Assemblymen call for new rail service

Both men said new tracks and six new or upgraded stations could link everything between Manhattan and John F. Kennedy International Airport by rail; service the proposed Aqueduct convention center; and offer residents of the Rockaways, Ozone Park and Rego Park a new way to get to Manhattan in less than one hour.

“With the opening of the casino at Aqueduct and the proposed convention center, having adequate transportation to and from Queens must be a top priority,” Goldfeder said.

The press conference took place on Liberty Avenue in Ozone Park, adjacent to the abandoned railroad tracks and just north of where the A line from the Rockaways turns 90 degrees and heads off toward Manhattan.

Miller said he has been working with transit experts on the outline for about a year, and that he would like to see New York City Transit run the new line, which would could link with the AirTrain, three Long Island Rail Road branches, and subway lines in northern Queens.

New or modernized stations would open at Aqueduct, Ozone Park, Woodhaven Junction, Brooklyn Manor, Parkside and Rego Park.

“There would have to be new tracks and rail beds, because in some places they don’t exist anymore,” he said.

Miller said he would prefer any new line under the purview of NYCT rather than the LIRR, if for no other reason than the subway’s lower fare.

He and Goldfeder had no estimates on cost or just where the government funds would come from, particularly if Congress should cut off mass transit systems from the Federal Highway Fund’s gasoline tax kitty.

“But there already is going to be $4 billion in private investment,” Miller said of Genting Americas’ intention to build a convention center at Aqueduct.

“A little investment in the project could be a small price to pay,” he said.

“You could get from Ozone Park to Manhattan in 15 minutes; from Howard Beach in 18 and Rockaway in 32 minutes,” said John Rozankowski, a transit advocate with whom Miller has been consulting.

He also said a link between Midtown Manhattan and Kennedy Airport would follow a practice in cities like London and Paris, of linking the major airports with the tourist, business and commerce centers.

Miller said there are businesses in some places, and in one spot Little League fields, that designers would have to figure out ways to bypass.

Some residents in southern Queens are advocating a 3.5 mile greenway along the tracks from Ozone Park to Rego Park instead, and they have been critical of any plans for rail service.

“We’re not opponents of parks,” Miller said. “I think you can have both. This is just one plan.”

Some residents along the upper portion of the old line in Forest Hills are opposed to even a park. Community Board 6 actually scuttled such a proposal in 2007.

Goldfeder and Miller both said modern engineering should prove quite capable of providing quieter trains and more effective noise barriers by the time such a project would come to fruition.

While Goldfeder acknowledged that some existing businesses along the line might be affected, both he and Miller said thousands of permanent jobs would be created at a thriving convention center and related businesses, along with those created by the massive amount of construction work involved.

“It’s about jobs,” Goldfeder said.