Politicians: Use Abandoned Rockaway Rail Line For Trains, Not Parkland
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Would you prefer a quicker ride to JFK Airport or another park like the High Line?
As WCBS 880's Alex Silverman reported, a new Queens College study doesn't take a side in the fight over the long-abandoned Rockaway Beach rail line, but some politicians say the results are clear: The train should run again.
"Could result in half a million daily subway trips," said Assembylman Phil Goldfeder, D-Far Rockaway.
Politicians: Use Abandoned Rockaway Rail Line For Trains, Not Park
It could mean a straight shot in one seat from Penn Station to JFK Airport, said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-Manhattan/Brooklyn.
"It is almost a crime to leave unused capital resources," the congressman said.
Marc Matsil with the Trust for Public Land, however, doesn't want to hear it.
"You'd have to build the tracks. You'd have to build the transfer stations," he said. "There's nothing there now, except for a lot of poison ivy and trash."
Matsil is pushing for a 3 1/2-mile High Line-style park called the QueensWay.
The Queens College study shows a split in neighborhood opinion, only slightly favoring trains. It also notes it can be quicker to commute from Nassau County than from the Rockaways.
The study notes that part of Queens already has more park access than most of New York.
The population in the Rockaways has double in the half-century since the tracks were abandoned.
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