NY: Light rail linking Brooklyn, Queens to get $15M federal grant: Schumer

The federal government will give $15 million to the MTA to kickstart the Interborough Express light rail project between Brooklyn and Queens, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told the Daily News on Friday.

The federal dollars come at a time of great uncertainty for the transit agency, which is in the midst of slashing its capital budget since Gov. Hochul slammed the brakes on congestion pricing, which had been expected to generate billions.

“I fought hard for this $15 million for the [interborough express] because it is both transformative and a smart way to establish new transit connections between Brooklyn and Queens,” said Schumer, a New York Democrat.

The project piggybacks on light-rail tracks along an existing freight rail corridor, minimizing the amount of property the MTA would need to acquire in order to provide new transit service.

Passenger service along the 14-mile freight line would allow transfers to 17 subways and provide for rapid transit between Queens and south Brooklyn without the need to travel through Manhattan.

“This funding will help Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods along the line that are growing and need more and better connections to each borough and to other subway, bus and rail lines,” Schumer said. “This means more jobs, a reduction in carbon emissions, and will save riders real time traveling between boroughs.”

The $15 million in federal grant money comes out of the $1.5 billion pot of Transportation Department money earmarked for “projects with significant local or regional impact.”

Notably, the funding does not require a local match to secure — unlike larger federal grants towards the Second Ave. subway and the Gateway tunnel project.

But the money is a drop in the bucket compared to the light rail project’s projected $6 billion total cost.

A Schumer spokesman said the funds are intended for early design and engineering work “to get this project moving.”

The Interborough Express, or IBX, has been expected to be the crown jewel of the MTA’s upcoming 2025-2029 capital budget, linking historically under-served neighborhoods to multiple subway lines.

Hochul has long championed the IBX and made it the centerpiece of her transit budget this year, with $52 million in state funding towards design and engineering work on the project.

But her decision to indefinitely pause the implementation of congestion pricing — which was expected to generate $15 billion in bond revenue for the MTA’s current capital budget — is set to force the agency to delay some larger projects into the 2025-2029 budget.

Whether that will, in turn, cause delays for IBX remains to be seen.