile, QueensLink promises up to 33 acres of new park space along with rail service. The proposal has found support with some Queens business owners.
"We're pretty good on east-west transit, but we're not very good on north-south," Austin Book Shop owner Raymond Harley said.
The MTA studied restoring rail service on the corridor and concluded that the estimated $5.9 billion in construction costs outweighed the benefits.
QueensLink disputes the findings, insisting construction would generate $8.9 billion in revenue.
"Well intentioned, but it's just not going to fly. The cost is way, way too much," Queens Chamber of Commerce President Tom Grech said.
He argues that other transit initiatives, including the proposed Interborough Express (IBX) connecting Queens and Brooklyn, are more realistic transportation investments than QueensLink. He supports QueensWay, which estimates it will cost $122 million.
"It's all about making it like the High Line for Queens. It's going to be gorgeous," Grech said.
"It's not over 'til it's over"
Meanwhile, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has confirmed his support for QueensWay, insisting its first phase will not preclude future rail service.
"When it comes to rail investment, it requires the partnership of the MTA as that being a priority area of investment in that specific stretch. When the MTA has done its own assessments and analyses, what they have found is that there are other areas of priority for them," he said at a press conference in early June. "We hope that that door continues to remain open, but in the interim, we believe that it is better to build a park than simply wait for that calculus to change, and when we think about the cost of building that park, it is de minimis compared to what the cost will be of extending public transit in their area."
Some transit supporters remain skeptical about QueensLink's viability once QueensWay breaks ground.
"This opportunity, you will never have again," State Senator James Sanders Jr. said.
He is continuing to support QueensLink, which he says would transform access for Rockaway residents facing some of the longest commutes in the city.
"It's not over 'til it's over. We're in it to win it," he said.
QueensWay's first half-mile section, the Metropolitan Hub, is fully funded and expected to break ground later this year.
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