Metro-North needs to serve Western Queens as a part of Penn Station Access
- Target:
- MTA Metro-North Railroad; Amtrak; and area elected officials and civic/community groups
- Region:
- United States of America
Metro-North needs to serve Western Queens as a part of Penn Station Access and structural improvements need to be done to the Hell Gate Line prior to running Metro-North trains through Queens.
As a part of Metro-North Railroad's Penn Station Access plan, Metro-North wants to run New Haven Line trains to and from Penn Station using a right of way owned by Amtrak between New Rochelle, NY and Penn Station and which runs through the intermediate areas of the Bronx and Western Queens.
Metro-North also wants to build 4 new train stations along the Amtrak right of way in the Bronx that would be a part of the New Haven Line and thus bringing benefits to the areas in the Bronx where New Haven Line trains would run. However, Metro-North has shown no interest in providing New Haven Line service and its benefits to Western Queens despite wanting to run New Haven Line trains through Western Queens and wanting to give West Queens residents the added burden that would come with additional trains running through the Amtrak right of way in Western Queens.
Furthermore, the Amtrak right of way in Western Queens is falling apart and has structural problems, and is in need of repair. The burden of additional trains that Metro-North wants to put on Western Queens will only help to accelerate structural issues that exist with the Amtrak right of way in Western Queens.
Metro-North is clearly leaving Western Queens out in the cold by not willing to provide the benefits of New Haven Line service to Western Queens and Amtrak is also leaving Western Queens out in the cold by not making the necessary structural repairs in order to better accommodate the additional amount of trains that Metro-North wants to run through the Amtrak right of way in Western Queens.
We the undersigned, call on Metro-North to bring New Haven Line service to Western Queens as a part of its Penn Station Access plan as it would greatly benefit people traveling between Western Queens and Manhattan; and between Western Queens and the Bronx,Westchester, and Connecticut. Bringing New Haven Line service to Western Queens would certainly help to continue the growth that Western Queens has seen over the last decade.
Also, we want Metro-North to study the following two locations along the Amtrak right of way in Western Queens for the construction of a New Haven Line station: Astoria Boulevard at approximately 41st-44th Streets in Astoria, which would offer rail service to a section of Astoria that currently does not have any rail service available and lacks good bus service; and at Northern Boulevard at Broadway in Woodside which would offer connections to the M and R Subway lines at the Northern Boulevard Subway station and to the Q18 and Q66 local buses.
Lastly, we call on Amtrak to make the necessary structural repairs to its right of way in Western Queens so that there will not be further structural problems when Metro-North begins running additional trains through the Amtrak right of way in Western Queens as a part of its Penn Station Access plan.
The fact that the Amtrak right of way in Western Queens is falling apart does not make it conducive to having a large increase in trains that would come with Metro-North expanding New Haven Line service to Penn Station and repairs need to be made prior to Penn Station Access' implementation.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Metro-North needs to serve Western Queens as a part of Penn Station Access petition to MTA Metro-North Railroad; Amtrak; and area elected officials and civic/community groups was written by Bring Metro-North to Queens and is in the category Politics at GoPetition.