New York orbital light rail moves ahead

 

Work to design New York City's first light rail line, and the first wholly new rapid transit line since line G opened in 1937, is moving ahead with the award of a design and engineering contract to a joint venture of Jacobs and HDR. The 14-mile (22.4km) Interborough Express (IBX) is a north–south Orbital line connecting Roosevelt Avenue in Queens with Brooklyn Army Terminal at Red Hook via Atlantic Avenue. The contract award was announced by New York governor Kathy Hochul on 1 August. Part of the alignment follows a little-used freight rail link, the Bay Ridge branch; the total cost is estimated at USD 5.5bn, with USD 2.75M committed to the design phase. The contract is supported by USD 166M from the state of New York. 

 

End-to-end journey time will be 32 minutes. There will be 19 stops with 17 proving interchange with radial subway lines, 51 bus lines, and two Long Island Railroad lines. the project is expected to be completed in the early 2030s and could halve travel times for commuters with 115 000 passengers/day expected. A five-minute peak headway will be offered. Light rail was selected as the fastest option to meet the passenger demand. At present the suggestion is that the line will be built without overhead, perhaps with battery-powered cars.